Selling a financial services practice is personal. You’ve spent years earning trust and building something steady. Handing it to someone else brings real questions. Will the next owner show up the way you have? Will clients feel the same level of care? You only get one chance to get the sale right.

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We recently spoke with a client about how he prepared and what he’d do differently. His story is a useful guide for first-time sellers. It shows where to start, how to keep leverage, and which small moves can quietly hurt the outcome.

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In the fall of 2013, an independent advisor we’ll call James began thinking seriously about a sale. He was 63, based in the Chicago area, and he and his wife wanted to move closer to their grown kids and grandkids. It felt like the right moment to slow down.

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James ran a fee-based practice that brought in about four hundred seventy-five thousand dollars a year. A little over three quarters came from fees and trails. The rest came from commissions and hourly planning. Revenue was steady, not really growing.

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He didn’t jump straight into a formal process. He started quietly, mentioning his plans to a few trusted peers and a wholesaler he’d known for years. Within weeks the calls began. Word had gotten around, and several advisors reached out to talk about buying what he’d built.