Steve Juetten, CFP® reveals 5 mistakes for financial advisors to avoid when selling their practices

As 2022 draws to a quick close, there are 203,791 financial advisors in America. Some are already putting pen to paper to craft business and marketing strategies to grow their businesses in the new year. At the same time, J.D. Powers estimates that there are 110,000 advisors over age 65 who are starting to hear the whisper that it may be time to plan for their successful exit.

For these advisors for whom planning for the future is a core strength, many may find themselves in unfamiliar territory with more questions than answers about how to get started and mistakes to avoid.

Steve Juetten, CFP® completed the successful sale of his financial advisor practice in July of 2022 in a way that all the stakeholders – clients, team, buyers, and seller – won on the way out.  Having served clients in a fiduciary capacity for 22 years, Juetten approached his five-year plan to exit with a commitment to making sure that clients would be well served. This is a consideration other advisors may also consider important.

Along Juetten’s five-year journey to a successful exit, he discovered a number of blunders to avoid that can be useful to owners of financial advisor practices who are just now hearing the call that now may be right time to start their journey to a successful exit.

Here are five mistakes to avoid:

1. Failure to schedule a specific exit date.
2. Making it up as you go along.
3. Selling too fast or too slow.
4. Setting unrealistic expectations about the value of the business.
5. Defining success only in money terms.

Juetten likens selling a financial advisor business to taking a roller coaster ride with many highs and lows and many tactical and emotional turns along the way. Among his most sage words of advice are to plan for the unexpected.

He offers a comprehensive report that offers a deeper dive about each of the five mistakes and five more, colored by the wisdom of his own experience.  It’s available for free download.

Juetten is available for podcast guesting, virtual speaking, and interviews relevant to owners of financial advisor practices who want to get on the glidepath to plan their “best fit” business success exit.

Here’s a link to make booking interviews easy.

About Advisor Exit Guide

Advisor Exit Guide is a business consulting service dedicated to guiding owners of financial advisor practices to exit their businesses so all the stakeholders – clients, team, seller and buyer – win on the way out. Founder Steve Juetten, CFP® has served clients as a fee-only and fiduciary financial advisor since 2001. In this capacity, his firm was recognized for business innovation by the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and also named among the top wealth management companies in the Seattle, WA region for client satisfaction by Seattle Magazine. His financial planning perspectives have been featured on Forbes, the PBS blog, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among other national and regional publications.

Juetten was the principal of his own advisor practice. Five years before he targeted his exit from the financial planning field, Steve set in motion a plan to find a “best fit” for his clients, team members and buyers of his business. He accomplished the first phase of his exit plan in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the remainder of his goal is ongoing as he supports his former clients, team members and business buyers.

Prior to starting, growing and exiting his financial advisory practice, Juetten served as a project manager for Fortune 500 companies across industries ranging from health care to technology and energy for 25 years, working with organizations and executives to navigate the nuances of employee benefit communications, compensation, and conflict resolution.