Billy Hopkins is the CEO and Founder at Silver Oak Securities.
If you’ve ever built a house or put an addition on your existing home, you know there are critical steps to be taken before the hammer hits the first nail. Your contractors would never just start framing the infrastructure without first developing a clear blueprint to guide their work.
Why? Because a blueprint outlines all the necessary details for a successful build, including the materials and costs, the roles each person will play, the steps in the process, etc. It’s also critical for efficiency, communication and accountability.
The same idea applies to your financial firm. In my experience, today’s financial professionals are chasing one of two distinct goals: trying to grow or looking toward retirement. Doing either one successfully requires careful planning, a sound strategy and a time horizon longer than most financial professionals probably think.
Ideally, financial professionals should be mapping out their objectives about 10 years into the future. By thoughtfully evaluating where your firm is now and where you want to be in the next decade, you can anticipate challenges, take advantage of opportunities and account for variables beyond your control.
A Blueprint For Growth
For financial professionals in growth mode, long-range planning allows you to scale sustainably, making critical yet methodical decisions around investing in staff, technology, service expansions and marketing to ensure you continue operating profitably.
Your 10-year plan starts with aligning your strategy around your vision. To be successful, financial professionals should work backward by deciding first where they want to be in 10 years. What are your growth goals? How would you like to optimize and expand your service offerings? Who will your ideal clients be?
From there, you can work backward to build your blueprint, plotting the incremental milestones necessary to get from where you are now to your ideal future state.
A Blueprint For Retirement
For financial professionals with retirement in mind, giving yourself a 10-year window is absolutely crucial for transitioning clients smoothly. You’ll need more time than you think you do to determine how you want to exit, establish successors, communicate your plans and roll out your transition in manageable phases.
It’s no secret that financial professionals have struggled with sufficient exit planning, but that lack of preparation can lead to dissatisfied clients, frustrated staff and ultimately, less money to fund your retirement if you end up having to sell your firm for less than it’s really worth.
It can be challenging to be honest with yourself and identify that yes, retirement is part of your 10-year plan, but you owe it to yourself, your staff, your clients and your legacy to do so. The most successful transitions involve ample time to organize and document both your processes and client knowledge, establish a well-thought-out client communication strategy and transfer accounts and assets as seamlessly as possible.
Whichever journey you’re on, your success depends on your ability to take a step back from your day-to-day operations, envision the ideal state for you, your firm and your clients a decade from now and implement a plan to achieve that vision.
The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
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