Selling Your IFA Practice. Good or Bad?

Selling your IFA Business

The thought started a few years back when you decided to go into business for yourself and give financial advice to clients. Getting clients was the issue then and I guess always will be. My training was “There is the phone book, you are not leaving here until you have made ten appointments for next week” 

I did it for a year or two in the 1980’s when contracting out of SERPS and deregulation of the financial services industry presented a number of opportunities to sell financial services products to the consumer. I was making money with very little product training and lots of sales training

LAUTRO and other subsets of governing bodies were just beginning to take a stake in the market and the super light touch of regulators became heavier and heavier until RDR in 2012 when every adviser had to study to achieve at least a diploma qualification. This was a watershed in the business and there were many advisers who had seen off the recession in the 90’s as well as the crash in 2008 when after taking advantage of a booming economy decided to sell. 

Wind forward to the present day, some six years after RDR, the FS world is a very different place. Clients have far more protection, thankfully, The costs of running a practice are continually increasing with technical expertise outweighing sales training. New words in our lexicon such as Paraplanning, Compliance and MLRO are commonplace and there will always be opinions on how much, or how little a part the FCA should play in regulating the profession. But on the whole, the picture is a good one.

Clients who have remained loyal to you are if not already retired, considering it. Friends and mentors who have made money and grown corporations are looking at options for the next generation of talent to take their business forward. 

As a business owner yourself, you may have made provision for the longevity of your company so your Advisers can to continue to advise the sons and daughters of clients you have looked after for all this time.

So what about you?

I have known advisers who approached seventy years of age before letting go of the reins. I know many more younger ownerswho are considering selling but do not want to sell to large corporations whom they feel will just hoover up the best clients and discard the rest.

I am fortunate, I have a number of years in dealing with some of the foremost companies and advisers within the region, some of whom have become close friends, thankfully I don’t have to make that decision just yet. What I have gained over time though is an insight into many advisory companies who wish to sell, purchase, create a JV, or merge. There is no one size fits all clients are paramount in every client sale we have done to date.

Legal and Wealth Consulting can offer funding for management buyouts, provide Legal and Management Accounting expertise to help get your company ready for sale and the experience in bringing YOUR company to the organisations who will pay you the rewards for having the courage of your own conviction in the first place.

Should you wish to have a confidential conversation to discuss your options please contact John Anderson on 0117 4350072