Financial planning is a young industry. The International Association of Financial Planning—one of the predecessors to the Financial Planning Association—was formed less than forty years ago. But as the profession's first tier of advisers reaches maturity, the decisions that may be part of transition planning for their firms loom large. A sale? A partner buyout? A merger? No matter what the choice, its viability hinges on one critical issue—the value of the firm. Unfortunately, many advisers--whether veteran or novice—simply don't know the worth of their practice or how to influence it. That's why How to Value, Buy, or Sell a Financial-Advisory Practice is such an important book. It takes advisers carefully through the logic and the legwork of coming to a true assessment of one of their most important personal assets—their business. Renowned for their years of experience helping advisers tackle the daunting challenges related to the valuation, sale, and purchase of advisory firms, Mark C. Tibergien and Owen Dahl offer guidance that's essential and solutions that work.

This book is going to challenge you and everything you think you know about succession planning. For independent advisors, succession planning is quickly becoming the cornerstone to a strategic growth strategy designed to perpetuate their business and their income streams beyond their own lifetime, while providing a multi-generational service platform that attracts and rewards younger advisors. This makes succession planning one of the most, if not the most, important practice management tools in this industry today. As an independent financial advisor, now is the time to address the question of what will happen to your practice and your clients after you “exit the building.” In most cases, the answers are right in front of you. Thankfully, Succession Planning for Financial Advisors: Building an Enduring Business has arrived to transform today’s practices into businesses designed to endure and prosper and serve generations of clients. Learn how to create a “Lifestyle Succession Plan” that can provide a lifetime of income and benefits to the founder even as he/she gradually retires on the job Unlock the power of equity management – the best planning and building tool an independent advisor owns Learn how to attract and retain the best of the next generation to help you build a great business and to support your succession plans and care for your clients and their families Determine precisely when to start a formal succession plan and related continuity plan so that your business can work for you when you need it most Understand why succession planning and selling your business are completely different strategies, but how they can complement each other when used correctly 95% of independent financial service professionals are one owner practices. To the positive, these practices are among the most valuable professional service models in America. But almost all advisors are assembling their practices using the wrong tools – tools borrowed from historically successful, but vastly different models including wirehouses, broker-dealers, and even OSJ’s and branch managers. Revenue sharing, commission splitting and other eat-what-you-kill compensation methods dominate the independent sector and virtually ensure that today’s independent practices, if left unchanged, will not survive the end of their founder’s career. It is time to change course and this book provides the map and the details to help you do just that. For independent practice owners and staff members, advisors who want to transition to independence, as well as accountants, attorneys, coaches and others involved in the financial services space, there are invaluable lessons to be learned from Succession Planning for Financial Advisors. Written by the leading succession planning expert in the financial services industry, former securities regulator, M&A specialist, and founder of the nationally recognized consulting and equity management firm, FP Transitions, David Grau Sr., JD, has created an unmatched resource that will have an enduring and resounding impact on an entire industry.

Beside talent and a sterling portfolio, what can world-class consultants like Deloitte & Touche, Societe General and Towers Perrin boast has helped them achieve success in our entrepreneurial economy? They all have the inside track on the indispensable "Trusted Advisor" model for client relationships, created by renowned experts Charles Green and Robert Galford. Now Green and Galford have teamed up with the acclaimed David Maister in order to help their latest high-profile, fast-forward client: you. In this straightforward guide, Maister, Green and Galford show readers that the key to professional success goes well beyond technical mastery or expertise. Today, it's all about the vital ability to earn the client's trust and thereby win the ability to influence them. In these high risk times, trust is more valuable than gold. With this critical, highly detailed and accessible resource, readers will learn the five crucial steps for developing, managing and improving client confidence. For both emerging and established entrepreneurs and consultants, THE TRUSTED ADVISOR is the first truly indispensable business book of the decade.

The Authoritative M&A Guide for Financial Advisors Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices shows you how to complete a sale or acquisition of a financial advisory practice and have both the buyer and seller walk away with the best possible terms. From the first pages of this unique book, buyers and sellers and merger partners will find detailed information that separately addresses each of their needs, issues and concerns. From bestselling author and industry influencer David Grau Sr. JD, this masterful guide takes you from the important basics of valuation to the finer points of deal structuring, due diligence, and legal matters, with a depth of coverage and strategic guidance that puts you in another league when you enter the M&A space. Complete with valuable tools, worksheets, and checklists on a companion website, no other resource enables you to: Master the concepts of value and valuation and take this issue “off the table” early in the negotiation process Utilize advanced deal structuring techniques including seller and bank financing strategies Understand how to acquire a book, practice or business based on how it was built, and what it is capable of delivering in the years to come Navigate the complexities of this highly-regulated profession to achieve consistently great results whether buying, selling, or merging Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices will ensure that you manage your M&A transaction properly and professionally, aided with the most powerful set of tools available anywhere in the industry, all designed to create a transaction where everyone wins—buyer, seller, and clients.

Winner of the Top Sales World Magazine's 2013 Top Sales Marketing Book Award, Gold Medal

Praise for stop acting like a seller and Start Thinking Like a Buyer "Stop Acting Like a Seller and Start Thinking Like a Buyer is a book that teaches you emphatically that 'words matter.' If you want to set yourself apart from others, whether you're selling a product or a concept, this is a book to read. Not only will you learn how to prepare for sales success, you will learn how to be far more effective by thinking like a buyer." —Theresa Martinez, Brand Director, Roche Laboratories "This book shares a great commonsense approach to developing a new sales attitude and mindset that will work no matter what you're selling. Jerry has successfully articulated a powerful and unique formula for sales greatness." —Duggar Baucom, head basketball coach, Virginia Military Institute "This is a book for people who truly want to have incredible success in sales. Thinking like a buyer is the most powerful way to help customers and prospects think differently about you and your product. This book shows you exactly how to make that happen in a step-by-step way. If you want to learn how to guarantee your success in selling or influencing, this is a book you must read." —Dan C. Weilbaker, PhD, McKesson Professor of Sales, Northern Illinois University "A mind shift takes place when you read Acuff's book and realize 'it's all about them.' The book helps you understand human psychology and behavior and gives you the practical tips, encouragement, and examples to help you stand out and be valued by your customers regardless of what you're selling." —Charlene Prounis, Managing Partner, Flashpoint Medica

We Americans are never taught anything about gold and silver through our education system. That's why many gold dealers are able to easily rip off unsuspecting buyers of gold and silver.Financial advisors and journalists aren't giving you the truth either, as to how gold and silver fit into a properly diversified portfolio. So naturally, people are looking for answers."Buy Gold and Silver Safely" provides those answers by explaining why gold and silver need to be a part of everyone's portfolio, and helping people learn about buying or selling gold and silver... the safe way.

The marketplace for small and midsize businesses is messy. Having peeked behind the curtain at over 10,000 companies, this book aims to demystify the buyers, the process, and the inevitably emotional journey that is selling a company. If you're reading this, you're likely an entrepreneur, a family member or close friend of a business owner, or an advisor to an owner. Great businesses outlast individual careers, including those of owners and founders. At some point, in some way, each business must be transitioned - years pass, people age, markets change, opportunities appear - as do challenges. Selling, whether it be a stake or the whole company, often carries an unfortunate amount of stress, anxiety, and frustration. Most of the time, selling is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, and the traditional paths are unnecessarily opaque. Do something enough and you get good at it. Just as you have built your expertise, my colleagues and I have had the privilege to peek behind the curtain at over 15,000 companies - reviewing financial statements, meeting with leadership, and seeking to understand what makes each company tick. Talking with hundreds of business owners, we noticed that many of the same questions, concerns, and thoughts repeat. And that makes sense. Just as all businesses share many commonalities, sellers of those businesses will have mostly similar experiences, with differences in personality, motivation, and situation driving the nuance. This book attempts to demystify deal-making from a seller's point of view. As much as the finance industry likes to pretend to be "buttoned up," investors and bankers are largely disorganized, and the process is unnecessarily shrouded in mystery. It's a messy marketplace, with every type, temperament, and motive imaginable. The goal of this book is to help sellers, the families of sellers, sellers' advisors, and company leadership to understand the market for smaller companies, allowing them to make better decisions and create better outcomes. Our hope is that you walk away from this book better prepared to understand the path forward, the vantage points of everyone involved, and the process of a transition through a transaction with an outside investor. This is the second edition of "The Messy Marketplace." When initially drafted in 2017, we had a little over 10 years under our belt. In the subsequent years, we've seen the marketplace and valuations continue to evolve, endured a pandemic, and made more than a dozen new investments. While most of the original text is intact, the updates underscore what's new or increasingly important when trying to successfully do a deal.