Independent financial planning and wealth-management practices across Ontario — the deal here isn't really the sale of a business, it's the transfer of hundreds of individual client relationships. Each account moves only with that client's own consent, and the licensing framework a buyer must carry is a separate track entirely from the purchase agreement itself.
Part of Professional Services — see the family overview.
Every figure below is a typical Canadian deal-market pattern, not a valuation — use it to sanity-check what you're being told.
| Metric | Typical benchmark | Use this to |
|---|---|---|
| Valued on recurring revenue, not a lump sum | Priced as a multiple of trailing recurring fee or commission revenue, or of assets under management — not a single gross-revenue figure the way most small businesses are.† | Anchor your offer to verified recurring revenue, not a headline AUM number that includes low-margin or transactional accounts. |
| Consent rate is the real risk | The percentage of clients who actually consent to move their accounts to the buyer — the retention rate — is typically the single biggest swing factor in what a book is actually worth after closing.† | Model a range of retention outcomes rather than assuming every client on the list transfers. |
| Recurring versus transactional mix | Fee-based, recurring revenue is generally viewed as more durable and valuable than one-off commission revenue from transactional sales.† | Separate the durable fee base from one-time commission activity when comparing two books of similar total size. |
| Licensing determines who can even buy | A buyer's own registration category — insurance, securities, or portfolio management — determines which parts of a mixed practice they're actually eligible to acquire.† | Confirm what you're licensed to hold before you get attached to a practice that's licensed differently than you are. |
| Transition support affects retention | A selling advisor's willingness to stay involved through a transition period — introducing clients personally — tends to correlate with materially higher consent and retention rates.† | Weigh a seller's transition commitment as part of the deal, not an afterthought negotiated later. |
Client consent to move an account isn't a formality layered on top of the deal — for most of these practices, it's typically required client-by-client, and the value of the book depends entirely on how many clients actually say yes.
A buyer's registration with FSRA, CIRO, or as a portfolio manager is a separate track from the purchase agreement — you generally need to already hold, or be actively obtaining, the right category of licence before you can close.
Non-solicit terms on the selling advisor are standard, because without them a seller could simply follow their old clients to a new firm and undo the very transfer you just paid for.
The same sequence underlies almost every financial planning or wealth management practice deal — what changes from deal to deal is how long each step takes, and which one becomes the bottleneck.
Reaching an agreement
The offer sets price and key terms — for a financial planning or wealth management practice it should build in the conditions that actually matter from day one, not just financing.
usually 1–2 weeks†The APS fixes price, structure — asset or share — and closing date, plus the reps, warranties, and holdbacks that protect you if diligence turns up something different than promised.
1–3 weeks to negotiate†Licensing continuity (FSRA/CIRO), Client account transfer consents, AUM/book valuation, Non-solicit terms, Client data (PIPEDA) all start moving at once, on separate clocks — this is usually where financial planning or wealth management practice deals are won or lost.
often the critical path†Getting to closing
Corporate, PPSA lien, and litigation searches confirm what you're actually buying; we chase down licence standing and records the seller doesn't always have to hand.
2–4 weeks, in parallel†Funds, keys, and signed documents change hands, alongside any inventory count and interim authorizations that bridge the gap until final transfers are confirmed.
1 day, once conditions are met†We track final licence confirmation and the staff transition through to completion — nothing is left for you to chase once the deal is done.
1–2 week tail†This is the first real decision in almost every financial planning or wealth management practice deal — and it changes what you're buying, what you're taking on, and how it's taxed.
| Question | Asset purchase | Share purchase |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | The book — client relationships, service agreements, and the right to solicit the transferred accounts. | The shares of the practice's corporation — its contracts, its history, and its liabilities. |
| Seller's liabilities | Generally stay behind with the seller. | Generally come with the company, known and unknown. |
| Licensing | The buyer must independently hold the relevant registration — FSRA, CIRO, or as a portfolio manager — before closing. | The corporation's registration structure is reviewed, but the individual advisor operating it still needs their own qualifying licence. |
| Client account consents | Each client is typically asked to consent to the transfer individually — this is usually the deal's real critical path. | Consent requirements can still apply depending on how accounts and mandates are structured, even inside a share sale. |
| Non-solicit on the seller | A standard, heavily negotiated term restricting the seller from soliciting the transferred clients. | Same restriction, typically framed around the seller's post-closing role, if any, with the corporation. |
| Tax angle | Buyer gets a stepped-up cost base on the book purchased. | Seller may access the lifetime capital gains exemption on qualifying shares. |
| Typical use in a financial planning deal | Common where the buyer wants a clean book without the corporation's history attached. | Less common — sometimes used where a mixed-licence corporate structure is easier to keep intact than unwind. |
The book — client relationships, service agreements, and the right to solicit the transferred accounts.
The shares of the practice's corporation — its contracts, its history, and its liabilities.
Generally stay behind with the seller.
Generally come with the company, known and unknown.
The buyer must independently hold the relevant registration — FSRA, CIRO, or as a portfolio manager — before closing.
The corporation's registration structure is reviewed, but the individual advisor operating it still needs their own qualifying licence.
Each client is typically asked to consent to the transfer individually — this is usually the deal's real critical path.
Consent requirements can still apply depending on how accounts and mandates are structured, even inside a share sale.
A standard, heavily negotiated term restricting the seller from soliciting the transferred clients.
Same restriction, typically framed around the seller's post-closing role, if any, with the corporation.
Buyer gets a stepped-up cost base on the book purchased.
Seller may access the lifetime capital gains exemption on qualifying shares.
Common where the buyer wants a clean book without the corporation's history attached.
Less common — sometimes used where a mixed-licence corporate structure is easier to keep intact than unwind.
We tell you which structure fits — before you sign anything.
Different lists depending on which side of the deal you're on — both matter for how smoothly closing goes.
No open-ended hourly surprises — the cost is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
| Type of work | Fee | How it's confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Straightforward purchase or sale | Starting from $3,388.87 Our charges · taxes included | Confirmed in writing once we see the agreement. |
| Larger or more complex deal | Quoted to scope | Short call → fixed written quote before any work begins. |
| Searches, filings & third-party fees | At cost | Itemized on your invoice, not marked up. |
A single advisor selling their book to another individually licensed advisor, with a straightforward client-consent process.
Start my file →A multi-advisor practice, a mixed-licence book split between more than one buyer, or a deal with a significant earn-out tied to client retention.
Book a consultation →Not sure which you are? That's our job to figure out, not yours. As a rough guide, most deals under a couple of million dollars are the first kind — above that, you're usually in Mergers & Acquisitions territory.
†Typical patterns across Canadian deals — not a quote or advice; every deal is confirmed on its own facts.
They generally stay with the seller, or the account simply doesn't transfer — which is exactly why retention risk gets priced into the deal rather than assumed away. Some agreements structure part of the price around actual, verified retention rather than the headline book size.
Not the parts that require that licence — you generally need to already hold, or be actively obtaining, the matching FSRA, CIRO, or portfolio-manager registration before you can close on that portion of the book. A mixed-licence practice sometimes needs to be split between more than one buyer.
It genuinely goes either way, and it depends heavily on the licensing structure underneath the practice. An asset purchase of the book alone is more common where a buyer wants a clean start; a share purchase is sometimes preferred to keep a corporate registration structure intact.
It's a standard, heavily negotiated term specifically because, without one, a seller could follow their old clients to a new firm and undo the transfer. How enforceable it ends up being depends on how it's drafted and how reasonable its scope is — that gets worked through before you sign, not left to chance later.
It's usually the single biggest driver of the closing timeline in this category — client-by-client consent doesn't happen overnight, and rushing it tends to hurt retention rather than help it. Building a realistic consent window into your closing date matters more here than in most other business sales.
| Resource | Official link |
|---|---|
| FSRA — Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario Life insurance and mortgage advisor licensing | Visit www.fsrao.ca |
| CIRO — Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization Securities and mutual fund dealer registration | Visit www.ciro.ca |
| Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada PIPEDA and client data on a practice sale | Visit www.priv.gc.ca |
Where we close financial planning or wealth management practice deals
Tell us about your financial planning or wealth management practice deal — we'll point you the right way and confirm the cost in writing before any work begins.