Start By Asking This Important Question

When it comes to my succession planning, do I want to do it alone, or do I want to involve others in the process?

I want to do it alone

Going solo to plan and execute your retirement is possible, and people have done it. If you decide to go this route, it will probably follow a format along these lines:

You find a successor

• This person may be someone you already have in mind, whether it is a junior associate, someone you know, or another advisor.
• Finding a successor who is worthy of the role has traditionally been difficult for independent advisors to do. It takes a long time and you may never be satisfied with the candidates out there.
• This is despite the fact that current market conditions reveal that there are more buyers than sellers in the market. Even though it’s a seller’s market, you as the seller have a vested interest in making sure that the buyer is a good fit for your clients and will run the business the way you have done it.

You create legal documentation

• Executing your succession requires legal agreements on many different points, from the valuation of your practice to the details of the transaction to the timeline of transferring clients to the new advisor.
• You’ll want the support of a lawyer, an accountant, and other administrative personnel to provide input for the documentation that you create for this phase.

You determine how the deal will be financed

• Some advisors self-finance the deal on a payment plan, since most junior advisors don’t have the capital to buy the practice outright.
• Other advisors work with their successors to find financing so that they can be paid upfront.

I want to involve others in the process

Involving a team can bring many benefits to the table, relieving you of many of the mundane administrative and legal burdens associated with the succession process. Again, this can look many different ways in different contexts, but here’s roughly how it looks when you bring advisorRETIRE on board to help you to transition.

You get a turnkey succession plan that has already been proven.

• advisorRETIRE lays the groundwork for the practical aspects of succession planning, so that you don’t have to come up with it on your own.
• We have ironed out the kinks in this process in our 10 years of experience, so the succession plan model is already set up to avoid known or common pitfalls.

You get access to administrative staff and legal personnel who are here to bridge the gap between your expertise and the expertise required to successfully transition to retirement.

• advisorRETIRE has a knowledgeable staff who work in all the specialized knowledge areas that you’ll need on hand for your succession plan’s execution.
• Having these people to work on your behalf helps you to achieve scale and saves you from stretching your staff thin or needing to hire additional people, which could use up some of your EBITDA and result in a lower valuation for your practice.

You get paid upfront and financing is not a worry that’s on your plate.

• Once you enter into agreement with advisorRETIRE about completing your retirement through us, you’ll get an initial down payment on your practice.
• advisorRETIRE also covers all the fees associated with filing the various paperwork.
• You’ll still have time to grow the size of your book so that the final step will give you the maximum reward for all your long years of effort and faithful service on behalf of your clients. The timeline for this is flexible and depends on how long you want it to be.

Forming a succession plan can be a daunting process if you go it alone, but if you decide to involve others, advisorRETIRE can come alongside you to do the legwork, expand your possibilities, and allow you to simply plug yourself in to a succession plan that’s ready-made and customizable to your needs.

Contact us today to get started with the process!