If you are running a business, the last thing you want is to spend time with solicitors, accountants and bankers. But often, this is how small problems become big ones. For example:

• There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with an employee who isn’t working out well for you. The difference between the two can cost you thousands. Get advice early on.
  
  
• There is no single best way to structure your business. However, it is important to look at your situation early on and plan for the future sale of the business, or the takeover by the next generation. If you leave this until a few years before retirement, you may find that you have "locked up" assets which cannot be unlocked without severe tax consequences. The time to deal with issues like this is not when you are retiring, but when you buy your first shop, office or factory unit. This means getting advice from a good solicitor and a good accountant, and getting further advice if needed. This might be the best money you spend in the early years of growing your business.
  
  
• If you are in business with one or more partners, you need to make sure that if a partner dies, the business will be able to carry on. A properly drawn up shareholders agreement or partnership agreement, backed up by Life Insurance to help buy out the interest of the dead partner/shareholder, is the most common solution.
  
  
• Likewise, whether in partnership with others or on your own, you need to make sure that if anything happens to you, your spouse and children will be looked after. At Keaveny Walsh we don’t sell any sort of Life Insurance products. We don’t have any sort of referral deal with any banks, brokers or insurance companies. So when we give you general advice on your business affairs you can rest assured that we aren’t interested in selling you anything. If (as part of such general advice) we tell you that you need Life Insurance, THEN YOU REALLY DO.