As soon as you get in, you should be planning to get out again. This is advice that works well for investments and for your overall market position as an independent financial adviser. Sooner or later, you will want to exit. The earlier the planning starts, the smoother and more beneficial the process will be.
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There are a number of things to consider ahead of a future exit from your IFA business. These should be on your mind as soon as possible, preferably from when you first start to build up your business, and they should be ever-present to guide your business’s development.
Maximise Growth
There are plenty of other good reasons to grow your business, but it is still important to appreciate the role this will have in an exit strategy. The more you have, the more you can sell it for. Of course, growing a business involves risks, but hopefully as an IFA you should be better placed than those in most other sectors to assess your options and take calculated risks to maximise returns. Successfully expanding into new markets and new service offerings will not only boost your business right now; it will also significantly add to both its value and breadth of appeal to potential buyers in the future.
Develop the Business Internally
Do not only look outwards at potential customers and service offerings when developing your business. Developing your business as an entity – its internal processes, assets, and operations – is also important. Much like seizing growth opportunities, this will have obvious benefits in the short-term but will also add to its appeal and value when you want to execute your exit strategy. Streamlining and improving your business – for example, through implementing comprehensive back office systems for financial advisers like those you will see on the Intelliflo website can both help it to run better and make for a more impressive package to potential buyers.
Know How You Plan to Exit
You should also make plans for the actual exit process. Do you want to go to a broker or other professional who will help facilitate matters or manage it yourself? What kind of buyers might your business appeal to other than pure IFAs? Knowing this ahead of time will help enable a quick, efficient, and profitable sale when the time comes.