Knowledge and Insight
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The Fatal Succession Planning Mistake
Added on November 2013 in Plan for the Future
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Summary: The scope of the succession problem in the independent advisory industry is well-documented. Baby boom generation of advisory firm owners are on the brink of retiring over the next 10 years or so, with some sources estimating that as many as 50,000 of their firms—and $4 trillion in client assets—will be changing hands or closing their doors. The vast majority of the owners of these firms would prefer to transition ownership to their junior partners in an internal succession. Yet very few have taken steps to make this happen, even at this late date.
Don't Sell Your Practice, Redesign it
Added on November 2013 in Plan for the Future
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Summary: A great deal has been written about succession planning over the last two years. Most of it focused on selling your practice to either a younger version of yourself or merging into a larger firm and transitioning your clients over a period of time. Clearly they are options, but they may not be the best options. We believe you are better off redesigning your practice to accommodate your lifestyle – perhaps a retirement lifestyle – and continuing to run your practice for many more years before considering a sale.
Realizing your ideal model
Added on November 2013 in Plan for the Future
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Summary: Best-managed advisory firms are constantly innovating, revising their business plans and seeking to drive the next iteration of growth. What is different for advisory firms now is the pace of change is so fast that standing still is not an option – advisors may simply be lapped by the field!
Why You Shouldn't Name Your Firm After Yourself
Added on November 2013 in Plan for the Future
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Summary: When veteran financial advisors Eric Clark and Cheryl Sherrard were trying to come up with a moniker for their new practice, they were determined to keep their names out of it. “We didn’t want the brand tied to anyone in the firm,” says Clark, president of 10-month-old Clearview Wealth Management, a practice in Charlotte, N.C., with about $52 million under management. “You have to think ahead 10 or 25 years, when the people now involved may be retired or even at other firms.”
What must a succession plan entail?
Added on October 2013 in Plan for the Future
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Summary: Rebecca Pomering, chief executive of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC, helped somewhere between dozens and hundreds of advisory firms develop succession plans during her 11 years as a management consultant for Moss Adams LLP. Now she heads up the firm's strategic-planning and growth objectives. Her firm doesn't have a succession plan document, but its six partners all have identified successors whom they continually train and develop, Ms. Pomering said.
