"This environment brings to the forefront the possibilities of an unfortunate worst-case scenario,” Garcia said. But he stressed that succession planning should not be driven by fear. "It should be a true growth strategy that thinks about the business, that thinks about you as a professional and thinks about your personal interests to prepare yourself for the transition of the business to owners and new leadership,” he said.
As for what’s holding back advisors from engaging in succession planning, the 2018 study noted that 67% of advisors said they were worried the business will not be as successful if they are not there; 63% had a hard time thinking about moving on from the business; and 61% said even though they knew that the business was ready for succession, they were not sure they were ready to part with it.
As part of E*TRADE Advisor Services, Garcia said there are consulting and business management resources available to assist with moving their clients along in the process. He pointed out that there also are many industry consultants who specialize in succession planning from a more contractual and legal valuation perspective. In addition, there are plenty of published research and white papers on the topic.
Garcia said E*TRADE works with clients to specifically think about the topic and engage them from a consulting perspective to think about development of the next generation of leadership, and provide them with introductions to external parties who can help them with firm valuations or access to capital.