Steve Buster Expect Quotations

Half the businesses we surveyed are family-owned. About a quarter of these owners expect to retire or sell sometime in the next five years -- but only 13 percent expect the businesses to stay in the family -- with 35 percent having no idea what they will do or expecting to close down. Owners often spend an entire lifetime building their businesses -- but rarely give thought to what will happen when they are ready to retire. As a family-owned business ourselves, we strongly encourage businesses to start planning now -- to minimize taxes and address other financial and emotional considerations.

Assuming businesses are right to be optimistic -- and we believe they are -- this is good news for the local economy. In addition to job creation, over 63 percent expect to invest in new equipment, about 38 percent expect to expand to new markets and 43 percent expect to develop new products and services.