A wave of business ownership is about to change hands, and Michael Gold says most families aren’t asking the right questions about who will guide them through it. The founder and CEO of Gold Family Wealth in Westport, Connecticut, points to research showing close to three-quarters of privately held business owners expect to sell or transition their companies within the next decade, a shift tied to an estimated $10 to $14 trillion in wealth.
Gold has spent more than 25 years advising entrepreneurs and multigenerational families through exactly these kinds of transitions. He holds an MBA in Quantitative Finance and Leadership from NYU’s Stern School of Business and carries a Certified Exit Planning Advisor designation alongside his Certified Financial Planner credential.
Why the Wrong Advisor Costs More Now
Gold warns that choosing the wrong advisor during a business transition can cost a family millions of dollars in avoidable taxes or structural mistakes. The complexity of these transitions, Michael Gold Westport says, demands an advisor who studies a family’s business, its finances, and its long-term goals before recommending any course of action, rather than someone eager to sell a product.
He compares the process to the diagnostics a surgeon runs before recommending treatment. Only after understanding the full picture, in his view, should an advisor lay out options ranked from conservative to aggressive.
Coordination Over Credentials
Even well-credentialed families, Gold notes, often end up surrounded by specialists who never talk to each other, leaving gaps that surface only after a transaction closes. Michael Gold firm’s approach centers on making sure every advisor involved, from tax preparer to estate attorney, moves in the same direction.
Michael Gold says business owners often underestimate how long proper preparation takes, sometimes needing years rather than months to line up tax, legal, and investment specialists before a sale closes. Starting early, he argues, is what turns a stressful transition into a manageable one.
For business owners in Westport and elsewhere approaching a sale or handoff, Gold’s advice is to find that coordination before the transition begins, not after. Follow this page on Instagram, for related information.
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