Many young professionals will one day be offered a succession plan as part of their career path as more established planners plan for their own futures and put a succession plan in place. Only some of these succession plans are successful and many aren’t. Connor Koppa, CFP®, was incredibly fortunate that the financial planner who he worked with at Focus Financial, Kyle Watkins, CFP®, wanted to encourage his dream of owning a financial planning practice.
Together, Kyle and Connor worked through a unique ownership agreement that worked for them. Right now, Kyle is still the Executive Officer and a financial advisor at Focus Financial. Connor now owns 15% of the practice, and takes the lead on client relationships, business structure, and building a practice culture.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have an open, honest line of communication with with the lead advisor and owner of the financial planning practice where they work. In this episode, Connor walks #YAFPNW listeners through what it’s like to be part of a succession plan, what his ownership arrangement looks like at Focus Financial, and more. We hear about succession plans often in this profession, but we so rarely get to peek behind the curtain to see how an individual plan pans out - and this episode gives you that opportunity!
What You’ll Learn:
- How to set up a succession plan
- The best ways to communicate with a firm owner about your desire to own part of the firm
- How financing works when you buy into a financial planning practice
- How ownership of clients, business decisions, and more work when there are more than one owner in a practice
- How to potentially work in future owners into your plan
- What being a part owner of a financial planning practice looks like in the day-to-day
- The importance of creating a communicative culture and fostering innovation in your financial planning practice
- How you can get involved and find fulfillment as a financial planner even if you aren’t interested in becoming an owner