X

About

Advertise

Contact

Jobs

Tools for Advisers

Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook-f
  • News
    • In the Press
    • Politics and Finance
    • General
  • Featured
    • Podcasts & Films
    • Interviews
    • Events
    • Finance on Social Media
    • Jobs
    • MPS Report
  • GBI
    • Tax Efficient Investments
    • Open Investment Opportunities
    • People Behind the Product
    • GBI Magazine Issues
    • About GBI
  • Business
    • Regulation and Compliance
  • Magazines
  • The M&G Adviser Hub
Menu
  • News
    • In the Press
    • Politics and Finance
    • General
  • Featured
    • Podcasts & Films
    • Interviews
    • Events
    • Finance on Social Media
    • Jobs
    • MPS Report
  • GBI
    • Tax Efficient Investments
    • Open Investment Opportunities
    • People Behind the Product
    • GBI Magazine Issues
    • About GBI
  • Business
    • Regulation and Compliance
  • Magazines
  • The M&G Adviser Hub
Search
Close

About

Advertise

Contact

Jobs

Tools for Advisers

Untitled-1
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook-f
  • News
    • In the Press
    • Politics and Finance
    • General
  • Featured
    • Podcasts & Films
    • Interviews
    • Events
    • Finance on Social Media
    • Jobs
    • MPS Report
  • GBI
    • Tax Efficient Investments
    • Open Investment Opportunities
    • People Behind the Product
    • GBI Magazine Issues
    • About GBI
  • Business
    • Regulation and Compliance
  • Magazines
  • The M&G Adviser Hub
Menu
  • News
    • In the Press
    • Politics and Finance
    • General
  • Featured
    • Podcasts & Films
    • Interviews
    • Events
    • Finance on Social Media
    • Jobs
    • MPS Report
  • GBI
    • Tax Efficient Investments
    • Open Investment Opportunities
    • People Behind the Product
    • GBI Magazine Issues
    • About GBI
  • Business
    • Regulation and Compliance
  • Magazines
  • The M&G Adviser Hub
Untitled-1
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook-f

Success in succession planning

The importance of planning ahead

by Kim Wonnacott
April 16, 2020
in Featured, News
Success in succession planning

Hand of businessman holding lightbulb with brain near concrete wall with creative business plan sketch drawn on it. Concept of bright business idea.

Share this story

Last month, Giles Dunning, of specialist law firm Stephens Scown, shared his insight into the realities of succession planning for business owners in the IFA sector. Following that theme, we asked Louise Jeffreys, MD of specialist IFA mergers and acquisitions firm Gunner & Co. and Michelle Hoskin of Standards International, AKA Little Miss WOWW!, to pick up where Giles left off, focussing on the importance of planning ahead.


What, why and when?

Succession planning and your ultimate exit as a business owner can come in many forms. Possibly the most talked about route to exit in the press is a trade sale – by which we mean integrating your business into another, usually larger, financial planning-based firm. This a very popular route for financial planning firms to follow. This gives you the opportunity to pass on the responsibility of running the business, whilst typically giving your clients the opportunity to access additional or enhanced services, such as more extensive IHT planning, or access to discretionary fund management.

However, this is not your only option. There are two other routes that are becoming popular: releasing capital by selling to an investor (rather than a party in your industry), or passing on the ownership of the business to all or some of your staff. This could be through a management buyout, or potentially an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). Paradigm Norton is an excellent example of a financial planning firm which, in 2019, transferred a majority of its shares to an EOT.

The transfer of 80% of shares in the company to the EOT has given all its’ staff a stake in its future.

Both of these options tend to allow your business to continue with a similar culture and approach – something that is harder to achieve with a trade sale.

Right from the very start, it is essential to identify and constantly question your ‘why’. Why are you doing this? What do you really want to achieve by doing so? Questioning your motivations and objectives can help you understand which options would be best for you, and when and how you should put a plan into place.

We often see business owners who spend more time considering the practicalities of exiting their business rather than focusing on their true objectives and how their chosen exit strategy can complement these.

Given the nature of exit planning, it is likely that you are only going to do this once. Making a success of this involves identifying all stakeholders who will be affected by your decision and reflecting on the future impact to them. This often extends to your family, your team, your clients and potentially many others.

When do you start?

The time to focus on these objectives is now. Regardless of when or even whether you plan to exit, planning ahead is a long process and needs to start years in advance. This way, the strong processes and procedures which would benefit you at the point of exit can be fully embedded so that they become common practice within your business and your team. The good news is that these elements will usually bring improved business efficiency in themselves, therefore your early attention to them is strongly recommended.

Continue reading article…

Page 1 of 4
12...4Next
Previous Post

Stability for advisers and their clients

Previous Post

Trump Suspends WHO Funding

Previous Post

Worried about virus volatility on the stock market? Then maybe give shares a miss…

Next Post

IMF Backs Brexit Extension

Next Post

Hear from Ben Nelmes of UKSIF in the ESG webinar

Next Post

Ok Zoomer! How to take more of your financial services business online

Related Posts

Pembroke VCT sees 2.3x exit in 12 months
News

Pembroke VCT sees 2.3x exit in 12 months

January 15, 2021
£122 billion inflation blow for pensioners and investors
News

Good news for investors as M&G Investments reduces annual charge across large proportion of OEIC funds

January 15, 2021
MP’s put FCA under the microscope
Finance on Social Media

London Capital & Finance judicial review

January 15, 2021
ThinCats
News

Supreme Court judgement in FCA’s business interruption insurance test case

January 15, 2021
UK business prepares to reopen
News

FTSE 100 lower as unsettling economic news overshadows stimulus optimism

January 15, 2021
‘A very difficult March for all participants in the housing market,’ says Ray Boulger
Feature

New UK levy on assets above £500,000 – what do private clients need to know?

January 14, 2021
Next Post
IMF Backs Brexit Extension

IMF Backs Brexit Extension

Hear from Ben Nelmes of UKSIF in the ESG webinar

Hear from Ben Nelmes of UKSIF in the ESG webinar

Ok Zoomer! How to take more of your financial services business online

Ok Zoomer! How to take more of your financial services business online

Podcasts & Films

  • Put an atomic clock in your car, phone and on your wrist
    January 13, 2021
  • The Nexus Scale-Up Fund walk through
    December 21, 2020
  • Net4 x ARIE Capital webinar, hosted by CoInvestor
    December 18, 2020
  • How does Nexus Communicate with clients?
    December 18, 2020
  • Nexus Investments – Reasons for Advisers to be positive in 2021
    December 17, 2020
  • The Nexus Story
    December 16, 2020

Today’s Most Read

  • Wirecard scandal: EY defends itself in the Bundestag
    January 14, 2021

    @peter_IFAMAG reads Twitter so you don’t have to. The Wirecard Investigation Team meets again at the Bundestag today. Prompted by investor action following the Wirecard

  • Brexit agreement leaves UK financial services operating under no deal scenarios
    January 11, 2021

    Tej Patel, Partner and Regulatory Practice Lead at Capco, comments on the continued uncertainty facing UK-based financial services firms post-Brexit. Given that financial services were

  • OnePlanetCapital launch new EIS fund
    January 11, 2021

    OnePlanetCapital, a new sustainably driven investment house, has today launched a specialist sustainability EIS Fund to invest in businesses tackling climate change. The new OnePlanetCapital

  • Former Man Group and Octopus Real Estate executives launch Silbury Finance
    January 14, 2021

    Two experienced property finance executives, backed by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”), have launched Silbury Finance (“Silbury”), a platform providing bespoke senior

  • Supreme Court judgement in FCA’s business interruption insurance test case
    January 15, 2021

    The Supreme Court delivers judgement in favour of policyholders in the FCA’s business interruption insurance test case The Supreme Court has substantially allowed the FCA’s appeal on

  • London Capital & Finance judicial review
    January 15, 2021

    @peter_IFAMAG reads Twitter so you don’t have to. The London Capital and Finance vehicle lost 11,625 investors £237m in January 2019. Today brings news that

  • Unpicking the jargon of responsible investing
    January 12, 2021

    George Robinson, Business Development Manager for VALA Capital, wrote the following article to help explain the difference between ESG and Sustainable investing.   Investors are increasingly

  • New UK levy on assets above £500,000 – what do private clients need to know?
    January 14, 2021

    By Paul Fairbairn, partner at Cripps Pemberton Greenish On 9 December the self-styled and in no way government-affiliated Wealth Tax Commission published their findings. This

  • The ten secrets to mastering a last-minute tax return
    January 11, 2021

    Your self-assessment tax return deadline is due by midnight on 31 January. Last year, 11.1 million people filed a return on time, more than 70,000

  • Canaccord unveils new ESG portfolios on Embark Platform
    January 12, 2021

    Canaccord Genuity Wealth today launches an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) portfolio range available on Embark Platform. Financial advisers using the Embark Platform will now be

More Articles

Blackfinch Ventures: In the spotlight
Interviews

Blackfinch Ventures: In the spotlight

January 7, 2021
Making a positive difference at the cutting edge
Interviews

Making a positive difference at the cutting edge

January 7, 2021
Meet the manager of the M&G Global Listed Infrastructure Fund
Interviews

Meet the manager of the M&G Global Listed Infrastructure Fund

December 15, 2020
Par Equity is the bright EIS star of the North 
Interviews

Par Equity is the bright EIS star of the North 

November 23, 2020
What’s next for Mercia?
Interviews

What’s next for Mercia?

November 2, 2020
M&G Positive Impact Fund: Q&A with Ben Constable-Maxwell
Interviews

M&G Positive Impact Fund: Q&A with Ben Constable-Maxwell

October 21, 2020
People Behind the Product: Pippa Gawley, Zero Carbon Capital
GBI

People Behind the Product: Pippa Gawley, Zero Carbon Capital

October 7, 2020
People Behind the Product: Matthew Steiner, Stellar Asset Management
GBI

People Behind the Product: Matthew Steiner, Stellar Asset Management

October 6, 2020
People Behind the Product: Ewan Lloyd-Baker, Seismic Venture Partners
GBI

People Behind the Product: Ewan Lloyd-Baker, Seismic Venture Partners

October 5, 2020

About Us

​IFA Magazine – for today’s discerning financial and investment professional.

Published ten times a year, IFA Magazine has been winning a keen and enthusiastic following among Britain’s premier financial advisers, planners and paraplanners.

Newsletter

    Follow Us

    Linkedin
    Twitter
    Facebook-f

    © 2021 All rights reserved​ to IFA Magazine | Website by: Nivo Digital | Terms and Conditions

    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!

    Adblock Blocker

    We have detected that you are using

    adblocking plugin in your browser. 

    IFA Magazine
    • News
      • In the Press
      • Politics and Finance
      • General
    • Featured
      • Podcasts & Films
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Finance on Social Media
      • Jobs
      • MPS Report
    • GBI
      • Tax Efficient Investments
      • Open Investment Opportunities
      • People Behind the Product
      • GBI Magazine Issues
      • About GBI
    • Business
      • Regulation and Compliance
    • Magazines
    • The M&G Adviser Hub