Your Obligation to Your Clients When Succession Planning

When it comes to a financial advisor’s retirement, one of the most pressing issues on their mind is going to be the welfare of their clients. As an independent financial advisor, you spent years building up your business and developing personal relationships with your clients. You don’t want that all to go away when you retire and you certainly don’t want to let your clients down now. So when planning your retirement, what are your obligations to your clients? How can you make this transition easy for them too? Here are a few suggestions to help you keep the lines of communication open with your clients during your succession planning years.

How to Help Your Clients During Your Succession Planning

Let them know that a plan is in place.

Clients don’t expect you to work forever. Most of them are aware there is a chance you will retire before them or around the same time that they do. What they want to know, really, is that you have a succession plan in place so their portfolio will continue to be managed even after your retirement. If you don’t but you are starting one, let them know that, too. This can put a client’s mind at ease when it comes to deciding whether they need to move their money.

Keep them in the loop on your succession plan.

Give updates on your succession plan. This doesn’t have to mean you lay out your five or ten-year plan in detail for them, but giving periodic updates is helpful. Tell them you’ve found a succession plan partner, or that your new partner will start managing their updates, or that the marketing for your company might be changing to reflect the new talent. They’ll appreciate being updated about the progress and enjoy knowing that things are going smoothly.

Give them time to get to know their new advisor.

This is one of the reasons it’s so important to start your succession planning so early. Clients are going to be understandably wary of having their money handled by an unknown person. They spent all this time getting to know you, after all, so give them time to get to know your successor. Schedule meetings with the both of you so you can introduce them to their new financial advisor and tell them why you think this is the right person for the job.

Let them know their portfolio is safe.

Clients want to know that their financial portfolio is safe. Show them that it is by displaying confidence in your succession plan and the person you’ve chosen to help you execute it. Keep your financial advising business going strong, including marketing and taking on new clients, so your current clients see that there is no reason to worry about keeping their business with you.

Accept that they might find another advisor.

As hard as you might work to prevent it, you’ll have to accept that some clients are going to walk away and find a new advisor. Having a really strong succession plan can help, but if the client doesn’t think the new team is a good fit for them, they are free to take their portfolios somewhere else. Accept that it might happen, and don’t hold a grudge. Sometimes a change like a retirement means a change for your clients, as well.

If you want to make sure your clients are well cared for after your retirement, talk to advisorRETIRE™. We help independent financial advisors with their succession planning so they can retire with peace of mind. Get in touch with our team today to learn more.