today while young entrepreneurs are dreaming about valuation the aging small business owners are a worried lot these 50year olds entered business as youngsters inheriting from their parents and taking off in their own waystheir children however are not interested in the family business recently we hosted a few friends who have been running their business for over 30 years and now wonder what the road ahead isone is a wholesaler of upholstery and carpets he inherited his fathers business along with four brothers and they converted it into a fairly successful enterprise riding the demand for better interiors his son is a doctor and daughter an engineer who lives in the uswhile the parents are proud of their children and do not grudge their choice of profession they do not know what would happen to their business another couple runs a small export business in chemicals they have been a team since they married managing the business and two children the children want to set up their own business but are not interested in the pure commodity trade the third couple manages a sweet shop which has been with the family for generations they work over 14 hours a day managing the hugely popular shopthe children see the business as too labourintensive and want to do something else our friends have tried telling their children stories about the new generation turning around an old family business but the children are not interestedsmall business owners do not have the time or energy for personal finance or wealth management they typically invest all that they havetime money and energyinto their business if they have a financial adviser or broker they trust they end up with some investments and shares the performance is a mixed bag but as long as the business is generating enough cash they do not worrythey find it tough to divert large sums into investments they do not know much about especially when they can use the money in their own business they however own physical assetsproperty land jewellery and such in multiple combinations in the names of family membersnone have a halfdecent exit planthey have not built the business with the intention of going public selling to someone else or putting it up for acquisitionthey hold assets in various names and formats do not have clean books and are controlled too tightly and centrally money is tied in assets and cannot be easily retrieved our friends told us about the children being upset that the parents are unable to fund their new business ideasour friends in the chemical business enjoy a decent cash flow but have persistent working capital requirements the upholstery businesses biggest assets are the owners reputation and relationships which are not convertible into cash to enable his sons plan for a speciality hospital the sweetmeat owners most valuable asset is the real estate on which the shop is located and it cannot be soldexcept for personal guarantees against property and loans