Understand and determine how each other’s technology platforms (e.g., financial planning software, portfolio management, CRM, etc.) will be integrated.
While it is not necessary, having a common custodian is crucial in making the transition smooth. This of course will facilitate the asset transfers and change of advisory paperwork.

Shareholder/equity opportunities should be discussed early and clearly defined. At our firm, all of our senior advisors are, or eventually will be, shareholders.
Our experience has taught us that integrating two firms is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. For example, one cannot simply discard the investments of one firm to implement the favored investments of the other. It will take months and in some cases years to complete this process. If each party uses different CRM, portfolio management and financial planning software, transferring clients to these platforms may take many months, and each firm needs to be patient.

However, in our experience, it has been worth the effort. At RTD we know that we could not handle more than one of these each year. It takes tremendous effort from our investment department, financial planning department and administrative staff to make these mergers successful. Hopefully, the guidelines we have developed will help those of you who are considering integrating other firms into your practice. If you do, you may discover that the formula for synergy, one plus one equals three, is significantly understated.

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