J une 12, 1996 • T he P o r r ano O bserver
Small Business Owners Focus More on
Retirement Than Most Americans
New National Survey Shows Long-
Term Business Planning Not as Im
portant as Retirement Planning for
Many Small Businesses
W hile financial analysts warn that
many Am ericans are not investing
enough time and money in planning
for retirement, small business owners
appear to be looking to the future. In
a national survey of more than 400
small business owners conducted by
K eyC orplN Y SE: KEY), the nation's
second largest lender to small busi
ness. 86 percent o f respondents indi
cated that they have a plan in place for,
or have put considerable thought into,
their retirement. This is in contrast to
60 percent o f Americans w ho say they
have a financial plan in place for m eet
ing future retirement goals
Yet results from this S p rin g ’s
"KeyCorp Survey of Small Business
Sentiment” dem onstrate that though
small business owners are ready for
retirement, other long term planning
issues tend to receive less attention.
While71 percent of respondents agreed
that they did have a business plan
firmly in place for the next year, that
number dropped to 46 percent when
the question was extended to having a
plan in place for three or more years.
Small businesses in the service and
manufacturing industries came out as
better long-term planners, along with
those com panies that described them
selves as technologically advanced.
Ih e se m ore high-tech businesses
scored higher marks on planning for
the next year, as well as for several
years down the road. The Q uestion of
Succession.
W ide gaps in long-term planning
by small businesses were reflected in
responses on succession preparations.
A little more than half o f the small
business ow ners surveyeddidcite hav
ing a strategy in place: 38 percent said
that they were in the midst o f imple
menting a succession plan and 16 per
cent said that they have a plan that is
no, yet implemented. However, 26
percent said that though they’d put
some thought into succession, they
had not crafted any specific plan. A n
other 15 percent adm itted to having
not put any thought into the issue.
W hen asked about their concerns
regarding succession, the majority of
respondents (26 percent) indicated that
finding the right person is their great
est challenge. Succession worries
seemed less for family- ow ned busi
nesses, as 54 percent responded that a
successor was very likely to be chosen
from within the family itself. These
family-owned small businesses tended
toward greater general attention to
long-term planning. Planning Ahead
for Growth Results of the KeyCorp
survey indicate that faster growth and
long- term planning go hand in hand.
Those com panies which had rapid
growth over the past few years also
tended to have business plans in place
for the com ing years — 53 percent
versus only 40 percent o f the slower
growth small businesses. In terms of
successio n planning, th o se high-
growth smal I busi nesses were als< > more
likely to be in the process o f im ple
menting their succession plan, by 43
percent versus the 33 percent o f slower
growth businesses.
"Planning forthe future is, o f course,
crucial for any business," said Sandy
Maltby, senior vice president, Key
Small Business Services. “The survey
results dem onstrate that small busi
nesses do appreciate the need for plan
ning, especially in the area o f retire
ment. Yet we see in those businesses
which put an emphasis on facing those
other long-term issues, such as ques
tions of succession, a real correlation
with faster growth and stronger perfor
mance. In looking ahead to the future,
small businesses need to make sure
that theirplanningiscovering all those
critical bases.”
For the respondents w ho have a l
ready put thought into their retire
ment, the average age that they an
ticipate bow ing out o f their day-to-
day du ties is 61 years old. H ow ever,
when asked it they had the m eans to
w alk aw ay from their business and
retire tom orrow , 56 percent said they
w ould not do so. The greatest p er
centage of sm all business ow ners
said that they plan to travel during
retirem ent (31 percent), w hile g o lf
(16 p ercent) and oth er leisure and
fam ily oriented activities w ere also
cited. At least 15 percent said that
they w ill either continue w orking or
w ill start another business.
T he tilth w av e o f th e “ K ey C o rp
S u rv e y o f S m all B u s in e ss S e n ti
m ent w as c o n d u c te d by W irth lin
W o rld w ide fro m A p ril 10 to M ay
1, 1996 T h is s e m i-a n n u a l s u r
vey is b ased on a r e p r e s e n ta tiv e
c r o s s - s e c tio n n a tio n a l sa m p le o f
c o m p a n ie s w ith a n n u a l sa le s from
$1 to $3 m illio n . A to ta l o f 4 0 7
b u sin e ss h ead s w ere in te rv ie w e d .
S a m p le e rr o r fo r th e to ta l sa m p le
is p lu s /m in u s 5 p e rc e n t at a 95
p e rc e n t c o n fid e n c e in te rv a l.
T h u s, in 95 o u t o f 100 c a s e s , a
su rv e y ol th is siz e p ro d u c e s r e
su lts w ith in p lu s /m in u s 5 p e rc e n t
o f the re su lt o b ta in e d had all b u s i
n e s se s o f th is siz e an d in d u stry
c o m p o s itio n been in te rv ie w e d .
Dole Bids fare-well
to Senate
On the eve o f ending his 35-year
congressional career. Bob Dole be
gan his goodbyes to W ashington
M onday with two festive events with
overtones o f victory rallies.
Dole, w ho leaves the Senate Tues-
day to devote him self full-tim e to his
Republican presidential cam paign,
kicked o ff his farew ells at a flag-
w aving gathering in the House o f
R epresentatives.
“The next tim e I see you will be
next January when I deliver my State
o f the Union m essage,” Dole, who
spent eight years in the H ouse before
m oving to the Senate, told members.
But until then, he told his con
gressm an, Kansas Republican Pat
Roberts, he would be asking like any
other constituent: ’’W hat have you
done for me lately ?”
Dole, who stunned W ashington
last m onth when he announced his
planned resignation, will bid fare
well to R epublicans at a lunch T ues
day and m ake a last speech on the
S enate floor.
His successor, K ansas Lt. Gov.
Sheila Frahm , will be sworn in al
most im m ediately after his resigna
tion becom es effective.
The first farew ell was set up as a
victorious rally. H ouse m em bers,
staff and TV cam eras cram m ed into
part o f the ornate, flag-draped House
caucus room .
B laring Sousa m arches and Aaron
C o p lan d ’s “Fanfare for the C om m on
M an" greeted Dole as he walked
with his wife Elizabeth alongaroped-
o ff corridor dow n the m iddle o f the
room. Dole, in his resignation an
nouncem ent, had said he w ould be “a
private citizen ... ju st a m an.”
Rep. John B oehner o f O hio, intro
duced Dole as "M r. President." House
freshm an J.C. W alts o f O klahom a
gave Dole a football signed by all
m em bers and New Y o rk ’s Susan
M olinari gave him jo k e gifts, includ
ing a form to register his change o f
address from his Senate office to
1600 Pennsylvania A venue — the
W hite House.
L a te r M o n d a y , sp e a k e r a fte r
speaker at a Republican fund-raising
dinner referred to Dole as the next
president, and Dole introduced his
wife as the next first lady.
In his speech to the national Re
publican Congressional C om m ittee’s
H ouse-Senate Dinner, D ole said his
biggest regret on leaving Congress
was failing to get a constitutional
am endm ent to balance the budget on
the books.
In w hat was part stum p speech,
D ole also accused President Clinton
o f stealing Republican ideas in the
presidential election cam paign and
took a sw ipe at the W hite H ouse for
obtaining FBI files on prom inent
Republicans.
" It’s good to see the faces who
m atch the nam es (on the FBI list),”
D ole said.
Learn about
current job
openings at
PGE.
Call our Job Information
Hotline, (503) 464-7441
or our TDD Access Line,
(503)464-2996. PGE
only accepts resumes or
applications on current
job openings. No agency
referrals please.
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General
Electric,
our people
are our
greatest
resource.
PGE is a Pacific Northwest utility
headquartered in Portland, Ore
gon serving 700,000 customers
and employing 2,600 people.
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and cultures combine their expe
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PGE honors diversity. We
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