OMAHA, Neb., Nov. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — CLS Investments, LLC (“CLS”), a third party money manager and a leading manager of exchange traded funds (“ETF”) portfolios, has partnered with ECHELON Partners (ECHELON), a leading investment bank serving the wealth management industry to release the latest white paper in its Advisor IQ series: Bridging the Internal Succession Gap: Strategies for Managing the Transition Between Selling Owners and Employee Buyers.
CLS and ECHELON each have long track records of producing thought leadership on succession planning via white papers, byline articles and conference presentations. This particular white paper addresses the general lack of education and available information around advisor succession planning that is leading to major challenges for the long-term health and sustainability of the industry. According to ECHELON, 20 percent of advisors industry-wide plan to retire or leave the industry within the next 10 years—with 60 percent of those planning for an internal succession versus a sale to a third party. The problem: 80 percent of all practice owners do not have a succession plan of any kind in place.