This book is going to challenge you and everything you think you know about succession planning. For independent advisors, succession planning is quickly becoming the cornerstone to a strategic growth strategy designed to perpetuate their business and their income streams beyond their own lifetime, while providing a multi-generational service platform that attracts and rewards younger advisors. This makes succession planning one of the most, if not the most, important practice management tools in this industry today. As an independent financial advisor, now is the time to address the question of what will happen to your practice and your clients after you “exit the building.” In most cases, the answers are right in front of you. Thankfully, Succession Planning for Financial Advisors: Building an Enduring Business has arrived to transform today’s practices into businesses designed to endure and prosper and serve generations of clients. Learn how to create a “Lifestyle Succession Plan” that can provide a lifetime of income and benefits to the founder even as he/she gradually retires on the job Unlock the power of equity management – the best planning and building tool an independent advisor owns Learn how to attract and retain the best of the next generation to help you build a great business and to support your succession plans and care for your clients and their families Determine precisely when to start a formal succession plan and related continuity plan so that your business can work for you when you need it most Understand why succession planning and selling your business are completely different strategies, but how they can complement each other when used correctly 95% of independent financial service professionals are one owner practices. To the positive, these practices are among the most valuable professional service models in America. But almost all advisors are assembling their practices using the wrong tools – tools borrowed from historically successful, but vastly different models including wirehouses, broker-dealers, and even OSJ’s and branch managers. Revenue sharing, commission splitting and other eat-what-you-kill compensation methods dominate the independent sector and virtually ensure that today’s independent practices, if left unchanged, will not survive the end of their founder’s career. It is time to change course and this book provides the map and the details to help you do just that. For independent practice owners and staff members, advisors who want to transition to independence, as well as accountants, attorneys, coaches and others involved in the financial services space, there are invaluable lessons to be learned from Succession Planning for Financial Advisors. Written by the leading succession planning expert in the financial services industry, former securities regulator, M&A specialist, and founder of the nationally recognized consulting and equity management firm, FP Transitions, David Grau Sr., JD, has created an unmatched resource that will have an enduring and resounding impact on an entire industry.

Financial planning is a young industry. The International Association of Financial Planning—one of the predecessors to the Financial Planning Association—was formed less than forty years ago. But as the profession's first tier of advisers reaches maturity, the decisions that may be part of transition planning for their firms loom large. A sale? A partner buyout? A merger? No matter what the choice, its viability hinges on one critical issue—the value of the firm. Unfortunately, many advisers--whether veteran or novice—simply don't know the worth of their practice or how to influence it. That's why How to Value, Buy, or Sell a Financial-Advisory Practice is such an important book. It takes advisers carefully through the logic and the legwork of coming to a true assessment of one of their most important personal assets—their business. Renowned for their years of experience helping advisers tackle the daunting challenges related to the valuation, sale, and purchase of advisory firms, Mark C. Tibergien and Owen Dahl offer guidance that's essential and solutions that work.

The Authoritative M&A Guide for Financial Advisors Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices shows you how to complete a sale or acquisition of a financial advisory practice and have both the buyer and seller walk away with the best possible terms. From the first pages of this unique book, buyers and sellers and merger partners will find detailed information that separately addresses each of their needs, issues and concerns. From bestselling author and industry influencer David Grau Sr. JD, this masterful guide takes you from the important basics of valuation to the finer points of deal structuring, due diligence, and legal matters, with a depth of coverage and strategic guidance that puts you in another league when you enter the M&A space. Complete with valuable tools, worksheets, and checklists on a companion website, no other resource enables you to: Master the concepts of value and valuation and take this issue “off the table” early in the negotiation process Utilize advanced deal structuring techniques including seller and bank financing strategies Understand how to acquire a book, practice or business based on how it was built, and what it is capable of delivering in the years to come Navigate the complexities of this highly-regulated profession to achieve consistently great results whether buying, selling, or merging Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices will ensure that you manage your M&A transaction properly and professionally, aided with the most powerful set of tools available anywhere in the industry, all designed to create a transaction where everyone wins—buyer, seller, and clients.

An insightful look at leadership transition from the successor's perspective Success and Succession examines the leadership transition process from the successor's point of view, and outlines the considerations and strategies that lead to a better future for the business. With a focus on practical planning and execution, this insightful guide provides insight into the strategies that smooth the transition and help the new leadership make better business decisions. You'll learn when and how to start planning, who you need on your team, and the obstacles you should anticipate along the way. You'll learn to navigate the uncertainty the process entails, and how to identify opportunities for reciprocal understanding and adopt workable approaches for successful resolution of a multitude of transition issues. Interviews with those at various stages of transition highlight the real-world application of these ideas, and give you an inside look at what worked, what didn't, and what they wish they had thought of. The transition of leadership in an independent, non-public professional service business can be emotional and difficult for everyone. This book gives you a framework for smoothing the process and driving the best possible future of the business. Consider the complexities of succession and transition Balance conflicting dynamics of outgoing and incoming leadership Plan for operational, financial, and emotional obstacles Develop and execute a winning strategy for long term success The transition from founder to successor is far from an academic exercise, and is not linear. Answers are hard to find, and the ebb and flow of the process requires patience, creativity, and willingness to try again. Success and Succession provides a unique strategy for success, from the perspective of incoming leadership.

The world likes to believe life is a series of endings. Some are good, others bad, but things always end. In the modern age, the movie ends, the television show ends, the book finishes with "The End", and we start to believe life is about endings. Yet life continues, without end. Recently, my young nephew died, but the next day life went on without him. This book is based on the premise that endings are just new beginnings. Everyone can end, with the beginning in mind. Giving up the concept of "everything ends" is one of the most important steps in business continuity. People love to talk about Succession Planning, but few ever accomplish the task. The numbers are staggering. The US Department of Labor Statistics tell us after one year in business, 20% of new businesses in America fail, but after 20 years only about 20% of those same businesses will have survived. Of those who survive, less than 20% will continue to a second generation! Most businesses have a cessation plan (a plan that leads to a business ceasing to exist), while very few have succession plans (a plan that leads to a business not only continuing, but thriving after the founder exits). In his book, "Always End with the Beginning in Mind", Donald White takes you on his journey that resulted in a successful business continuation, and will give a founder of a business the steps necessary for a succession plan to actually succeed. A well-thought out and properly executed Succession Plan is a classic win-win. In fact, it is a win-win-win. It is a win for the company, namely the clients and staff who are able to enjoy continuity after the founder's exit. It is a win for the successor, who is able to build on the success of the founder. Finally, it is a win for the founder, who is able to exit on their own volition and see what they have built continue to prosper for years to come. Firms can succeed into perpetuity. They do not need to eventually cease. A businessperson who exits a business without seeing their exit as an ending, but as a new beginning, both for themselves and the business, can enjoy seeing the firm they spent a lifetime building continue to prosper after the business transitions to new leadership and simultaneously enjoy a new season of life personally. Do not leave business continuity to fate! Read this book and discover the tools necessary to move from a reactive cessation plan to a proactive plan of succession.

"This book provides lawyers with step-by-step guidance on how to lead family business owners through the succession planning process to produce a result that is tailored to the unique circumstances and objectives of the owners and their successors."--Back cover.