Online Business Blog

Walking away from your life’s work is a big step, and one that doesn’t come without its obstacles.

Determining your readiness to sell your business–sans any pressing circumstances to do so–largely comes down to two factors: 1) your financial readiness to sell a company, and 2) your emotional readiness to walk away from a company.

Assessing Your Financial Readiness to Sell a Company
Your financial situation, the easier of the two factors to consider, is oftentimes the one most overlooked by sellers.

The key question is whether the proceeds you will receive from selling your business will give you the financial means to leave the business.

For most business owners, the value of their business is a large chunk of their personal net worth.

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I’m often asked to help entrepreneurs and early-stage companies working in the medical device and health-care industry create presentations aimed at attracting millions of dollars in venture capital funding. Here’s a quick primer on how to go about the presentation process, no matter what industry you’re in:

Find someone to work with, to coach and to advise you on the presentation’s look and feel, as well as to rehearse and critique your delivery style. This person should be outside your core team. She should act as an unbiased third party, someone who can ask the difficult and/or annoying questions.

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Turmoil overseas has occupied U.S. traders for the last couple months, but, despite Friday’s selloff, Europe’s bailout of Greece could soon turn investors’ eyes back to economic and corporate conditions at home, particularly with a string of key indicators scheduled to be released over the next few weeks.

Some shift inward likely began early Monday morning with the announcement of the bailout and continued when Greece said Wednesday that it had received the first portion of its aid from the International Monetary Fund under conditions of austerity.

As for what happens next, investors appear split. The

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If most senators get their way, merchants that accept debit cards could soon get a price break. Whether consumers would benefit is a matter of debate.

On Thursday, the Senate voted 64-33 to amend the latest financial services reform legislation to limit interchange fees, transfer fees paid for by merchants to cardholders’ financial institutions each time shoppers pay with plastic.

The amendment seeks to rein in transaction fees for debit cards issued by banks (excluding small financial institutions) by bringing them under the purview of the Federal Reserve; the Fed would be given a mandate to make fees “reasonable and proportionate.” The measure, which was introduced last week by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), would also strip away certain provisions from Visa (V) and MasterCard’s (MA) contracts that prevent merchants from offering discounts for using debit cards or paying with cash and setting card minimums.

Whether the amendment becomes law now hinges on passage of the Senate’s broader financial reform package and support for the measure in bicameral negotiations. (The Ho

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GROWING OPTIMISM ABOUT A REVIVAL OF business and leisure travel has made Wall Street crazy for hotel stocks that investors abandoned in late 2008 and early 2009. Really crazy, based on the shares’ valuation.

Hotel profits are highly sensitive to modest changes in occupancy levels and room rates. As they say in the industry, room rates change overnight, allowing hotel operators to benefit quickly from an economic upturn, like the one that’s apparently under way in the U.S.

Hotel stocks, however, look overpriced because the industry is only starting to come out of one of its deepest slumps in decades.

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Strip away the hanD-wringing, and most retirement planning comes down to a few basic calculations – how much you have saved, and how quickly you’re going to spend it. The problem is that many factors can change those calculations, particularly in times of financial upheaval. The prospect of rapid change means workers should keep doing the math as they approach retirement to make sure their plans stay on track.

This week’s roundup of news for those in or near retirement focuses on some key calculations that can help you assess your financial health:

Slicing Up Your Retirement Nest Egg
Financial planners say most people think they’ll spend less in retirement than they actually do, often because they don’t know how much they’re spending now. The Chicago

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GOOD MORNING. Stocks in Asia closed lower today, European shares are down, and U.S. futures are pointing to a lower open.

The role that ratings agencies have long played for investors could be about to change. Yesterday, the Senate voted to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a credit-rating board that would choose which rating agency initially provides a rating for structured bonds. The directive, a part of the financial reform bill, hints at how the legislation could increase government intervention as it seeks to curb high risk in the financial sector.

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