There 4.6m companies in the UK.  In 2012 the figure was just 2.8m companies.  Check that! A quite remarkable statistic.

Extracting profit is key aim of most business owners, however it may be better for owners to leave it in the company. 

Firstly they can invest in collective inside the Limited company – with no further tax on resulting dividends and then liquidate the firm.  The subsequent payback from the administrators is taxed as a capital withdrawal (rather than an income withdrawal) at just 10%, with some element of entrepreneurs relief on top.

Secondly rather than sell they can leave the company to transform from a trading firm into a family investment company – with dividend withdrawals etc for life.  Perhaps not an option for IFAs, with their ongoing unlimited liabilities, but most firms can confidently cap all liability at the seven year long stop mark.  It is high risk strategy, but of course the cash is invested in the markets, so diluting the risk again.  

It takes a lifetime to understand any industry – ask any business owner- and financial services is no exception.  It all looks so simple from the outside, and is so devilishly complex when within.  However, retirement hits everyone at some stage, and advice is always required at this juncture.  For small business owners the traditional stamping ground is the small industrial estates that every small town in Britain has, usually tucked away in the most unprepossessing places, but full of ideas, ambitions and failure too.  All of life is there.