Practice multiples are at historic highs. Buyers are more sophisticated. The difference between a good deal and the right deal often comes down to the guidance you have going in.
Maybe you're five or ten years from retirement. Maybe a buyer reached out and you're not sure if their offer is serious. Maybe you just want to know your options before you need to act on them. That's the right time to start - not when circumstances force the conversation.
The advisor M&A market moves fast. Buyers are well-prepared. Most sellers aren't. Before you accept, decline, or counter, you need an independent read on whether the valuation is fair, the structure makes sense, and the buyer is actually aligned with what you've built.
Most practice valuations start and stop with a multiple of recurring revenue. That's a reasonable baseline - but it misses the factors that drive premium prices.
CSG evaluates practices across two layers:
The baseline - what a buyer pays for your existing recurring revenue stream. In today's market, quality practices command multiples of 3x to 4x trailing-12-month revenue, sometimes higher for the right buyer.
The factors that make your practice worth more than its current revenue. A retirement plan practice with 200+ plans, a dedicated rollover pipeline, and referral network depth isn't just worth its current revenue - it's worth the next five years of organic growth that comes built in. Sophisticated buyers understand this. Unsophisticated buyers don't price it.
Practices that command premium multiples typically have: high recurring revenue concentration (90%+), organic growth engines like retirement plan pipelines or credit union referral networks, deep client demographics with multi-generational transfer potential, and strong operational infrastructure that survives the transition.
A strong multiple from the wrong partner can cost you clients, your team, and everything you spent 20 years building.
The advisors who regret practice sales rarely say the price was wrong. They say the culture wasn't what was promised. The infrastructure wasn't there. The buyer understood the financial model but didn't understand the practice.
CSG brings the same 6C alignment discipline to every M&A engagement. We evaluate buyers across compatibility, culture, capability, and capital - because a well-structured deal with the wrong partner is still the wrong deal.
We work with advisors on both sides of the table. We know what acquiring firms look for, how they value different practice types, and which buyers are genuinely equipped to preserve what you've built versus those who are just running a financial model.
Practice sales often happen because succession planning didn't. We work with advisors who want to build a succession plan before they need one - internal successors, junior advisor pipelines, or phased transitions that protect clients and preserve practice value.
See how succession planning works →Whether you're beginning to think about your options or already in a deal conversation, let's talk. You'll leave the call with a clearer picture of where you stand.
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