Plan a business exit for retirement

If you own a business, its future is part of your retirement picture. On the Business Retirement card in your retirement settings, you tell the projection what happens to each business when you retire — sell it, keep the income, scale back, or close it. This is a Pro feature, and each business is set on its own.

Before you start

• You need Pro with both retirement planning and business tracking, and at least one business added under Businesses. See Track a side business.
• The Business Retirement card only appears once you have a business — if you don't see it, add a business first.
• You need permission to update retirement settings (the account owner always has it).

Steps

1. Go to Retirement (opens in a new tab) and open the Business Retirement settings card.
2. Find the business you want to plan for — each one has its own section.
3. Set its Retirement Strategy:
   • Sell at Retirement — a one-time payout when you retire.
   • Continue Passively — keep the income without active work.
   • Continue Actively (Partial Retirement) — keep the income while still working part of the time.
   • Close / Give Away / No Payout — the business ends and adds no value.
4. For Sell at Retirement, enter the Expected Sale Price (Today's Dollars) — what you'd expect to receive after taxes and fees if you sold today.
5. For Continue Passively or Continue Actively, set the Income Inflation Rate and drag Scale of Operation in Retirement to the share of today's income you plan to keep.
6. Review the projection to see your choice reflected — a sale shows up as a one-time amount at your retirement age.

How the projection handles it

• Sell at Retirement: you enter the sale price in today's dollars. The projection grows it to your retirement age using your general inflation rate and adds it to your retirement savings as a one-time boost the year you retire.
• Continue Passively / Continue Actively: you tell the projection the business keeps producing income. The Scale of Operation percentage sets how much of today's income continues (100% keeps it the same, 50% halves it), and the Income Inflation Rate grows that amount each year until you retire.
• Close / Give Away / No Payout: the business stops and contributes no sale proceeds or income to the projection.
• You provide the numbers. The projection uses the values you enter for the business. It doesn't value your business or estimate taxes on a sale for you — enter a sale price that already reflects taxes and selling costs.

Good to know

• One strategy per business. If you run more than one business, each gets its own strategy — you can sell one, keep another, and close a third in the same plan.
• Switching to Sell can pre-fill a price. If the business has a valuation set, choosing Sell at Retirement suggests a starting sale price from it. Check it and adjust to what you'd realistically receive.
• Changes save as you go and update the projection. Adjust a strategy or a number and the projection recalculates — these are planning inputs, not commitments.
• Estimates are only as good as your inputs. PiggySize models the numbers you enter — it doesn't value your business for you. A CPA or business broker can help you set a realistic sale price.