What is Financial Planning? Today, employees have more choices than ever in terms of employee benefit programs and are taking a more active role in securing their financial future. An employee benefit that can help your employees to understand the often confusing world of investment and retirement planning is financial planning education/services. Many employees would [...]

Determining the value of your business is something you should not attempt to do on your own, especially because the IRS could challenge your valuation. Even the IRS acknowledges that no one true fair market value (FMV) exists for a closely held business. There are appraisers who specialize in determining the value of businesses. Your [...]

A common conviction among many financial advisory founders is a sense their business will close when they retire. That may keep you working longer that you’d like to. Sensing that the vision, dedication and hard work you developed into a thriving business will go up in smoke – just doesn’t feel right. A 2017 PwC study showed [...]

Many financial advisors isolate their personal goals from their business goals when developing a succession strategy. They tend to not ask themselves what’s going to be most important once they retire. This failure leads to making short-term succession decisions instead of providing a long-term solution.When you’re thinking about business succession planning, it’s also time to [...]

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Looking ahead to develop a succession plan, and then execute it, lets you see your financial advisory firm’s business challenges and create a succession strategy to address them. But give yourself plenty of time. Proper assessment can take up to [...]

Identifying a successor that can be an effective leader is critical to the future of your financial advisory firm. Finding the right candidate with all the qualities you need isn’t easy. Whether your potential successor is already part of your team, a family member with an interest in the business or a candidate you’re interviewing [...]

If you’ve started to think about finding a successor to take over your financial advisor business, focus on the most critical roles you currently hold while running your business. It’s important to understand that you’re not only the business owner, but also the leader and business manager. Why make a distinction between these roles? Because [...]

So you’ve decided to move ahead with the sale of your financial advisory firm. To get to this point, you’ve probably had to overcome a lot of concerns about retirement and your future plans. After many discussions with family, friends, clients and advisors, you’re ready to take the big step. While focusing on your decision [...]

If you’re one of the 44,000 financial advisors in the U.S. that have 10 years or less until retirement, chances are you don’t currently have a succession plan. This means you’re potentially leaving a lot of money on the table. One of the primary issues that complicates succession planning for financial advisors is the linkage between personal [...]