After years of long hours, sacrifice and the inevitable shaky moments, the effort seems worth it. Your business is successful and now you've decided to sell up and start the next chapter in your life.

After focusing most of your attention on building the business, how much time has been put into your wealth management, and how have you been planning for the future?

Not knowing what to do with your money after selling-up is a nice problem to have, but just like making sure a business does the best it possibly can, managing wealth is something that needs strategic thought.

Each person's circumstances is different, as are their plans for the future and attitude towards financial risk. That's why wealth management needs a bespoke approach.

One of the main things to remember in wealth management is to review your financial assets with an advisor to ascertain where you see yourself in the future and enable the advisor to draw up your personal wealth management strategy.

This step is crucial as it is impossible for an advisor to guess each individual's priorities. A good advisor will help you place importance on different issues affecting future wealth, and will regularly re-evaluate your situation to make sure your strategy continues to meet your needs.

Your advisor will want to make sure you have an up-to-date will, as it ensures your wealth is passed to your chosen beneficiaries' tax efficiently.

One of the most common ways to manage inheritance liabilities is by placing money into trust. This not only means greater tax efficiencies, but also ensures any younger beneficiaries aren't given control of their inheritance until they are old enough to manage it for themselves.

Planning in advance of the sale of your business is key, and you want to know if your advisor has an investment strategy in place that will make your wealth work for you. You'll also want to know there are financial safeguards in place to give you the peace of mind of knowing your, and your family's, future is secure.

Selling your business can be stressful, but the thought of "what's next" need not be daunting if you have the right advisor.

* Rick Warburton is a managing partner of Yorkshire Bank's Tees Valley Financial Solutions Centre