Knowledge and Insight > Plan for the Future

The Succession Planning Mirage And The Rising Need For Exit And Continuity Planning Of Lifestyle Practices Instead

Michael Kitces | Nerd's Eye View, September 2014

Summary: As the average age of financial advisors creeps higher each year, and grows closer and closer to the traditional age of retirement, a growing chorus of voices have warned of the looming onslaught of advisors retiring, the lack of young talent to take over their firms, and thus a wave of advisory firms that will come up for sale resulting in a competitive a buyer’s market that will make advisors regret having waited to sell.

Perhaps it’s time to stop criticizing what as many as 99% of advisors are already clearly demonstrating they don’t want to do succession planning and leave their practices before they are financially and personally ready to do so, and focus instead on how to help advisors redesign towards the kind of lifestyle wind-down practices they do want, with better support for exit and continuity planning instead.