Two Sides of the Same Coin: "The Paradox of Prosperity" and "Exit Regret"

Poised for Exit

Our guest in this Poised for Exit episode is Ryan Haag, who has been a financial advisor for over 20 years. Ryan has spent his career working with family businesses and a variety of entrepreneurs, learning a great deal about the pitfalls they face as they navigate their lives from start up to retirement. So many of the experiences he's faced with clients mirror those of others. Business owners seem to have a lot of the same problems, the most common of which is answering the question: "how do I spend my time once my business is sold?"

Ryan observed that we're in a time that's unmatched in history, where people have never had more money, but also have never had more stress. "The Prosperity Paradox" they call it. Couple that with statistics on how often a business owner regrets their decision to sell, and you've got a lot of unhappiness on both ends of the spectrum!

Owner's need to determine what their ideal vision is for their life in every stage. Where do they see themselves living, traveling, working and feeling fulfilled? Each stage makes up about a third of one's life, so it's pretty important to grapple with each one in advance! When it comes to retirement (the last third!), Ryan said there are three phases within that period itself: "Go-Go, Slow-Go, and No-Go". You can imagine what each entails.

The world we live in has us drowning in information and starving for wisdom, he said. Not sure there's been a statement more true of our times! Ryan says that the ultimate goal he tries to help his clients achieve is what he calls "funded contentment". Knowing what you want to do with your life after business, and having enough resources to do it.

What does that look like for you? Listen to the episode here!

Connect with Julie Keyes, Keyestrategies LLC
Founder, Consultant, Author, Pod-caster and Instructor