by Liz Lenz, Managing Director, Concurrent Investment Advisors
January 8, 2026
The One-Time Sale Myth: Rethinking Succession Planning
Advisors spend their careers helping clients prepare for the future, yet many still neglect toplan for their own. Succession remains one of the most misunderstood elements of firmmanagement. The challenge is not a lack of desire to transition well, but the persistent myththat succession is a one-time event rather than a long-term growth strategy embedded in thebusiness from the start.
Succession Is a Strategy, Not a Deadline
The best time to plan is not at the end. It isearly, when time and flexibility allow you toinvest in people and partnerships that providemore optionality to achieve your desired exitstrategy. Advisors who wait until the finalchapter often face limited buyers,compressed valuations, and rusheddecisions.
Succession is about ensuring continuity ofservice to clients, not the completion of it.Founders who build with that intent makeearly decisions that set their firms up for lasting stability: developing teams, defining roles,and building systems that endure beyond their direct involvement. As a result, these founderscan witness their investment in infrastructure fuel the firm’s growth well before they considermonetizing it.
Behavior Shapes Enterprise Value
Enterprise value is influenced as much by behavior as by numbers. Many founders builtsuccessful firms through discipline and control, but those same habits can limit scalability.When every decision flows through one person, growth slows and the organization stopslearning to lead itself.
Ask yourself: When was the last time the founder was able to take two weeks off? If theanswer is “never”, that’s a red flag. True enterprise maturity is measured by how well abusiness operates when the founder steps away. Delegation and empowerment are not signsof weakness; they are indicators of leadership depth and organizational resilience.
Equity also deserves reframing. Selling equity is not giving something up; it is creatingalignment between G1 and G2. The multi-gen advisory firm with a shared ownership structurefosters accountability and continuity, which are essential for sustaining enterprise value. Asuccessor is simply more motivated to grow the business if they have equity in what’s beingbuilt along the way.
Balancing Liquidity and Affordability
For the next generation, equity should be bought, not given.However, affordability remains a significant hurdle. Risingvaluations and higher interest rates make debt-financed buyoutsincreasingly difficult. Founders can solve for this by structuringflexibility into their capital plans. For example, firms that are creative about engaging externalcapital partners, minority buy-ins, or phased transactions allow founders to access liquiditywhile preserving control and keeping the firm’s cash flow healthy.
The best structures balance liquidity for founders with affordability for successors. Theycreate optionality and allow both generations to benefit from the continued growth of the firmrather than being constrained by a single transaction.
A Smarter Path Forward
The year ahead will favor firms that prioritize continuity, scale, and leadership depth.Entrepreneurial drive remains the foundation of the advisory profession, but scale andalignment will determine who thrives as capital and consolidation reshape the industry.
There are many options, but the one that is right for you will help you maintain entrepreneurialcontrol by embracing succession early to monetize, grow, and remain independent on yourown terms. Succession is not a goodbye. It is the next intelligent chapter in a business built tolast.
