Contributed to EO by Saul Simon, a certified financial planner, a registered representative of Lincoln Financial Advisors and founder of Simon Financial Group. This article is the first in a series of three about having “The Talk” with your business partners, parents and adult children.

One important life lesson we learned from the pandemic is that we should all expect the unexpected. We also learned that it’s not necessarily easy to plan for the unexpected. And yet, most of us wish we had done a better job of it in at least some aspect of our lives.

Plan for unexpected outcomes

When it comes to business partnerships, it’s better to have a plan for unexpected outcomes and not need it, than to need a plan for an unexpected event and not have one in place.

That’s why financial planners recommend having “The Talk” with your business partner. It can be a difficult and somewhat sensitive discussion; however, it has significant implications that could impact you and your partner, the families of all the partners, your employees, and other stakeholders.