New research reveals just one in five advisors has an exit strategy. Here's what you should do in your early, middle and late career to maximize the value of your business.
Ask any financial advisor if succession planning matters, and you’ll get a resounding “yes.” Ask if they have their own plan in place, and the room will likely go quiet.
Nearly all advisors agree on the importance of an exit strategy, but just one in five has taken their own advice, according to a newly released advisor survey on succession readiness. In the survey, IPC found a stark generational divide among advisors who don’t yet have a plan: Millennials believe they have decades to decide, Gen X is consumed by other priorities and Boomers are reluctant to start difficult conversations with clients.
No matter where you are in your career journey, proactive succession planning can help to reinforce client trust, maximize the value of your business and secure the legacy you’ve worked hard to build.
Early career: Lay your groundwork
According to the IPC survey, 70% of Millennials say they're delaying succession planning because they feel "too young to start". While Copple says he understands the sentiment, he calls it a risky gamble. Life and health can change in an instant, and without a plan, even a thriving business can be thrown into turmoil.
That’s why every advisor should have, at the very least, an emergency transition plan or a business continuity plan. “It protects against the unforeseen, such as the sudden passing of an advisor or a disability that prevents them from working for a period of time,” Copple says. “It’s important to identify another advisor or an entity that can help in those situations.”
For younger advisors, those early years are a chance to refine the business they’re building to ensure it’s growing in the right direction. That can mean solidifying your investment philosophy, deepening relationships and aligning operations with long-term goals. “Early succession planning can help you focus on the right clients, identify your revenue drivers and define your exit plan,” Copple says. “It makes your business more valuable.”
Mid-career: Put the pieces in place for your business
For advisors in their peak earning years, the biggest obstacle to succession planning is sheer lack of time. The survey found that 32% of Gen X respondents listed “other priorities” as the main reason they haven’t started planning. This reflects the pressures of this life stage, balancing the competing pressures of serving clients while keeping up with the demands of a thriving practice.
“The challenge for this generation is that it can feel like you’re being pulled in 20 different directions,” Copple says. “But now is the time to optimize the business and make it as tidy as possible.”
A good place to start is strengthening your internal processes. The goal is to ensure your business can function without you, which will make it more attractive to a potential buyer. You may also want to set a clear timeline for your exit, recognizing that a buyout can take five to seven years from start to finish. “If an advisor is just starting that process now, the time can go by fairly quickly,” Copple says. “They should be thinking about who they want to take over their business or be mentoring a junior advisor to take over for them.”
Late career: Lock in your legacy
“The earlier an advisor starts having these conversations, the more control they’ll have over the outcomes they want for their clients and for themselves"
says Jon Copple, Regional Director, Advisor Growth and Succession for IPC.
Here’s what you need to know about succession at every stage of your career:
According to the survey, the top reasons Boomers delay succession planning are fear of unsettling clients or staff (35%), not knowing how to value their practice (33%) and lack of expertise (20%). But at this career stage, Copple says, the time for hesitation is over, and advisors must have a formalized, written plan.
He’s seen first-hand the cost of avoiding the inevitable. Not long ago, one late-career advisor he had known for years died suddenly without a succession plan. With no formal arrangements in place, his wife was left trying to sell the business, but its value dropped sharply because the advisor was no longer there to help transition clients. “It was, effectively, a fire sale,” Copple says. “That’s the last thing you want.”
When you’re this close to retirement, your succession planning demands urgency and precision. Now is the time to lock in your chosen exit path — whether it’s grooming a successor or selling externally — and assess the value of your book of business. Equally important is having frank conversations with clients to maintain stability and with staff to give them a voice in protecting the legacy they’ve helped build.
“The hesitation to discuss succession with staff and clients is a real thing, but it needs to be addressed,” Copple says. “If the advisor is thinking about it, so are their clients.”
There’s no time like the present.
Another significant hurdle: managing emotions around what comes next. The idea of retirement can be uncomfortable for many. According to the IPC survey, advisors aged 50-64 who haven’t yet completed a plan were more likely to mention losing a sense of identity and purpose as reasons for their hesitation. If you fall into this category, here's some food for thought on how to understand – and manage– these concerns.
The advantage of working with a strategic buyer, such as IPC, is that it has the resources to help you understand the value of your business and how you can maximize it when it’s time to sell. IPC offers a one-hour strategic business review that can provide a realistic assessment of your business’s value, potential successors and how to start aligning operations for an eventual handoff.
“It’s never too late to start the planning process,” Copple says. “We’re here to help.”
*IPC Advisor Succession Planning Survey methodology: 361 English- and French-speaking advisors from across Canada were sent an email invitation to complete an online survey. Each email contained a link to the survey, which was hosted on a secure website managed by Environics. *Conducted for IPC by Environics Research Group and Pollara Strategic Insights, 2025
