THE streets and parks have been reclaimed by adults, the morning commute takes an extra 20 minutes and the nation’s parents breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Yes, the schools are back in session and for hundreds of thousands of children, the learning begins again.

But there’s no reason why that should only apply to our scholars and students.

One of the best ways to gain a competitive advantage in business is to learn how to make the most of your time.

Through continuous learning, personal development, and by making the best use of the expertise of others, it’s easier to keep up with and get control of a business, a career, and the latest developments in your sector.

That’s the key, sticking to what you know best, and leaving the rest to those who know better.

For business owners and executives, letting someone else have control is a tricky skill to master, but it can really pay off.

With few exceptions, you should only take advice from people who are active or very recent practitioners in their field.

Information you might find online to guide you can be true in theory, but will be practically useless to you as an individual with a complex life and finances.

This is why financial planners and wealth managers provide the skills and discipline needed to ensure that you and your family go on to enjoy a great quality of life after you sell a business, pass it on, or retire from working.

So, a business owner needs to focus their efforts not on DIY finances, but on selecting an appropriate adviser or investment manager.

The end of summer is a time of change and therefore also a good time to review the role of your business in your long-term personal financial planning.

For a lot of business owners, the business plan and the personal plan have a tendency to become the same thing.

It’s easy to think 'Retirement? I’ll just sell the business.'

Think about it for a minute though, and having total reliance on one thing is a real gamble.

Selling up can only realistically be a single (albeit large) cog in what is essentially a very complicated machine, requiring constant maintenance to run smoothly and run sustainably.

Being wrapped up in it, business owners tend to overvalue their company and can be shocked and more than a little dismayed when they learn how others value it.

The selling price doesn’t always support the lifestyle people see themselves enjoying in retirement.

Price is also a major factor in how quickly a company sells, as is the sector.

A business may take a good while to sell and without anything else in place, there’s real potential for frustration.

Worst case scenario, there may be factors beyond a person’s control that result in not surviving a recession, or aggressive competition meaning that very quickly a person can lose the one asset they were counting on for retirement.

Learning, then, is not only for the young but it’s vital to learn about the right things.

Sticking to what you know will help you keep succeeding at what you love, and learn to leave the rest to others.

Understanding that a professional and accurate assessment of your situation in financial planning reduces risk, and gives you more control over when and how you come to sell your business is the lesson for the day.

Brewin Dolphin can help with all of this, and more.

Your homework is to pick up the phone and get in touch now.

It’s never too early to plan ahead.

Speaking of which, the traffic will be terrible now the schools are back.

Better allow a few more minutes this morning.