I rarely meet a financial advisor who doesn’t immediately mention that they want to buy a practice. It seems to be every advisor’s goal. Of course it is. And in my fifteen years in the industry, I have seen why. One of the fastest ways for a firm to grow is to acquire another book of business. However, the process is more nuanced and competitive than most advisors seem to think. Most assume they will figure it out as they go along. If you take the unguided DIY approach, however, mistakes will be made–perhaps big ones–and you’re likely to leave money on the table. Our EMSTM EMS™ Professional members know this more than anyone, which is why they've engaged our experts to help them prepare and achieve their acquisition goals. Like every aspect of business ownership, acquiring a book of business takes advanced consideration and preparation. These are a few steps you should be taking now, prior to developing and executing your acquisition strategy. 1. Develop Your Buyer Profile Membership to fptransitions.com is free. We don’t believe there should be a series of hoops to jump through before you can explore the largest open market of M&A opportunities; or even to access our library of business building, acquisition, and succession resources. Step one to taking advantage of your fptransitions.com membership is to complete your buyer profile. This series of basic questions gives the team at FP Transitions an overview of your company and team so we can best help you find acquisition opportunities that would be a good fit. Pro tip: FP Transitions uses the information provided in your profile to search our database of 25,000+ advisors to find the right buyers for private sales, continuity partner matching, and successor searches. The buyer profile is your opportunity to offer information that makes you stand out from your peers. The Practice Description field especially. If you offer a few concise thoughts on what makes your practice unique, you’re already setting yourself apart.

With school closures across the country and many parents working from home, we asked a seasoned, work-from-home pro, our Marketing Director Elise Rogers, how she’s adapting to working remotely with her three boys full time. Below she shares a tool she’s created to keep her oldest son productively engaged and everyone else on task. This new change in my family’s lives is causing my managerial mentality to go into over-drive, and like any manager, I am tackling this new homeschool lifestyle with a plan. I have three kids (12, 2 ½ and 7 months old) and while my husband and I are tag-teaming the little ones, we want to be sure my oldest son is engaged and completing his online learning and not spending all his time watching TV or playing video games for the next month or more. Here is some insight I have gathered from creating this process for my own family.

Business succession from parent to child is an age-old practice in human history, from humble cobblers to royal families. The practice stemmed from necessity—parents taught their children the trade they knew in an effort to teach them to survive. What started from necessity became custom and, eventually, tradition. In many professions, this tradition is still a point of pride. Advisory business owners will often see this as the best path to build an enduring practice and retain their client base. For some advisors, the idea of passing the business to a family member is their preferred choice and seems to be the easiest path forward. One day, the founder steps out and the child steps in. Most advisors even consider gifting their business to their children, with or without a written contract, rather than selling it to them. Here are some simple reasons you should think twice before taking this route. The IRS Considers Your Business to Have Value Many advisors think, “I’ll just give my children the business when I’m ready to retire.” We hear this all the time from founding owners whose children work with them in their business. Be wary, though – although certain types of gifts are exempt from this rule, generally speaking, a gift whose value exceeds the annual exclusion is taxable to the giver of the gift and likely will be applied against the giver’s lifetime estate tax exemption.