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Succession Planning in the Summer Lull – Are Your Business Owner Clients Using August Wisely?

ended 07. August 2025

With many business owners taking a breather in August, now is the perfect time for them to pause and plan — especially when it comes to succession planning, key person cover, and shareholder protection.

Some advisers are telling us that more clients are using this quieter month to tackle the big questions:

What happens if a key person dies or becomes critically ill?

Are shareholder agreements and protection policies still fit for purpose?

Is there a clear and funded exit or retirement plan in place?

Are you seeing more business owners addressing succession planning this summer?

What advice are you giving clients on protecting their business and their family?

We're looking for comments from financial advisers, planners, solicitors, accountants, and other professionals.

If you'd like to be featured, drop your thoughts below or message us directly.

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Scott Gallacher
Director at Rowley Turton
Traditionally, many manufacturing firms—especially here in Leicester—would shut down for a two-week 'July Fortnight' to service machinery while staff took holidays. While most businesses now remain open year-round, July and August still tend to be quieter periods. That makes them an ideal time for business owners to step back from daily operations and work on the business. Rather than just catching up on admin, owners would be wise to use this time to review key areas such as shareholder protection, key person cover, and succession planning. These are often overlooked during the busy year, yet they’re vital to protect both the future of the business and the financial wellbeing of the owner's family.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Business owners often undervalue their own role, underpaying and leaving themselves financially exposed. Many rely on a future exit as their payday, but that assumes they get there. A fresh pair of eyes can highlight risks and opportunities they may not even realise exist. Getting expert advice is not just smart, it’s essential.
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David Stirling
Independent Financial Adviser at Mint Wealth
Business owners could do worse than set a day aside once a year to talk to a financial advisor. Getting a bird's eye view of the business from someone outside could help to highlight gaps in protection and potential tax savings that could be made with pension contributions and relevant life plans. If you don't have these discussions you may not realise that shareholder protection could match your continuity plans, and save you having to share an office with a deceased partner's wife. Key man cover could save your business in the event of a director having a heart attack and the bank starting to call in loans. There is a plethora of options that can be built as a bespoke portfolio to match every business needs, the only requirement is initial engagement from the business owners.
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Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
My IFA contacts suggest a growing awareness of these needs. With reduced operational demands, quieter periods like August often prompt business owners to reflect on long-term strategies, with many using this time to address critical “what-if” scenarios, such as the loss of a key person or planning an exit. Assess key person risks and secure insurance, review shareholder agreements, plan exits with funding, engage advisers, and protect both business and family with personal cover. Use August to update valuations and refine strategies before the busy autumn period hits us.
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Philly Ponniah
Chartered Wealth Manager and Financial Coach at Philly Financial
August gives business owners rare breathing room - it’s the perfect moment to step back and ask the deeper questions. Beyond legal cover or shareholder agreements, this is about clarity: what’s the legacy you’re building, and where do you want the money to go when you’re no longer in the driver’s seat? These conversations aren’t just about risk, they’re about values, impact, and intention. As a financial coach, I help clients zoom out from the day-to-day and start shaping a future that reflects what matters most. Protection isn’t just a business decision, it’s a family one too. If the founder is the business, they need to insure their role like they would any major asset.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
The notion that Britain's business owners spend the August lull serenely contemplating their succession plans is a charming fiction, likely dreamt up by the financial advice industry I suppose. In reality, the summer slowdown is a period of frantic operational triage, spent juggling staff holidays and praying that the order book for September materialises. The truth is that the vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises are run by founders who view succession planning with the same enthusiasm as scheduling their own autopsy.

Fewer than one in ten of the UK’s 5.5 million SMEs have a formal, written succession plan in place. The reluctance to plan is deeply psychological. You see, entrepreneurs are builders, not undertakers. We are wired to focus on growth, not on own exit. The financial services industry’s typical response, to lead with a technical discussion about key person insurance or shareholder agreements often misses the point entirely though.
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Colin Low
Managing Director at Kingsfleet
Having lost a colleague, who was only 35, it’s incumbent on all employers to consider the protection needs of their staff.
‘Key person cover’ provides a lump sum to the business which can buy time to replace the lost business or additional costs of losing important staff.
Additionally, ‘Death in Service’ cover can be established to provide a lump sum to the employee’s family should they die.
Employers should not delay in reviewing these issues as a death in the business can impact the health of the business as well as the individual’s family.