Globe and Mail:

Pete is a friend of mine who is, in a word, paranoid. He’s always willing to share things that you should be concerned about.

In the past, I’ve learned that you can be electrocuted while talking on the telephone during a thunderstorm, 200,000 serious injuries happen in the bathroom each year, and excessive blinking could be an early sign of blepharospasm – a rare muscle disorder that can cause eyelids to shut permanently.

Now, Pete is a business owner. I’ve told him that if he should worry about anything, it’s not his eyelids, but his business succession planning, about which he’s done little.

The survey
A 2005 survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses revealed that two-thirds of owners of small and medium-sized enterprises plan to exit their businesses over the next 10 years. Sadly, only about 10 per cent of business owners have any type of succession plan in place.

Two of the biggest challenges business owners face when thinking about their succession planning are income taxes (How can the tax burden on the transfer of the business be reduced?) and financing (How will the successor find the money to make the purchase, particularly a concern if the buyer is a family member or employee of the business?).

The fact is, many business owners may be getting ready to retire, but they may not pocket the full value of the business if they’re not prepared.

The options… read on.

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Entrepreneur Daily:

What’s the biggest concern for small businesses these days?

According to a national survey released by the National Association for the Self-Employed, it’s access to health care.

“The baker, the house painter, and the 20 million other micro-businesses in the U.S. are struggling to survive in this economy,” says Kristie Darien, executive director of the legislative office of the NASE. “These businesses could be further threatened if we can’t find a way to make insurance more affordable.”

The survey, which polled about 4,000 micro-businesses, showed that high cost stopped small businesses from offering health insurance and thus put them at a disadvantage to larger businesses. Here are some survey highlights:

* About 67 percent of respondents said they have personal health insurance coverage, a notable increase from the 54.9 percent who reported the same in 2005.

* Of the more than 46 percent of responding businesses offering health insurance, only 18.6 percent offer coverage for full-time employees, compared to 46.2 percent in 2005.

* One in 10 respondents spent 25 percent or more of their gross revenue on health insurance, compared to 10.1 percent in 2005.

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Solo Entrepreneur:

How many times have you heard potential entrepreneurs who are unwilling to give up their day jobs and take the plunge, “because I’d lose my benefits”? That wimpy cop-out just doesn’t look at the big picture, and by spending the rest of your life working for other people, you may well be losing more than you gain. The fact is, those benefits aren’t just goodies that big companies can give you. You can give them to yourself and your employees.

In most states, insurance carriers offer health insurance for businesses with as few as two employees. For companies on a slim budget, you may wish to provide health insurance for yourself and your family at your own expense, while giving your employees the opportunity to buy into the plan as well. You can usually offer this option at no extra cost to your business, you just collect the premiums from your employees and pay the bill every month.

Small business insurance doesn’t have to be costly. Many smaller companies choose to purchase high-deductible plans in conjunction with a Health Savings Account, which lets you (or your employees) set aside tax-free money to cover medical expenses up to the deductible amount.

When looking for a small business health insurance plan, start by checking with whatever business associations you may belong to. You may be able to purchase it through your local Chamber of Commerce or other business affiliation. Continue reading.

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CNNMoney:

Question: How do we go about getting insurance for our business? We own an office services company. – Nikki Olivarez, Waco, Texas

Answer: Start by deciding what type of insurance you need for your particular business.

“Some types of coverage, such as workers’ compensation insurance, are mandated by law, while others may be required by a lender or a customer,” says Jonathan Bennett, executive vice president, personal and small business insurance at The Hartford Financial Services Group.

The types of insurance you need varies, explains Gene Fairbrother, lead small-business consultant for the National Association for the Self-Employed.

Finding insurance for your business
“For example, if you operate a business out of your home, you’re going to want to make sure your homeowner’s insurance has home office coverage,” he says. “If you rent office or retail space, the landlord will probably have a requirement for liability insurance, but you want to look beyond that at liability for slipping and falling; look into coverage for property and content if you have inventory or office furniture.”

Professionals such as accountants or insurance salesman should consider errors and omissions insurance, similar to malpractice insurance for doctors. Business continuations insurance is another option.

Read more.

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Press-Enterprise:

Buying insurance is critical for small companies, but it’s often given short shrift. Owners can leave their businesses vulnerable to huge payouts for something as mundane as a clerical error or something as cataclysmic as an earthquake. heavy flooding.

To many owners, the word “insurance” means property and liability coverage, the products contained in a standard commercial policy. If there’s a fire, for example, or someone trips and breaks their leg on the premises, the company is covered.

Many business owners stop there.

“A lot of it is denial – tomorrow will never come, or this will never happen to me,” said Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger.

But Praeger, who is also president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, said owners’ ignorance is another factor: “I think it’s just not understanding all of the different types of insurance they need.”
Business Interruption

Praeger also cited a common mistake made by people who run businesses out of their homes – they believe a homeowners policy will automatically cover them if there’s a business-related accident, like a customer tripping and being injured while arriving for a meeting. Continued.

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