Life as an independent retailer certainly isn’t always plain sailing and it wouldn’t be the first career choice for anyone wanting a quiet life. Preparing for your retirement, then, is an opportunity to secure your future, plan for a less stressful next stage of life and – vitally – catch up on all those hours of sleep.
“Having clarity about your retirement, how you are going to get there and what your financial situation will be is both good for your mental health and giving your family a sense of security,” explains Sarj Patel, who owns and runs Pasture Lane Stores in Sutton Bonnington, Leicestershire.
A successful plan is not something that can be executed in a matter of weeks, however, and Patel says retailers should be ready for years of preparation.
“If you choose to sell on your business then the process of finding a buyer can take 12 months alone,” he says.
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“Before that, you should think carefully about what happens to your property and how to maximise its value to you for your retirement.”
Yet planning your retirement is also an opportunity to safeguard the future of your business and its role in the community.
“Our business now goes by Woody’s, which is what the shop was known as in the community when we ran it,” says David Woodrow, who sold his newsagent business in Bishopton, near Glasgow, in 2020. “We take that as a compliment.”
Woodrow agrees that planning his retirement was “three-to-four years” in the making.
With that in mind, this week we find out how you can put in place plans for your retirement, no matter what stage of your career you might be at.
