Free Guide Download
The Right Price
Won't Save a Bad Fit
Before you choose a succession partner, ask the nine questions that help determine whether your clients and your team come out of the transition in better shape. Get the Succession Partner Guide and the Continuity Checklist, free.
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SUCCESSION PLANNING
You Built This Firm. Whoever Takes It Over Should Have to Earn It.
Most succession conversations start with a number. What the practice is worth, what the multiple looks like, how the earnout is structured. Those questions matter. They're also the easy part.
The harder question is what happens after the paperwork is signed. Will your clients recognize the voice on the other end of the phone? Will your team have a future with the new firm, or a severance date? Will the planning philosophy you built your reputation on carry forward, or get quietly replaced with someone else's process?
Your successor isn't just buying a book of business. They're inheriting relationships it took you years, maybe decades, to build. They should have to prove they're ready for that before you sign anything.
SUCCESSION PLANNING
Nine Questions Worth Asking Before You Choose
Purchase price is where most succession conversations start. It's also the easiest part to get right. The Succession Partner Guide walks through nine questions built to surface what price can't tell you, whether this person is actually the right fit for your clients, your team, and the practice you built.
Question 1
Will my clients relate to this person the way they've related to you?
Question 2
Do we share a planning philosophy, or would clients notice the difference in
the first year?
Question 3
What happens to my team?
Do they have a future here, or
a severance date?
Our guide covers six more, including technology and investment compatibility, whether your successor can absorb your full client base without disruption, and the one question almost every advisor forgets to ask until it's too late. Each comes with room to capture your own notes as you work through the decision.
Get all nine questions, plus the Continuity Checklist, in one download.
PLUS
The Advisor Succession & Continuity Checklist
A succession plan covers the transition you intend to make, on your timeline. A continuity plan covers what happens if an emergency forces that transition sooner than you planned. You need both, and most firms have neither fully in place.
The checklist walks through five areas to get in order, whether you're one year from a transition or ten:
● Your continuity plan — who steps in, and what triggers it
● Your emergency playbook — key people, vendors, and compliance contacts, documented
● Client and business communication — drafted before you need it, not during a crisis
● Systems and access — so the person stepping in can actually do the job
● Storage and maintenance — a plan that's current, not one from three years ago
You don't need a perfect plan to start protecting your practice. You need to know where the gaps are, and this checklist shows you.
WHY ARC
A Second Opinion From Advisors Who've Sat on Both Sides
ARC supports independent advisors and firm principals across succession and continuity planning, from the first conversation about what “fit” actually means to the operational details of a transition. Some of the advisors we work with are preparing to hand off their practice entirely. Others are looking to keep practicing under a bigger platform, without carrying the full weight of the back office. Either path starts with the same groundwork: know what you're protecting before you decide who inherits it.
Start the Conversation With the Right Questions
Download both guides and go into your next succession conversation with a clearer sense of what to ask, and what a strong answer looks like.
This guide is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice, and it is not a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Advisor Resource Council is a registered investment adviser; registration does not imply any level of skill or training. Succession and continuity outcomes vary based on the individual facts and circumstances of each firm and each transition; ARC makes no representation or guarantee regarding the outcome of any succession or continuity planning process. For more information about ARC's advisory services, including fees and conflicts of interest, please review ARC's Form ADV Part 2A, available at ADV Part 2 or upon request.
