The price of advisory firms is about to go up-big time
Advisors who want to sell or buy a firm now have a
host of financial heavyweights lining up to assist them. Sending
shockwaves through the profession in May was the news that
Houston-based Sanders Morris Harris Group, which is headed by former
Prudential Securities chairman George Ball, agreed to buy Edelman
Financial Services of Fairfax, Va., in a multi-tiered transition that
could reach $128 million.
But it wasn't the only big deal that has been
consummated in the last 12 months. During that period, Wachovia Wealth
Management purchased Tanager Financial Services, a firm that manages $2
billion in Waltham, Mass., and Compass Bancshares acquired
Houston-based Stavis Margolis, which oversees $500 million. Mellon Bank
seems to keep acquiring several portfolio management-oriented firms
every year, while concerns like Boston Private Financial Holdings,
Lydian Trust Company and Focus Financial, an affiliate of Summit
Financial Group, reportedly are scouring the business. Some reports
even claim that The Pottruck Group, a private equity firm formed by
Charles Schwab & Co.'s ex-CEO, David Pottruck, is looking at the
advisory business.
Bigger advisory firms like Edelman's may be
commanding most of the attention and the big multiples, but they aren't
the only ones being romanced. At virtually every level, size and scale
of the business, an owner can find many prospective buyers for their
firm, practice or book of business.
There is both good and bad news for firms on this
cusp, depending on how they position themselves, says David Grau,
president of Portland, Ore.-based Business Transitions LLC, whose firm
helped advisors sell 183 businesses last year. The best news is that
there has been desirable price improvement for advisory firms. The
average sales prices for small shops (less than $3 million in revenues)
rose in 2004 after slipping in 2003, Grau says. As a result, the
average small practice sold for $426,000 in 2004, a 35% increase over
the average sales price of $315,000 in 2003. Several experts expect
those prices to keep rising.
Edelman told Financial Advisor he had more than 40
firms interested in buying his business. Even a solo practitioner with
a more modest book of business can expect that 15 or 20 suitors will at
least want to kick the tires.
The bad news is that all but the very large and
profitable firms are being sold at prices that are far more attractive
for the buyer than the seller, which partially explains why the number
of potential buyers dwarfs the number of sellers. But over time, the
market dynamics are likely to change in favor of sellers.
Mark Hurley, a senior advisor with Denver-based
investment bank Headwaters AB, and a consultant with JP Morgan
Asset Management, describes this phenomenon as adverse selection.
"Right now you have a market that's not clearing," he told attendees at
a JP Morgan conference in May. "There is a big gap between the bid and
the ask price." In early July, Hurley and Sharon Weinberg, managing
director in charge of JP Morgan's advisory business, will issue a
report on the state of the industry.
There is such a "yawning chasm" between what most
sellers and buyers think is a fair price that few deals get completed.
Although Business Transitions assisted in consummating 183 transactions
last year, most experts believe fewer than half of all proposed deals
get done. And while giant corporate mergers are often negotiated in a
few weeks-the Time Warner-AOL deal took three weeks-selling an advisory
firm can take from six months to two years.
Rebecca Pomering, a principal of Moss Adams in
Seattle and a consultant for many mergers of advisory firms, says that
even when negotiations reach the due diligence stage, about two out of
five deals fall apart. There are three primary reasons: 1) the
economics of the deal wasn't what the seller thought was represented;
2) the seller can't provide adequate information about the future
potential of the client base; 3) the longer the transaction is
discussed, the more likely differences of opinion about valuation are
likely to surface.
Like Hurley, Pomering thinks that valuations for
successful firms are likely to appreciate over the next five years. But
there's an ironic twist here. "We tell people considering the sale of
their firm, and asking how to increase value, to build a business that
doesn't have to be sold," she says. "It's the firms that have a
strategy and vision in place, that don't have to be sold [because of
the principals' ages], that are the ones that will get high multiples."
Hurley believes that valuations for the best
advisory firms will climb significantly from the current level of five
times EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and that many advisory
can double their EBIT by 2010. Do the math and that means the value of
a firm could triple in the next five years. And at that point their
value should start to more closely approximate that of the enterprise.
"A large public entity like National Financial Partners, which has
insurance agents, third-party benefits providers and financial
planners, trades at 14 times EBIT," he notes, adding that the
investment advisory business is probably a more attractive business
than the others thanks to the recurring character of fee revenue. "Once
an advisory firm gets to a certain size, it doesn't lose a lot of
clients and it has a very predictable cash flow, like a mutual fund
company. That's very valuable."
One reason why prices remain modest is that few
strategic buyers have yet to appear on the scene. Indeed, Sanders
Morris Harris, the firm that bought Edelman Group, is a strategic
acquirer with a clear-cut vision, which helps why they are willing to
pay more than a legacy buyer (the firm's employees), the typical
financial advisor seeking to grow by purchasing rivals' clients or a
financial buyer trying to find an arbitraging opportunity between the
private and public markets. "Even if the multiples go from five to
seven or eight times EBIT, there's still a siginificant arbitrage,"
Hurley says.
He argues that most strategic buyers have avoided
the advisory business because they are convinced that most advisory
firms are not big enough to bother with. "At some point they are going
to realize just how hard it is to build an advisory firm," he adds.
Strategic buyers typically have a different
psychology and a vision of the business that goes far beyond economic
calculus. "Big multiples will also go to firms that have their own
strategic vision," particularly if it dovetails with the strategic
buyer's or puts a new weapon in their arsenal, Pomering says. In the
case of Edelman, it was able to bring Sanders Morris Harris into the
mass affluent market, where before it had a greater presence in the
high-net-worth arena.
Over time, it is quite possible that the advisory
profession will start to be dominated by 150 to 200 larger firms that
control over slightly half the entire industry's assets under
management, in much the same way that drug store chains control over
half of all prescription sales in a market once dominated by
independent pharmacies.
But size alone won't determine the value of a firm. The quality of the
client is just as important. "What would you rather buy: A firm with 40
clients averaging about 40 years old with $80 million under management
or a firm with 200 clients averaging about 75 years old with $80
million in assets?" Pomering asks. "That's why it's meaningless to talk
about average multiples like 2.1 times revenues. Some client bases are
depleted oil wells. Value is a function of the future. What is this
business worth going forward."
Eventually, barriers to entry to this business are
likely to rise. Geography is likely to become a driving force behind
many deals. That means a small firm with an established position in a
mid-sized market, say southwestern Oregon or Winston-Salem, N.C. half
way between Charlotte and Raleigh, could become a lot more valuable
than a firm of similar size with much more competition in southern
California. "Even some firms with profits south of $1 million could be
worth a lot because they are in good markets and they can be
re-engineered."
Restructuring a firm means examining how it
operates, how it's managed and how it can be run more efficiently. "The
biggest obstacle to making most financial planning firms is getting the
owner out of the way," one consultant argues.
Sadly, owners of many smaller firms probably would
be much better off financially if they were employees of larger firms.
But that requires the proprietor to engage in a considerable reckoning
with his or her own ego. "It's great to be king, even if it's
Liechtenstein," remarks Hurley, who sold his own nascent mutual fund
company to JP Morgan in early 2004.
But even owners of large firms face a conundrum when
contemplating the sale of their firm. Take Edelman's case. He received
$12.5 million to sell a 51% interest in his business and could get as
much as $128 million if the business hits certain targets over the next
four years.
The potential variance in the total amount of this
deal may be unusual but the structure is not. After all, this is a
business where the firm's largest assets walk out the door every night.
Virtually all acquirers purchase financial planning
firms in several stages, both to protect themselves and to provide the
principals of the acquired firm with adequate incentives to remain as
productive as possible. And it's not unique to financial advisory
businesses. When Allianz bought Pimco Funds several years ago, there
were published reports that Allianz gave star bond fund manager Bill
Gross the opportunity to earn several hundred million in bonuses if he
stayed at Pimco and maintained a predetermined level of performance.
For financial advisors, this so-called "earn-out"
component of any deal makes selling a firm a serious gamble, since more
than half the total payout may come after the firm is sold. This is
particularly true if the acquirer is a financial buyer. To date, only
one acquirer, Jessica Bibliowicz's National Financial Partners,
has succeeded in acquiring enough firms to go public, and she has
focused more of NFP's efforts on estate and insurance planning firms
and benefits administrators than on financial advisory shops.
From all reports, owners of firms that were bought
by NFP are quite happy, but an advisor talking with another financial
acquirer should be well aware of the risks involved. First, there is no
guarantee that the acquirer will reach the levels of profitability and
critical revenue mass to do an initial public offering (IPO). Second, a
seller must hope that the equity markets will be receptive to financial
services IPOs when they do reach those levels.
In many instances, a financial buyer tries to
acquire a firm by purchasing a controlling interest of, say 60%, in the
business in return for cumulative convertible preferred stock. This can
mean, among other things, that if the profits of a firm making $1
million a year when the deal is signed dip below $600,000, the buyer
has a claim to their $600,000 a year before the advisor sees a nickel.
The biggest risk for advisors is that the financial
buyer is unable to go public and they are forced to sell to another
financial buyer who uses the situation to dilute all the prior
acquirees. "Buyers know advisors are getting older and they are selling
comfort and liquidity for a very high price," Hurley says. "But unlike
strategic acquirers with a vision, financial buyers add no value and
they are hardly immune to market risk."
Financial buyers, usually private equity firms, are
hardly stupid. But they are playing the game with someone else's money,
not their own. Consequently, their downside risk often is a lot lower
and their pain threshold is frequently much higher than an advisor who
has spent 30 years building a firm, which represents their largest
single asset.
Strategic buyers, like financial buyers, don't want
to run your business, but they do have a vested interest in its
strategic direction and how it can be integrated into the rest of their
firm. As a result, they are willing to overpay, particularly for a deal
that can enhance an IPO's marketability beyond simply contributing to
additional mass.
Over the next five years, the most common
transaction will be the legacy acquisition, in which younger partners
and employees buy out the firm's founders. Experts expect these deals
to be characterized by lower risks and lower multiples, since sellers
can structure transfer of control on more favorable terms in and the
buyer knows all the firm's strengths and weaknesses. In many instances,
the founders may be able negotiate an ongoing part-time role for
themselves that provides a source of both income and fulfillment well
into their golden years. Many people didn't go into this profession for
money, and they won't get out for it, either.
"D" Shannon thought he was in love. He'd found
Craig-the perfect buyer for his Warrenton, Va., advisory firm,
Stonewall Asset Management LLC. Then along came a new suitor with both
a bigger wallet and bigger promises. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Who is D Shannon? He's just another guy who bounced
around our industry looking for a way to make a living. After stints as
a less-than-successful fee-only planner and then a hugely successful
life insurance salesman, Shannon finally settled down as a fee-based
advisor with Securities America. He built a very saleable business
grossing between $450K and $600K a year-depending on the amount of
effort he cared to expend. In mid-2003, that's exactly what he decided
to do ... sell his business. Shannon needed to make time for his next
career: speaking and writing.
Initially, he tried finding a buyer on his own.
"First, I tried selling to Brian, an advisor with a fledgling practice
who I met at Dan Sullivan's Strategic Coach program."
Both advisors moved to a common broker-dealer to
make the merger go more smoothly. "Brian then came to me to learn how I
did marketing," says Shannon. "I had prepared a Gantt chart showing
what and when he needed to do things." The day after Brian left
Shannon's office, he didn't call Shannon, but sent a fax saying, "I'm
not doing this. I don't want to move forward." Says Shannon, "He saw
all the hard work it would take to build the business and he backed
out."
While all of this was going on, Shannon had brought
in a CFP named John to run things day to day so he could focus on
negotiations with Brian and beginning a writing and speaking career.
When things fell through with Brian, Shannon offered the business to
John. "He knew many of the clients, and I was only asking $300K, but
John said he didn't want to buy." In retrospect, Shannon realized this
was probably for the best, as John proved to have an excellent employee
mentality but doubtful entrepreneurial skills.
Shannon knew he'd seen an ad or article somewhere
about a group facilitating practice sales. "I turned to Mary, my
assistant, and asked, "Who was that Business Transitions person we
heard about?" Shannon contacted David Grau at Business Transitions LLC
in Portland, Ore., to see what he needed to do to prepare his business
for sale.
"It was April, and Grau said it would take about
three months to find a buyer and consummate a sale. So I decided to
give myself a mid-July deadline by which I'd show up at an NSA
[National Speakers Association] meeting and announce that I was a
full-time speaker/writer," adds Shannon. He put together all of the
paperwork describing his practice in a "due-diligence notebook," sent a
copy to Grau (who loved it, saying it was the best he'd seen) and
Stonewall Asset Management was listed for sale on April 14, 2004.
As Grau expected, Shannon got some inquiries the
same day he listed and, ultimately, received a total of 32. In the
first week of May, Shannon started culling down his list. "Jeanie at
Business Transitions would make the calls to the lesser-qualified
saying 'forget it ... no hard feelings' while I eyed each prospective
buyer using the referability rules I learned in Strategic Coach: Do
what you say you're going to do, say please and thank you, finish what
you start and show up on time," says Shannon. These simple rules helped
him separate the casual from the serious, like the young man who was to
have met with him at 11 a.m. one morning, only to call in at 2:30 p.m.
to say he was stuck in traffic.
"I wanted people to know this was a business serving
real people in a rural setting. A litmus test would be if the
prospective buyer were uncomfortable not wearing a coat and tie," says
Shannon. He found the right person in the form of Craig. "Craig grew up
an hour away from me in Waynesville, Va., went to William and Mary,
where he studied personal finance, and had run a $2 billion money
market fund. Plus, he was a good guy."
Craig offered nearly what Shannon was asking for
Stonewall: A down payment of 35%, a short-term earnout, and close to
Shannon's full price of $600,000. "He said that if I sold to him, he'd
even throw in his Porsche Boxster," says Shannon, who's own classic
Mustang and Woody weren't getting driven enough as it was.
In addition to Craig, two other particularly
excellent buyer prospects came out of the woodwork, although Craig was
still the favorite. Just when it looked like Craig was the winner, one
more came along: we'll call him Ernest. "I was all ready to shut down
the auction and sell the firm to Craig when I suddenly got an offer
from this Harvard-type in Beantown. He said he'd be down tomorrow and
he came as announced. I showed him around, answered all kinds of
questions and then took him back to his hotel," says Shannon.
Ernest soon returned to Shannon's farm, where
Stonewall is located in a building separate from Shannon's residence,
and said "What would it take to turn this auction to red?" which is
Business Transitions lingo meaning get it off the market-close the deal.
Says Shannon, "I knew I had Craig's offer to fall back on, so I asked
for the most aggressive terms I could think of: full price, a 50% down
payment, and a promissory note for the remainder. Ernest called back
and said 'done.'" And that's when all the fun started.
If you ask Shannon what ultimately went wrong with
this deal, he'd say two things. First, "Having a deadline by which I
wanted to be out was useful for organizing my thinking, but it created
an inflated sense of urgency for me to accept an offer," says Shannon.
Second, his and Ernest's personalities couldn't have been more
different, as he was soon to find out.
What's the big deal with personalities? Ernest's
money was as green as the next guy's, right? Herein is a
little-understood fact about buying and selling advisory practices: You
don't just sign the papers and walk away. If you're the seller and you
want to maximize client retention, you plan on working closely with
your buyer for at least a year.
Now, the more discerning reader will say, "Yes, but
Shannon was getting a promissory note from this guy; he didn't really
have to stick around." True, but he still had a contract that
stipulated when and how he'd get paid on the note. What if Ernest
perceived, accurately or not, departures from the contract by Shannon?
Might he withhold payment? He might and he did.
But I'm getting ahead of myself again. Closing
didn't take place when it was supposed to. "We got to the middle of
June, I hadn't received the purchase documents I had expected some time
earlier, and then they came on the morning of the revised closing date.
By this time, he'd violated my rule of 'do what you say you're going to
do,' and he was well on the way to violating the rest."
What Shannon received were the legal documents
provided by Business Transitions ordinarily needing only minor
customization, but which Ernest's attorney (a trust and estate man) had
completely reworked. "I called Grau and said I couldn't make sense of
the revised documents," says Shannon. He then called Ernest and said he
couldn't sign the documents because he didn't understand them. Yet,
Shannon finally gave in and negotiated off Ernest's revised documents
when, he now acknowledges, he should have insisted on doing the deal
from Grau's original documents or not doing it at all.
The personality issues really surfaced when Shannon
and Ernest decided to have a "meet the new partner" party for Shannon's
clients. It took the form of a luau held on Shannon's farm. "It was
like a wedding where the in-laws hate each other but everyone has a
@!%$-eating grin on his face," says Shannon. "I wanted to grip and grin
and catch up with clients about their latest vacations. Ernest wanted
to talk to them about mutual fund expense ratios."
At any rate, the party was held, the crowd finally
dispersed, and Shannon prepared to get down to the business of
transitioning clients. Ernest had other ideas. "I talked with Ernest
about hitting the ground running, but weeks went by and I heard
nothing. Then I got an e-mail from him saying he was in Connecticut
playing golf every day and studying for his Series 7. This went on for
five weeks. And just when I thought he was done vacationing and ready
to get down to business, I found out he was in Hawaii."
During this time, Ernest's first check to Shannon
bounced. "When I brought it up to him, he said, 'No big deal, I'll put
the funds in my account.'" Ernest didn't make good on the check until
the end of August, according to Shannon. Future payments were delayed
when Ernest balked at meeting certain expense-sharing requirements of
the contract. "For example," says Shannon, "he didn't want to pay the
bank charge for the check he'd bounced."
Business Transitions counseled Shannon to take the
high road. "I was getting nickeled and dimed," says Shannon, "and
finally said to Grau, 'If he wants to fight a paperclip war, tell him
to pack a lunch.'" Shannon told his assistant to do the best she could
responding to Ernest's demands for expense data; he was going to get
started writing a book and no longer wanted to be bothered with Ernest.
Perhaps the real losers in this whole scenario,
though, were Shannon's clients. He still gets calls from old clients
saying things like, "Ernest is pushy, impolite and arrogant. I don't
get a good feeling from him. I want to work with you. If I can't work
with you and don't want to work with him, is that going to cost you
money?"
Says Shannon, "I'm always going to regret turning my
clients over to someone with so little desire to maintain and nurture
client relationships."
Final lessons from Shannon? He's got three: "I got a
great deal on paper, but the big print giveth and the small print
taketh away. Just because you're selling doesn't mean you won't be
involved. And when in doubt, don't!"
David J. Drucker, MBA, CFP, a financial advisor since 1981, sold his practice 20 years later to write, speak and consult with other advisors. Learn more about his books at www.daviddrucker.com.
As members of the first generation of
financial planners retire from their practices, they are looking for
ways to transfer their firms in a way that suits them best. Fortunately
they have many choices, both inside and outside their firm.
They can sell to a fellow partner or an ambitious
employee. They can even open up the field and take advantage of a
thriving open marketplace to find the best-qualified person or firm.
Many employees want to step into the role of business owners
themselves, but in a crowded field of suitors, they must look for ways
to stand out so that they will be competitive when the time comes.
Being ready at the right time requires smart choices
and preparation along the way-actually, many years in advance, like
five years or more. Think of it as a long-term plan that sets up the
conditions for success. Although luck can play a role in helping things
along, making the right decisions and investing in your own
intellectual and financial resources can create the right conditions
for luck to flourish.
Pick The Right Employer
It all starts here. Suppose you have made good
grades in school, have effective and efficient work habits, understand
every nuance of investment theory and customer service, and yet still
have no chance of buying your employer's business. Where is the
fairness in that? There is none, but you have to face that prospect and
not flounder when it happens to you.
The problem may be not with you or your employer per
se, but rather with your employer's perception of the potential match
between you and their clients. In the end, it comes down to economics.
If they do not see you as a good fit, or not capable of being their
equal, they will think that their clients, and any future payments they
would receive, will evaporate as soon as they leave. Considering that
about two-thirds or more of the value they will receive from the sale
will come from payments after closing, you never will be seen as a
viable buyer as long as your employer holds that view. The risk could
appear even greater for the employer if the employee cannot come up
with the competitive one-third down that a partner or an outside buyer
can produce.
Of course, their perception could be completely
wrong. Employers have been known to make a mistake from time to time,
but that perception is everything in this circumstance. So here is the
first major decision you will make. Do you spend the time and effort
changing the employer's perception of you, or do you move on?
If you decide to stay, be prepared to move toward
the qualities that your employer thinks are essential for the client
match. In short, be prepared to emulate your boss. If that is beyond
your ability or your endurance level, it is time to look elsewhere.
Every minute you stay past that realization will a complete waste of
your time, unless you are learning something valuable that you can use
later.
Many people are disheartened when they realize they
are in a dead-end job. Don't be. Just consider it a test of your
resolve. Instead, spend that time finding a better professional match
for your personality and skill set.
Be one of the few employees who attends
broker-dealer, custodian or professional organization meetings and
conventions-spend your own money on it if you have to. The attendees
are virtually all business owners. Take your vacation time, if
necessary, because it is a wonderful opportunity to choose your
employer instead of the other way around. By being proactive, the
momentum is going in your direction as you meet them in a neutral
setting; assess their style and their likelihood of selling in your
timeframe. If nothing else, you will learn more about what it takes to
own a practice just by listening to and engaging in the conversations
around you.
Practice Owning Your Own Practice
If you were to ask many employers how or when they
got their first clients, you will find out there is always a good story
there. Frankly, many got them while they were working for someone else.
There is no better training than to own and handle every aspect of the
client relationship. From the initial prospecting to the nuances of the
relationship, including the late-night panic calls about the drop in
investments, the experience will teach you more about owning your own
practice than will any textbook.
Owning your own clients is also a good test to see
if you really want to do it. Someone once said that the best thing
about being self-employed is that you can work any 18 hours of the day
you want. This is hardly an exaggeration when you are truly committed
to the course. But the level of satisfaction that comes from the
accomplishment can hardly be exaggerated, too.
Some employers may not like the idea that you have
your own clients. They may tell you that you cannot do that and still
work for them. If they do, find another employer not threatened or
intimidated by this, because that firm will be a better match for you
in the end. If you want your employer to sell his or her practice to
you, he or she must perceive you as an equal or at least a potential
equal. Saying, "I have already created my own client base," implies
that you can handle theirs, too.
Employers are also more likely to sell at least a
portion of their own book to someone who has already shown the ability
to handle their own-no matter how small it is. Few things will enhance
your confidence in yourself, and your stature in your employer's eyes,
than this one thing. If things do not work out with your employer, this
confidence can take you places of your own choosing.
Getting The Down Payment
Down payments for practices selling in the open
marketplace typically run in the range of 30% to 40% or more. For
example, a practice selling for $250,000 will command a down payment of
$75,000 to $100,000. It may be very difficult, to impossible, for an
employee to come up with that much money. You may still have student
loans that you are paying off, or you may also be trying to save for a
house.
The money only goes so far. If you can, do not spend
the money you earn on your own clients, and just live on your salary.
This additional amount of capital could make you very competitive just
when you need to be.
In spite of this considerable hurdle, you can
leverage your insider relationship with the employer to give you the
edge over the outside buyer. After all, the employer knows you and your
abilities, and you have many years' head start over an outsider. They
may perceive that client retention will be better with the inside sale,
thus lowering their risk in the deal. Employers may even overlook
their own economic self-interest and agree to sell to you with a lower
down payment or a longer payout because they may see it as their
personal duty to mentor the next generation.
Either way, it could work to your advantage. But do
not rely on it or think you have an entitlement to it. Nothing will
kill a deal quicker from an employer's point of view than to see an
employee with their hand out and their nose in the air.
Have a backup plan that will raise as much capital
for the down payment as possible. After all, you do not want the
reverse going on, where the employer thinks you must be forever
indebted to him or her. Be frugal with your money and keep your eye on
your long-term plan. Know how credit works, and then maximize your
access to it.
Here is an example of a simple technique that can
help you increase your ability to come up with the cash and do a
bootstrap deal when you need it. Take cash advances on various credit
cards and pay the service fees for the advance. It is a small but
necessary price to pay for what it can do for you later. Take all of
that cash and put it in a bank for a month or two.
Go ahead and make the minimum payments during that
time, and then turn around and pay off the credit cards after a few
billing cycles. Repeat this periodically to build up a record of
accomplishment. This kind of transaction velocity will improve your
score and raise your credit limits. If you implement strategies such as
this consistently, you be able to raise the capital you need when the
time comes to buy.
The right employer, the experience and confidence
you get from your own client base, and solid access to capital are the
three most important tools you will need to realize your dream of
owning your own practice. Do not rely on sitting back and thinking you
will just inherit your employer's practice, because it may not happen.
Take an active role in your future and you will increase your chances
for success. Just as you tell your clients about A shares, if you make
your payment up front, you will get more in the end.
And once you have been successful, the rewards of
ownership will be well worth the effort. This next generation of
financial advisors is better educated in the technical aspects of money
management and investment theory. On paper, they are bigger, better and
faster.
Still, it is important to remember that schooling is
only one component for success. Grit and gumption are still at the
heart of making the American Dream come true. The pioneers of the
industry are looking to reward those who understand the true cost of
the dream. The rest is up to you.
William Grable, CPA, is president of
Business Transitions Publishing Inc. and consults with financial
advisors on internal succession and external transition strategies for
their practices. Please visit www.businesstrans.com or call (800)
934-3303 for more information.