Plan Your Exit: Expert Advice for Transitioning Out of Business Ownership

This episode features an interview with Alex Weatherly, an estate planning lawyer with more than 35 years of experience. Weatherly started his career in a tax estate planning law firm and gradually became interested in exit planning, realizing that for many business owners, their business is their most significant asset. He became a BEI Member, an exit planning organization, to learn more about the exit planning process and eventually became a full participant. In this episode, Weatherly talks about how his role in exit planning has evolved over time, and he now leads a team of advisors to help business owners transition out of ownership. He emphasizes the importance of proper planning to avoid disastrous situations and talks about how estate planning is just a small part of a bigger planning pie that involves coordination with other advisors, such as CPAs, financial advisors, and insurance advisors. Weatherly also notes that estate planning attorneys should not overlook family relationships when drafting estate planning documents and should take a more holistic approach to the planning process. Overall, Weatherly finds exit planning more exciting than estate planning, as it allows him to interact with all kinds of people and better understand their dreams and motivations for being in business.