What makes one financial advisory practice worth more than another?

You can spend 20 or 30 years building a book of business. But if you wait until you're ready to sell to start thinking about valuation and succession, you've probably waited too long.

And so I wanted to understand what this looks like from the financing side.

In this episode of Vaulted Views, I sit down with James Hughes, Head of Investment Advisory at Live Oak Bank, to talk about financial advisor M&A, practice valuations, succession planning, acquisitions, and what lenders actually look for when they're evaluating an advisory business. James has been underwriting advisor acquisitions, successions, and breakaways since 2013.

One of the ideas I want advisors to think about is pretty simple:

Build your practice to be bought long before you plan to sell it.

Because the things that can make you a stronger seller—clean systems, a transferable business, thoughtful succession planning—can also put you in a better position to become a buyer.

James and I dig into:

• What drives financial advisor practice valuations
• What makes an advisory firm attractive—or risky—to a lender
• How advisors can prepare to acquire another practice
• Why advisor acquisition financing gets turned down
• What financial advisors should understand about debt as a growth tool
• How internal succession can work when the next generation doesn't have the capital
• What advisors can do now to build a more transferable, financeable business
• Where advisor M&A may be headed next

The bigger point is this: succession starts long before the exit.

The decisions you make today — around systems, growth, ownership, and structure — are already shaping what your business may be worth tomorrow.