There are two ways to make money from a financial services business: wages and profit distributions. But, there are four ways to build wealth from the same model:
Topics: Compensation, Succession Planning, Enterprise Strength, Cash Flow, Sustainability
Selling your business is a big decision. The good news is that demand is high and you have many options for structuring your exit. You also have many places to conduct your buyer search: reaching out to your professional and community networks, pursuing unmonitored listing bulletin boards, entertaining an unsolicited query on the table, or engaging in an open-market search. Most of these strategies result in having to navigate the process alone.
Buyers who have bought businesses before have the advantage of prior knowledge of the acquisition process, but as a seller, you often only get one shot at it. It’s important to understand what to expect. What follows is an overview of the process for selling your business through the FP Transitions Open Market.
PHASE ONE: Finding the Best Match
1. Establishing Value (vs. Price)Business value and selling price can be two different numbers. A comprehensive and professional valuation will provide a fair foundation for your selling price that considers revenue, expenses, client demographics, geographical location, and much more.
Topics: Selling Your Practice, Open Marketplace
Earlier this year, with the global pandemic raging and markets in decline, we promised our clients and the industry that we would continue to provide an inside look as to what was happening in the M&A market for financial advisory practices.
Topics: Commentary, M&A, Buying & Selling, Transactions
It’s hard to keep secrets in a small office. The rooms are tight, the walls are thin, and it’s just a matter of time before everyone knows everyone else’s business. Even when an owner has quietly decided to sell their practice, they should assume that staff members will eventually find out (if they haven’t already). In our experience, it’s best that employees hear the news from someone they trust: the owner.
Prospective sellers are often reluctant to speak to staff members about their exit plans because they aren’t sure how the selling process will pan out and they don’t know how the staff will feel about the change. While it’s important to be sure of your decision before announcing your plan, looping your staff into the process can increase your success and can even help shape the structure of your sale.
Topics: Selling Your Practice, Deal Structure, Buying & Selling, Building Your Team, "Buying, Selling, and Valuing Financial Practices"
The Sell and Stay® approach to selling a financial services business was developed by the professionals at FP Transitions to fulfill the preference of many sellers to gradually exit the business by giving up their ownership obligations while continuing to service clients and earn an income. This arrangement can be customized in a hundred different ways, but often entails an owner selling the majority–or all–of their ownership to a third-party buyer and remaining as an employee of the business for a set number of years (typically 3-5) before fully exiting.
Buyers who are open to this type of transaction not only access a larger acquisition pool, but can enjoy other unique advantages as well. You, of course, enjoy all the benefits of a traditional acquisition: immediate growth, available financing options, expansion into different areas and niches, and economies of scale. In addition, the acquisition can help you tackle some other areas of your long-term growth strategy through:
Topics: Acquisition, Deal Structure, Buying & Selling, Sell and Stay™
Today’s Independent financial advisors face an endless array of challenges and opportunities. Identifying challenges before they arise is key for finding solutions and developing strategies for tackling the issues that present the greatest opportunities for improvement and growth.
The four biggest opportunities are:
Growth and profitability are inextricably linked and balancing the two within a single practice is the difference between building a one-generational practice and a multi-generational, sustainable enterprise.
Topics: Compensation, Succession Planning, Acquisition, Business Growth, Mergers, Talent Recruitment, Sustainability, Enterprise
Equity-based compensation provides an excellent solution for practice owners who need a reward system that goes beyond the traditional salary/bonus structure and shares the economic value of equity, but not equity itself.
A critical element in the success of any small business is its ability to recruit, reward, and retain talented advisors and support staff. To this end, equity compensation is often used to achieve these goals. Synthetic equity is a tool set that can provide ownership-level benefits without buying or selling actual stock in an advisory business.
To be clear, the process of transforming a single-owner practice into a sustainable business generally relies on equity. Equity, or stock, is what next-generation advisors invest in, and over time and with hard work benefit from, above and beyond what compensation alone can provide. Equity is the shareholder value created in a business managed from a bottom-line up perspective with a focus on earnings or profits as the ultimate financial goal. Equity is a powerful building and motivational tool, but with the opportunities come obligations. Because of these obligations, buying or selling equity isn’t the only way to offer key employees ownership-like benefits, nor is it always the best option.
Topics: Succession Planning, Equity, Multi-Generational Ownership, Business Growth, Talent Recruitment
Even with market volatility over the past few months, the marketplace for financial advisory businesses has remained strong. FP Transitions is pleased to announce the recent sales of financial services businesses in the following areas :
LIST YOUR PRACTICE WITH FP TRANSITIONS
![State of the Market: Outlook for Advisory Firm Valuations [Webinar Replay]](https://www.fptransitions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CTAs/state-of-the-market-replay-cta.jpg?width=631&name=state-of-the-market-replay-cta.jpg)
Sold announcements include all closed third-party transactions facilitated by FP Transitions, including private listings, pre-arranged matches, and those listed on the open market.
Topics: Selling Your Practice, Acquisition, Buying & Selling, SOLD
The last thing any business owner and professional needs is to deal with more ambiguity and uncertainty than the global situation has already dealt us. In our highly regulated industry, many advisors are asking questions about how to keep their teams safe and do their part to "flatten the curve" while remaining compliant in operations and client communication. Many industry experts and institutions are weighing in on how to maintain business continuity, protect your clients, and remain compliant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are some of the resources we found most valuable on these subjects:
Topics: Industry News, Continuity, Compliance, Leadership
Many things are up in the air right now, and we’re all experiencing major changes to the way we live our lives. It’s no wonder that investors—and advisors—are wondering the best course of action as markets fluctuate and many businesses can’t operate as usual. Many industry leaders (including our own experts) are sharing their advice on how to mitigate uncertainty and provide valuable guidance to investors. Below you'll find some of the articles we've found most impactful:
Topics: Industry News, Leadership