Most financial professionals believe they have time—time to plan succession, time to figure out who will take over, and time to prepare for the unexpected. It’s one of the most common assumptions. And yet, it’s also one of the riskiest.

They often say they’ll get to it later. But “later” has a strange way of never arriving.

You might feel healthy. You might be at the peak of your career. You might even think your clients will wait for you or your family to put a plan together if something were to happen. But that’s not how it works.

You’re not just running an investment book. You’re in the business of relationships. And relationships, unlike portfolios, do not transfer overnight.

What Actually Happens If Something Happens to You?

Let’s start with a simple truth: most financial professionals do not manage 100% of their client’s assets. In many cases, clients have accounts elsewhere—at a bank, with another distributor, or directly online.

If something happens to you unexpectedly, those clients won’t wait. They won’t hesitate. The other financial professional will call them. The bank’s relationship manager will reach out. The institution already managing a small piece of their wealth will step in and try to take over the entire relationship.

Even if you’ve built trust, clients still need ongoing attention. And in your absence, someone else will give it to them.

Now let’s imagine you’re in the rare category of advisors who do manage 100% of your clients’ assets. What happens then?

The answer, surprisingly, is often the same.

Within 3 to 12 months of your absence, clients begin to move.

Not because they didn’t value you. Not because they’re disloyal. But because you didn’t introduce them to anyone else. You didn’t build a bridge. There was no one they felt equally connected to.

Eventually, they’re forced to find someone new. And if that decision happens without your involvement, the result is almost always suboptimal—for the client, for your team & family, and for the value of your business.

Succession Is Not a Document—It’s a Relationship

Many of you might think of succession planning as something legal or structural. But succession is not just about writing a will for your business. It’s about ensuring continuity for your clients.

And continuity is emotional. It’s not just operational.

A successor can’t be introduced on paper. They have to be experienced in person.

Your clients have to talk to them, meet them, and feel understood by them. That takes time. It takes repeated conversations, shared meetings, and consistency.

Clients need to see that your values are being carried forward. That your culture, your way of doing things, your care—none of that will be lost. That’s not something you can introduce at the last minute.

It’s a process that must begin while you’re still around.

Without a Plan, You Are Risking Everything

When you don’t plan succession, you’re not just delaying something important.

You’re gambling with your life’s work.

You’re putting your clients at risk.

You’re putting your team at risk.

You’re putting your family at risk.

You’re putting your business—and its value—at risk.

Imagine working 20 or 30 years to build a respected, trusted firm… only to watch it vanish in months because no one knew what to do when you weren’t around.

It happens more often than you think.

The business doesn’t collapse all at once. It erodes quietly. Clients start moving. The team feels unsure. The systems you built begin to stall. And the brand you created loses its meaning.

We are seeing this all the time in our industry.

All because there was no one in place to carry the torch forward.

“We’ll Come to You Later” – Why That’s a Dangerous Thought

We hear this often from financial professionals. “We’ll come to you later. We’re not ready just yet.”

But here’s the hard truth: if you’re not ready now, you certainly won’t be ready when you’re not around.

Succession is not something you begin after an event. It’s something you build before anything happens.

Coming to us or someone else later—after something goes wrong—isn’t a plan.

It’s damage control.

And by then, it might be too late to protect your clients. Too late to preserve your legacy. Too late to recover the value that’s already started slipping away.

You Have to Be Uncomfortable Before It’s Too Late

Succession planning can feel uncomfortable.

It means acknowledging you won’t always be here.

It means sharing relationships that have always been yours.

It means preparing someone else (not one but many) to step into your role.

But avoiding that discomfort now only guarantees something far more painful later.

The only way to ensure your clients are cared for—and your business continues—is by introducing someone while you’re still involved.

Not once. Not in theory. But consistently. Repeatedly. Over time.

That’s the only way trust transfers.

That’s the only way continuity is built.

And that’s the only way to ensure the value of your firm doesn’t disappear when you do.

Succession Is Not About Exit—It’s About Protection

Succession is not only for people retiring in a few years. 

It’s for anyone who has built something meaningful.

It’s for anyone who values their clients.

It’s for anyone who wants their life’s work to endure.

Whether you’re 40 or 60 or 70, the right time to start is now.

Because you don’t build continuity when you’re gone.

You build it while you’re still here.

So you can guide it.

So you can shape it.

So you can ensure that what you’ve built continues—with the same care, the same trust, and the same purpose.

That’s what real succession is about.

Not just transferring assets.

Transferring relationships.

Transferring trust.

Transferring legacy.

Start now. Before time decides for you.