For as long as I’ve been writing about Financial Planning, several decades now, people have been fretting about the ‘fact’ that the average age of a Financial Planner is 105 (ok a slight exaggeration) and many planners are ready to quit, leaving an empty shell of a profession.
It’s become a phrase repeated so often that it has been accepted as gospel. Except it’s not true.
Yes planners often in their 40s, 50s and 60s but their staff may be half those ages and many are perfectly happy to carry on while the carefully consider an exit strategy.
Despite this I do think there is a bit of a rush for the door recently among some planners, for some obvious reasons.
Close to one in five (16%) said they expected to exit in the next two years.
This may or may not be true. Half of predictions are wrong and the other half are dubious but this does have at least the weight of a survey behind it so there may be something in it.
Certainly Financial Planning Today has been reporting a wave of M&A activity recently with some Financial Planners retiring and selling their businesses.
I suspect that a few years ago many planners just retired quietly and wound down their business, passing on their clients to colleagues or a fellow planner in the same town.
Now, with the advent of huge private equity investment, any planner with 100 clients and a few million in assets under management is potentially sitting on a goldmine.
Some have raised questions about this ‘gold rush’ but what will matter most to the clients, whether their planning firm is sold or not, is that they are looked after long term, not overcharged and enjoy continuity of quality advice and service.
Selling or passing on a Financial Planning business is just a natural part of business life and we should welcome the private equity money which is enabling older planners to retire in some comfort.
While there are risks, it should be seen as a potentially sensible move as long as clients are looked after. Certainly it’s not in the interests of clients for their planner to die with his boots on.
What is apparent, of course, is that the wider business world has woken up to the fact the Financial Planning firms are often excellent, robust businesses and have a substantial value.
For the acquiring company they must avoid the temptation to jack up client charges to recoup their costs. The real value in Financial Planning firms is their potential growth and potential to serve more clients, not the opportunity to ‘milk’ existing clients.
In time I suspect that many younger planners will be considering exit routes from their 30s and 40s in future. It should, realistically, be part of any long term business plan not a last minute thought near retirement.
Planners have worked hard to build up the value in their businesses and should reap the rewards.
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Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and has worked as a journalist and editor for over three decades.
