- Only 6% of advisors have a fully documented succession plan
- Over half struggle to relinquish control to the next generation
- 40% fear client relationships will suffer after they step aside
Why is moving to the next phase of life so challenging for advisors? Ironic, since these are the same professionals who encourage their clients to retire and enjoy their hard-earned wealth before it’s too late. Turns out it’s easier to coach someone to transition to this next phase of life than it is to take the leap yourself.
Making the leap from work to retirement is scary.
Questions about identity are often at the core of what keeps advisors stuck.
- Who will I be if I am not a high-earning advisor?
- How will I define my worth if I am not growing my AUM or revenue?
- What will I spend my time doing if it’s not meeting with prospects and clients?
The silence around the emotional side of succession planning is deafening.
Silence is a great way to keep the status quo. If you don’t acknowledge or talk about your feelings about ending your career, then you can continue to live as if it’s not happening. It’s comfortable. You never have to write a succession plan, relinquish control to new owners, or deal with your clients’ feelings about your departure.
The problem is you ultimately stay too long and miss the opportunity to share your talents and gifts in other ways during your lifetime. You also make it challenging for the next generation of advisors to serve the firm’s clients fully. Having witnessed the push-pull of the old guard and the new ownership firsthand as a consultant, you don’t want your clients to experience this energy.
To end the succession crisis in the field, we need to break the money silence around advisors and retirement.
Advisor training and thought leadership need to normalize this transition as uniquely human and filled with mixed emotions such as fear, grief, loss, joy, and excitement. There is no one way to navigate this transition, yet advisors can learn how to create a personalized retirement roadmap that includes conversations they will have with future successors, current colleagues, and their clients.
The silver lining is that when advisors break their silence around retirement, they become better at guiding their clients around the human side of this life transition.
KBK is here to help.
Whether you are contemplating retirement yourself or want to help your team of advisors navigate the identity and emotional side of succession planning with clients, I am here to help. Simply set up a call to find out what that could look like.
I look forward to our conversation.