• 10,000 baby boomers are retiring each day, starting in 2012. That is a total of about 300,000 individuals retiring each month for the next 20 years. The percentages of these retirees who may have businesses to sell may be small, but in aggregate the numbers are quite large.
• The largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind, as part of this retirement boom, is in the process of taking place. Getting on the front end of this wave will certainly prove beneficial as business owners seek for the best way to come to their liquidity event.
• Because of the last couple of “bust” years, companies who had previously been on the market or who had been thinking seriously of selling their businesses and subsequently taken themselves off the market, are now feeling a bit more hopeful about getting their corporation sold for a better payout.

As we continue to see the generational shift over the next few years, the expansion of middle market M&A activity will also see a surge. When it comes to selling your company, finding an advisory firm with experience will be essential to getting top dollar for your enterprise. Finding a premiere Seattle investment bank will be ideal for your own liquidity event.

We are seeing the investment banking institutions brace for the worst as markets roil over what has happened and liquidity squeezes are happening all over the place. Cold feet in the merger and acquisition space also run rampant as companies watch their potential liquidity dry up before their eyes.

So as the banks sound the alarm bells it looks like rough waters remain ahead. Mr. Staley of JP Morgan expects investment banking revenues to fall by approximately $1 billion this quarter, down from about $1.9 billion last quarter. He is also confident that his private equity business will be losing about $100 million as well, an event which he calls “moderate” compared to all the other issues which are currently being seen.

The fall-off seen in trading is only natural given the huge market swings we are currently seeing as the markets begin their downward slope. Mark my words, however, such swings are only natural and will not take too much time to shift to gains. The current political situation also shows large shifts as well. Commodities markets, such as those in electricity & natural gas have also seen major fluctuations of late. This will eventually sort itself out, but in the meantime it may take some time for things to truly come back on an even keel. Meanwhile, the banks will continue to brace for the worst and hope for the best. What will you be doing in the coming months?

The likes of Google and PayPal are both looking for ways to enter this very untested space. There are a number of issues which are rampant. But think for a minute of how convenient it will be to never have to really carry around a wallet any more. You will simply scan your phone and the near field communication (NFC) chip will immediately debit your account.

Switching costs will be very high for both consumers and businesses, but we will probably see more kickback from the businesses who provide point-of-sale solutions ans support for such solutions. Why? This is their bread and butter baby. Cut out the margins they receive on POS and other hardware/software combinations and they have absolutely no business whatsoever. Consumers will not be ditching plastic right away either. A large disruption in the status quo like this will take years to achieve, but will probably have big dividends to the company that can truly pull it off.

On the other hand, the obsolescence of hardware and software in such units will force a newer generation of devices to be adopted and when NFC chips begin to become standard in most mobile devices, there will almost certainly be a flock to dump the credit cards and find some even better method for charging thing on account. I’m excited because I know that this will also help the transaction to be much more secure, especially if they are equipped with a thumbprint scanner.