Family-Biz Circle: The Boomer Handoff

Terry Basnight Hamlet isn't ready to think about retirement just yet. At 51, she's spent nearly three decades working in her family's construction-supplies company and only recently became its president. Though she knows dealing with succession issues is important, thinking about the next generation right now seems premature. After all, her own father, who headed up the company before her, never did step down: He simply kept working until he passed away at age 76.

It's a decidedly common phenomenon in family-business circles -- where entrepreneurs' fortune, worth, and identity are all wrapped up in their companies, and letting go can be a scary, if not impossible, proposition. As the baby boomers approach retirement age, however, they're proving to be business owners of a different breed. "They have a philosophy to enjoy life," says Bernard Kliska, a licensed family therapist and chairman of the Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center. "When they reach a certain age and a certain amount of money, they're happy to move over for the next generation."