Professional succession planning services for financial advisors

As a business owner, leaving your business may feel overwhelming. An exit strategy and succession plan will help alleviate the stress of what will happen to your business and build confidence as you work towards your next chapter. We work with many business owners creating holistic exit plans tailored to fit your business goals.

Why should business owners plan their “exits”?

Sooner or later, every owner leaves his or her business. Whether you anticipate selling the company to a third party, transitioning to employee ownership or a family succession, every strategy results in your eventual exit. The complexities of tax law, combined with the expectations of buyers of any type, lend themselves to the careful structuring of a transfer.

For most owners, the transfer of ownership represents the biggest single financial transaction of their lifetime. In our experience, no owner has ever said, “I spent too much time planning.”

Why start now?

There are two good reasons to begin the planning process, even for those who believe they are ten or more years from their eventual exit.

1. Many tax reduction strategies, such as business structure conversions, certain trusts and others, take years to fully implement.
2. Once you know your exit objective, it will influence all of your business decisions. For example, hiring managers who will work for the next owner is a very different approach from training your future successors.

What if I don’t have a date in mind yet?

Our assessment asks for two date ranges. The first is approximately when you want to step back from your day-to-day responsibilities and the second is when you want to walk away completely. Once you know when you want to step back, the day you actually leave the business becomes much more flexible.

What will I get when I take the assessment?

The assessment looks beyond your retirement goals. Helping you reach your objectives requires a knowledge of your business and the state of your company.

1. A 12-page summary of your responses will be available with your complimentary meeting with a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA). It is organized into four key areas of exit readiness: planning, finance, revenue/profit and operations.
2. A 40-page detailed analysis of your responses will be provided as part of your complimentary debriefing.