Alicia Locheed Goodrow, a partner in Culhane Meadows’ Houston office, was recently interviewed for an article by PLANADVISER which discusses the pandemic’s influence on succession plan.

Here are some excerpts from Alicia’s interview:

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that business owners need to have a continuity plan for their firms—and that includes retirement plan advisers, industry insiders say.

“The pandemic has certainly heightened the sense of urgency in all private businesses on succession planning,” says Alicia Goodrow, a partner at Culhane Meadows who focuses on succession planning. “Businesses, including retirement and wealth management planning businesses, owned by healthy, engaged people in their 40s, 50s and 60s are seeing the very real possibility of debilitating illness or death as a high-risk factor that applies to them and their businesses. Clients are beginning to ask, quite bluntly, what plans their senior advisers have made.”

While Goodrow has seen some retirement plan advisers making plans to retire in the next 24 months, she adds that “with the market generally trending up and the uncertainties around estate planning and taxes, most planners who were considering retirement in 2021 are waiting a couple of years to take advantage of the activity in the market right now. Many clients are relying more heavily on their planners in these times of uncertainty, so business is good.”

…

For those retirement plan advisers looking to sell their business, Goodrow suggests they form a mini “think tank” of outsiders, including their attorney and an investment banker, if the practice is large enough, to help the adviser value the business and develop an exit strategy. This group can help the adviser determine if he wants a cash deal or if he would work with an “earnout or seller-financed transition,” which, she warns, can potentially be risky. The adviser could also consider selling to a pool of employees or merging with another practice, Goodrow says.

The complete article can be found here.

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