- Every now and then I get
a friend or a family member saying that they're interested in buying some type of a business. So this wouldn't be about
starting a business, but there might be an existing business. Maybe it's a convenience store or maybe it's some type
of health care practice or whatever it might be, and they say, hey, I'm going to buy this
from the existing owner and I think it's going
to be a great business. And they'll often say it
generates this much money and I only have to put this much in and it feels risk free. And what I tend to tell them, and I don't wanna be one
of these naysayer people, I say, possibly. But what you always have to think about is why are they selling it? And sometimes there's a good
reason why they're selling it. Maybe they're retiring and they don't have someone to pass the business onto and they see in you kind of
the person that they would love to see running that
business going forward. That could be a very legitimate thing. But oftentimes, there might be situations where they might be pumping
up some of the numbers, they might be showing you business in the busy season or on the busy day. And so I wouldn't take, especially
if it's a small business that doesn't have auditing, that doesn't have really
strict accounting practices. I would observe the business
for a very long period of time and I would take your own data as to whether the numbers
you're hearing about are real. And I also wouldn't
discount how much effort and work the existing
owner is putting into it and what happens to the business if they're no longer there. If all of that works out and if it really does make sense, then, yeah, you might be onto something.
Careers brought to you with support from Better Money Habits® Powered by Bank of America® Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. Investment Products: Are Not FDIC Insured, Are Not Bank Guaranteed, May Lose Value