Buying a Practice? 5 Things You MUST Ask the Selling Advisor and Appraiser

Matthew Halloran | IRIS, August 2016

Summary: Practice acquisition (acquiring a retiring advisor's practice) is an incredibly lucrative way to grow your business exponentially, and as advisors age, there will be ample opportunity for younger advisors to acquire practices. In the next 10-15 years, there's going to be a glut of for sale by owner practices, but the simple fact is that they are not going to be worth the multiples that are being thrown around now.

When you're looking at purchasing a practice, you need to have the next layer of investigation done for these five areas. There are many other ways that they selling advisor is getting paid on their book that could truly affect the value and what you should be paying for the practice. Be careful and ask more questions about the numbers. These guidelines should help ensure you pay a fair price for a practice.”