Preparing for the Legacy of Your Business 

February 19, 2013 - Day 1

8:00 am            Welcome Breakfast

8:30 am            Jolene Brown presents “If We Huff and Puff, Will We Blow Your House Down?”

 If you've ever built a house, a farm shop or an office building, you know the need for a blueprint, an experienced contractor, carefully chosen materials, and a strong foundation. The same is needed for building a family business. Most of us would rather skip all that stuff and hang tools on a shop’s new pegboard or install granite countertops in the kitchen.

In my years of working with many families, I've seen what happens when we ignore the vital basic foundation work and take the short cuts. The problems come when the winds of discontent, economic pressure, different expectations, conflicting goals and multiple generations collide.  It's not long until the "house" and the relationships within are blown down.

In this upbeat, value-packed session, we'll take a look at seven specific tools that help different generations work together successfully. With lots of real life examples and interaction, we'll discover that when constructed correctly, not only do we have a solid, productive and profitable result, we also have laid the foundation for the legacy of a family business. * Jolene Brown's session will be videotaped. 

12:00 pm          Lunch

1:00 pm            Kyle Enger presents "Transitioning the Closely Held Business"

As a specialist in business transitions for family owned and closely held companies, Kyle Enger has been generating results for middle market entrepreneurs for over 20 years. Distinguished by operational expertise, Kyle is committed to providing family-owned companies with the tools to achieve both their strategic and financial goals. Kyle’s hands-on practical approach based on real-world examples has resonated with business owners. Whether the transition options facing your company involve acquisitions, restructures, equity investments, or long-term succession planning, our team of professionals will provide you with the tools you need to navigate through these often tumultuous times.

5:00 pm            Closing Remarks

March 12, 2013 - Day 2

8:00 am          Welcome Breakfast

8:30 am          Steve Bohr, Columnist, Iowa Farmer Today

There has been a "perfect storm" brewing for years in the agriculture sector. The evolvement of any number of individual factors (interest rates, estate and gift tax, income tax, owner demographics and longevity, historic real estate values, unsustainable long-term cash flow requirements, control of a legacy asset and family dynamics) could create unacceptable risk for a closely held business to continue to the next generation. The concern is the possibility of a combination of multiple factors occurring at once which could result in negative consequences of an unusual magnitude. 

We will discuss 5 specific business continuation examples with real-life discussion on how to effectively minimize future business transition issues.

10:00 am        Mike Regan, CPA, Bergan Paulsen

As accountants working with closely held companies and middle income taxpayers, Mike Regan and his team will discuss details of the recently enacted American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The tax update will also cover a range of estate tax and long-term succession planning issues including business mergers and acquisitions.  

12:00 pm        Lunch

1:00 pm          Bill Hochstetler, Attorney, Shuttleworth & Ingersoll

Bill's work as an attorney focuses on business and estate planning for closely-held businesses and their owners. Successful ownership transition of a family business from one generation to the next is the exception, not the rule. Here are some questions/issues that will be discussed: 

• Giving the next generation some ownership...  without taking too much risk.
• Keeping control...how much?
• Can I give up more than 50% of ownership and still have control?
• Fair is not always equal. Really?
• Do I need another LLC, corporation, or LLLP?
• How do I reduce or eliminate the impact of estate taxes?
• Should my lawyer know what my tax advisor and financial planner are suggesting? 

2:30 pm          Mark Ahlers, Trust Officer, Hills Bank Trust and Wealth Department

This is an empowering time. And it is a time of transition. Your business is well-established, you have a good handle on your finances and you’ve accomplished many goals. From a financial standpoint, however, one of your most important goals is still on the horizon: your retirement.

Hills Bank Trust and Wealth Management* will present steps involved in transitioning from business owner/entrepreneur to retiree and managing risk and return expectations of your investable assets.

4:00 pm          Closing Remarks

* Not FDIC Insured; No bank guarantee; May lose value.