By now, almost everyone knows that retiring in your fifties isn't all it was cracked up to be. But try telling that to a planner who for 15 years or more has been working as Chief Operating Officer, Chief IT Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Manager of Human Resources and Chief Bottle Washer-and see what he or she says.

The fact is, more and more planners are selling their businesses between age 55 and 57, often not to retire but to move on to a business venture that is a bit less demanding, according to FP Transitions, an online brokerage service for advisory firms.

"I wouldn't call it burnout. I'd call it a change in focus," says Philip Palaveev, a senior consultant with Moss Adams, who worked with nearly 100 advisory firms in the past year to help them improve efficiency and productivity. "After running their business for a decade or more, they're tired. They want to reduce their hours or put their energies into the things they like, so they look for an option that gives them this flexibility."

The problem is that options for those advisors who have had a great run going it alone can feel mighty slim when they start looking to scale back office time and responsibilities. For solo practitioners, this realization can be a "cold shower," Palaveev says. If an advisor is already tired, the thought of bringing on a junior partner to train can feel pretty risky, though it can be a very rewarding way to control your exit, the consultant says.

Whether an advisor runs a solo practice or is part of an ensemble firm doesn't change the fact that a significant portion of the advisor industry, like the U.S. population itself, is moving into its fifties and sixties. "The average age of our members is 50 and there are some quite a bit older than that," says Sean Walters, group director of Knowledge and Community Development for the Financial Planning Association in Denver. "At a certain age, advisors are looking for a higher quality of life than just cranking it out and managing their business day after day. It's important that they're able to figure out a way to do that so they don't feel like they have to shed their businesses."

After all, consultants agree, many advisors don't want to leave the industry that's been so good to so many of them. On the contrary, many feel like they're in the zenith of their career as they enter their fifties, Palaveev says. "Fifties is too young an age to give up clients and spend their days on the beach and they know that." The challenge is finding the flexibility and fulfillment they need to work as long as they desire and are able.

While operational size can enhance flexibility and options, we found advisors with firms of all sizes who have built practices that give them the personal and professional satisfaction they're looking for-along with the free time to pursue both. Here's a look at their best practices for staying productive and fresh, so that they can continue to work in the parts of their business that fascinate them without feeling that they have no time away from their practices.

What Do You Really Want?

For the past 13 years or so, the partners of The Enrichment Group in Miami have been working to create a firm that would give them the personal time and flexibility they believed would become so important to them as they entered their fifties. They were right. And, so far, they've been successful, both personally and professionally, building a client roster of some 250 individuals with $170 million in assets. Today, partner Randy Lee finds the time to travel to Europe or some other meaningful locale every year with his wife. "If you structure things right, you can do a large percentage of your work from almost anywhere," says Lee, who this year went flyfishing west of Yellowstone National Park before meandering down to Jackson Hole.

At age 60, the longtime advisor says he plans to continue working for years to come because of the way he and his partners have set up their firm to fully utilize the teamwork of partners, planners and staff. His freedom and travel time is enhanced by the fact that technology allows him to create a very real work environment any place he needs it. Last year he found himself wandering through an ancient village 100 miles outside of Bordeaux in France when he was floored by his discovery: an Internet café situated in a stone building dating back some 1,000 years.

"We have five planners in our office and they're all very competent," Lee explains. "We work as a team, so if a client calls, we're very adept at handling any challenge. But if I need to work while I'm away, I can interface with clients, colleagues and staff from just about anywhere I travel. There aren't many places left on the globe where you'll be cut off and can't do that," he says.

More and more clients with wanderlust or the desire to relocate appreciate the fact they can stay in touch with their advisors-no matter where they or the advisors may be. "We have a number of clients who have gravitated from Miami to someplace else, so we have meetings with these folks by phone and virtual annual meetings," Lee says.

As the partners of The Enrichment Group age along with the rest of us, the business is structured so they can set up a second home or even a primary residence just about anywhere that they can create a home office. This gives them the opportunity to take time off while continuing with a fairly intense work schedule. "So at age 55 or later, we can continue to say 'This is fun,'" says Lee. "We can enjoy it and make it easier to do, and stretch the length of time we're happy to stay in work clothes into our sixties and beyond. This industry is conducive to creating this kind of freedom if you structure things right."

Control Your Big Picture

While there are tons of ways to be more efficient, if you've identified more time away from the office as a priority that could make or break your happiness in the years ahead, you only have one option: Start taking the time off you need. It's key to making sure you're in the driver's seat of your practice rather than being driven by it. Of course, taking time away is not always easy to do since as a small business person it can sometimes be difficult to control the quantity of work that flows in the door, and just as difficult to turn away business.

But that makes it all the more important to take time away, says Kathleen Cotton, president of Cotton Financial Advisors Inc., in Lynwood, Wash. It's often a matter of imposing some sort of control and order on what can become a blur of work time. "Some people say, 'I'm only going to work four days a week. Or six hours a day.' That works for some people, but it can be hard to walk away since you still have work sitting on your desk. My solution," says Cotton,"is to leave town. If I didn't, I'd be in the office."

Cotton, 64, spends four months out of the office a year at four- and six-week intervals. Her time away is spent in her beachfront condo in Puerto Vallarta. She works three hours in the morning most weekdays while there, carefully planning her time away to coincide with her client portfolio reviews. Her three-person staff performs and writes the reviews for clients, and Cotton analyzes their work. On cooler days she can work on her deck, which overlooks nothing but the azure of the Pacific Ocean.

"If you're running your practice so you have freedom, you leverage yourself by delegating as much as possible," says Cotton, whose firm works with 117 clients and manages $60 million in assets. She is diligently shifting as many clients as possible to her staff planner. Usually, it's older clients who don't mind meeting with staff, as long as they know Cotton is around. "It can be tricky, but currently 36 clients are the staff planner's. Frankly, I don't do any of the initial financial planning anymore. My staff takes extensive meeting notes, and I supervise and approve their work, but if frees me up to do big-picture work," Cotton says. "You can work as long as you like, but the key is you have to have fun."

For Cotton, the author of more than five books and a regular column for the National Association of Personal Financial Advisers' newsletter, writing keeps her fresh.

Currently, she is updating two books she published electronically, Financial Planning for the Not-Yet Wealthy and Living Life Your Way (available on her website www.cottonfinancial.com). She also did the research and sent out a white paper to clients recently explaining the disparity between state and federal estate tax exemptions, and the tax liability they may find themselves facing unless they use a state-based marital Q-Tip trust to shelter the difference. As a result, area attorneys are finally starting to pick up on this avoidable liability, she says.

In the meantime, Cotton is already living the next stage of her goals, both at work and play. She closes her office each Friday at 1 p.m., allowing staff to take off early provided they've made up the time earlier in the week. She is glad to count their time and pay them for lunch if they eat in the office.

The next move is a literal one. Cotton and her architect husband are planning a home on Whidby Island, off the Washington coast. She'll ferry to and from when the office needs her, and work virtually the rest of the time. "You have to ask yourself, 'Where is the passion in your life?' That should be the driver of everything you do and the way you set things up. Can you work less and still make enough money? The fact is young retirees, in the advisor field and everywhere else, go out the door because they don't have control. You have to gain the control you need to continue working as long as you can," Cotton says.

Only Hire The Best Clients

Frank Presson III has been thinking about early retirement, or how he'd seize opportunities for fulfillment, since he was a young manager working for IBM and saw colleagues founder when they were offered an early out. "I became a big believer in staying very active. If you don't have something meaningful to do, you won't last long," says Presson, who recently turned 66.

So when his break came and Xerox offered him an early retirement package, he was ready to accept it by 8 a.m. the next morning. Within the year, he launched his financial planning career, hanging out his own shingle in 1994 as a sole proprietor.

Today he has 25 clients and manages about $10 million in assets. He spends much of his time counseling clients to plan not only for their financial futures, but for their emotional and psychological futures as well. "You have to retire to something, not away from something," says Presson. He counsels clients similarly, and finds a sympathetic chord. "Most of my clients are bright, energetic people, and they're not going to be happy shutting down at the end of the day."

Today, after being on the board of numerous professional and civic groups since launching his firm in Tucson a decade ago (he's been president of his town's Rotary Club, chairman of the local Arthritis Foundation and president and chairman of the West Region of NAPFA, to name a few), Presson says he'll be happy to have the time to devote to his firm.

His constant professional networking gives him access to future partners and buyers, when the time comes for him to gently hand off clients. His work with NAPFA study groups and conference planning has included local, regional and national roles.

He attributes his success to finding the right clients and firing those who are aggressive or a poor fit, a job that all advisors in this article agree is critical to personal and professional happiness. "I'm trying to develop a mix of clients I want. Right now I'm working off a backlog and am not accepting any new clients until fall. I'm slowly building up retainer clients. I like to work with nice people and deal with complex issues that give me the opportunity to be creative. That keeps me fresh. And I earn enough income to support my lifestyle," Presson says.

That lifestyle includes the exotic trips he and his wife love to take. They traveled through Australia and New Zealand not too long ago. This fall, they're cruising along the coast of Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands on a trip that starts in Barcelona and winds up in Lisbon.

So far, Presson has done a fine job finding clients who "fit." They regularly ask him if he's taking enough quality time for himself and family. He believes the fact that he switched from an asset-based charge to a retainer fee more than a year ago has aided his search for like-minded clients.

"I did it because I wanted to remind people that they're paying me for financial planning. I want to get involved in everything: Kids, divorces, refinancing houses and their personal lives. I didn't want them to think every time they got a windfall, their fees were going to go up," Presson says. "Sure enough, when I switched to a retainer, assets were coming out of the woodwork. We got back into what I like to do, life planning. That's why I got into this business, and it keeps me strong. I plan to reach the ripe old age of 100 and so do a lot of my clients, so we have a lot of discussions ahead of us."