Preparing to sell an advisory business and planning for what comes after

In this article, I am focusing on what could be termed the emotional aspects of the sale of a financial planning business. Reams have been written about the actual process of the sale itself and the pitfalls to be aware of – and this aspect will be the focus of my next article – but what is often not given enough attention are the psychological impact on the shareholders/partners. For some firm owners, the preparation will stem from a very detailed business/strategic plan that has been in place for a number of years with specified milestones and "trigger points", for example, once the...