The Baby Boomer Business Transfer
Over half of US small businesses are owned by retiring boomers with no succession plan — target 65-plus owners before Blackstone does.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
Sanchez's macro thesis is that the widely-discussed generational wealth transfer is being misunderstood as bank accounts changing hands, when in fact the money is inside businesses. More than 50% of US small businesses are owned by baby boomers; they are reaching or past retirement; and roughly 65% of them have no transition plan, which she characterises as a plan to live forever. There are around 11 million small businesses for sale in the US and roughly 70% of them will never sell — either because they are not considered good enough businesses to sell traditionally, or simply because no buyer ever finds them. Since around 90% of a small business owner's net worth is tied up in the business, 90% of the trillions in the transfer is sitting in those companies. Her conclusion is directional: if ordinary buyers do not acquire them, that wealth simply evaporates, or BlackRock and Blackstone buy them, get richer, and own the communities instead. So the acquisition target profile is specific: 65-plus, looking for the next move, likely open to seller financing, running something a bit hairy that might be more like a job than a business.
Origin
Bartlett asked whether there was a particular age group he should be buying boring businesses from. Sanchez framed the boomer retirement wave as a generational wealth-creation event, and connected it directly to her wider argument about ownership being the only route to freedom and the big institutions being the default beneficiaries otherwise.
Core principles
- 01The transfer is in businesses, not bank accounts.
- 02Roughly 90% of a small-business owner's net worth is in the business.
- 03No transition plan is the norm, not the exception.
- 04Most businesses for sale will never find a buyer — that is your opportunity, not a warning.
- 05If ordinary buyers do not buy them, institutional capital will.
How to run it
- 1
Target owners aged 65-plus
Sanchez's stated profile is people 65 and older who are looking for their next move. The demographic wave is the deal flow — boomers are retiring at levels never seen before and own most of the small businesses.
Pro tip The absence of a transition plan is the opening; roughly 65% have none.
Watch out Younger owners generally have neither the urgency nor the openness to creative structures.
- 2
Expect a hairy business, not a polished one
Sanchez says the business will probably be a little hairy and might be more like a job than a business. That is why roughly 70% of the 11 million listed businesses will never sell — and why they are available to you at all.
Pro tip 'Not good enough to traditionally sell' means not good enough for institutional buyers, which is a different bar from not good enough for you.
Watch out A business that is really a job needs an operator plan before you close, not after.
- 3
Lead with seller financing
This cohort is likely open to seller financing because the alternative for most of them is shutting the business down and realising nothing at all.
Pro tip The seller's real alternative is often zero — that reframes what a fair offer looks like for both sides.
Watch out Do not assume openness; you still have to earn belief that you will not wreck the business.
- 4
Or apprentice into it
Sanchez offers a second route into the same cohort: be an apprentice inside the business and take it over. This solves the owner's succession problem and your capital problem simultaneously.
Pro tip This is the sweat-equity currency applied to a demographically motivated seller.
Watch out Apprenticeship without a written path to ownership is just a job at a declining company.
In the wild
Sanchez cites roughly 11 million US small businesses currently for sale, with around 70% that will never sell — either not considered good enough to sell traditionally, or never finding a buyer.
→ She treats the failure of the market to clear as the structural opportunity for individual buyers willing to look at unglamorous assets.
Sanchez's counterfactual: if ordinary people do not buy these businesses, BlackRock and Blackstone go in, buy them, get richer and own the communities.
→ It reframes acquisition as both a personal wealth move and a distributional one, which is the emotional core of her whole ownership message.
Common mistakes
Picturing the wealth transfer as cash
Sanchez says people are thinking bank accounts and money being handed down. Around 90% of an owner's net worth is inside the business, so 90% of the trillions is in small businesses — and unpurchased, it evaporates.
Dismissing hairy businesses
The businesses that will not clear a traditional sale are precisely the ones available to a small buyer. Applying institutional selection criteria removes your entire opportunity set.
Waiting for a listing to appear
With 70% never selling, the ones that reach a broker listing are a biased sample. The cohort has to be approached directly.
Is it for you?
Best for
Aspiring acquirers deciding who to approach, and anyone who needs a reason to believe deal flow exists at small cheque sizes.
Not ideal for
Buyers outside the US, where the demographic and SBA-financing specifics differ substantially.
From the transcript
“baby boomers right now are retiring across this country in levels that we have never seen this is a generational wealth creation event”
“65% of them do not have a transition plan so their plan is I'm going to live forever”
“when you are a small business owner 90% of your net worth is wrapped up in your business”
From the episode
Codie Sanchez: They're Lying To You About How To Get Rich! How To Turn $1,000 Into $1M! Hard Work Doesn't Build Wealth!
Codie Sanchez