Make succession planning a priority

Succession planning seems to be last on everyone’s list – including advisors themselves. It should begin years in advance, yet many business owners put it off to the last minute.

Use these articles to kick-start a conversation about succession with your clients, and to evaluate your own plans for winding up your book.

Beginning the succession discussion

After helping clients with their financial, estate and retirement planning, advisors often have a strong relationship with their clients. That puts us in a unique position to discuss succession planning with those clients who are also business owners.

Get owners to consider succession

Your client owns a successful trucking company. He’s near retirement age, but shows no signs of slowing down. He’s in the office every day, works long hours and obsesses over everything from the quarterly results to the cost of the next fuel requisition. He’s stubbornly holding on, but you know he can’t do it forever.

Auto dealers need succession advice

Do you have a car dealer as a client? There’s a 1-in-3 chance they will be retired in the next year, according to the 2011 PwC Automotive Dealer Trendsetter Survey. The report says 30% of dealerships will be out of business in the next 12 months.

How I dealt with succession planning

The average age of a financial advisor in Canada is around 56. Yet most advisors don’t have a succession plan.

Advisors ignore own succession plans

The financial services sector faces an advisor succession crisis, due in large part to an industry structure that discourages advisors from arranging succession plans.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.