Taxes

• Tax Services
  A family member that is a CFP, EA has had a tax practice and financial planning business for many years, but at 68 he decided to slow down, so he sold the tax preparation side of the business to his partner and half his book to his son. He intended to spend more time with family and golf more often, while managing a smaller book. Over the next few years, his book grew back to where it was before the sale.  Being connected to his community and being older, people came to him for his wisdom and experience. As he explained, “You can only golf so much, and frankly, I feel that God made me for serving the clients I have. I enjoy what I do, so why not keep doing this as long as I can?” Now 78, some health issues have surfaced and the stress that in the past he thrived on, now wears him down. He’s now in the process of selling his book.

Investment

• Mutual Funds
  An advisor that I placed in 2016 can’t bring himself to retire when his clients, as he puts it, “Aren’t clients but friends.” He works 20 hours a week with a book made up of mostly mutual funds, so his income is almost all trails. Even though many would salivate over the thought of converting his $250 million of assets to advisory, that never resonated for him nor to his clients. So, at age 66, he maintains his book of mutual funds and keeps in touch with clients. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s two years ago, but it hasn’t slowed him down nor caused him to contemplate retirement. Ultimately, it will be his Parkinson’s that will define his retirement date. He also appreciates the time at work, as it provides time apart from his wife because too much time together can be problematic, as they can drive each other a bit crazy without some space. Absence often does make the heart grow fonder; couples usually enjoy each other more after they have had some time apart.
• Wealth Management
  A wealth-management focused broker dealer that pays a 5-year forgivable note in the 20-30% trailing GDC range based on profitability. At the end of the 5 years, your book is bought outright, paying 5-7x EBITA (available for practices that are over $1MM in GDC production.

Planning

• Financial Planning
  May 4, 2023 By Dan Shaw, Financial Planning The number of people joining the brokerage industry increased for the first time in several years in 2022, driven by wealth managers joining both pure-play broker-dealer firms and hybrid outfits with an advisory arm. That's according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's latest industry snapshot, released on Thursday. The number of registered representatives at brokerages rose to 620,882 in 2022, up from 612,435 the previous year. Although that was only a modest 1% increase and the 2022 total came in below the 629,475 registered reps recorded in 2018, it still marked the first time the figure had climbed in at least the five previous years. Increases were seen in both the number of firms registered solely with FINRA, the broker-dealer industry's self-regulator, and so-called hybrid outfits with advisory arms...
• Retirement Planning
  But Durbin said he will serve as the “enterprise CEO,” leading the firm into new, adjacent markets, with Antoniades leading the core businesses that already exist. He pointed to the holding company’s recent acquisition of The Retirement Planning Group, an independent RIA with $1.4 billion in assets, as one example.
• Annuities
  The same CCO expressed frustration that although 80% of the BD revenue comes from advisory assets, 80% of the firm’s overall compliance budget goes to meeting FINRA compliance requirements; this effort often includes hiring additional staffing, lots of tracking and numerous procedures, not to mention the immensely higher litigation risks associated with commission products like variable annuities and alternative investments.