It's always good to have an exit strategy from your fishing business, regardless of what stage your business is in. An exit strategy for a mature business is different from a new entrant or growing operation where an operator may need to think about worst case scenarios with lots of debt. Therefore retirement planning for self-employed, family-run businesses has unique challenges. We've gathered a few resources that fishermen (and farmers) have found useful when looking ahead. 

 

When planning an exit strategy, there are several considerations. Think about your financial needs in retirement, the financial health of your fishing operation and your willingness to let go of a business you have likely built from the ground up. All business transfers require pre-planning and engaging any partners (i.e. family member, crew) in the process early.

You may want to pass your entire business on to a targeted buyer if you want to keep the business within your family or community. On the other hand, not everyone will sell or transfer their business as a whole, and will instead sell off parts of it. However you plan to divest, there will always be capital gains to consider. An understanding of corporation or partnership structures to ease the transfer process, gifting your fishing assets, and, of course, other tax implications of various transfer strategies is also critical to your planning.  All these topics and more are covered in the Alaska Sea Grant publication "How to Make a Directed Transfer of Your Fishing Business."

There are several seller-financing options if you have a targeted buyer. Self-financing your intended buyer or family member over an extended period of time can help ease your tax burden. Another mechanism would be using a third-party to oversee long-term payments by using an escrow service or a participation loan such as outlined in the following PowerPoint presentation.

To further explore ideas about transferring your business, click or download the mp3 below to hear a few experts give their perspectives on fishing business transfers, during an online class hosted by Alaska Sea Grant. 

When you're healthy and busy, creating a will probably feels like an inconvenient and expensive chore. But the fact that you've chosen a physically risky and demanding occupation, you own business assets, and you may have family obligations points to the importance of getting a will in place early in your career.

Before you can legally sell or transfer fishing permits or quota, you must comply with certain state and federal government requirements. Links to several required forms are in this section.