Succession becomes transformative when advisors use it to reshape their business for the next generation rather than close the last chapter
In partnership with Moyle Rowley Wealth Management
Most advisors still picture succession as a closing scene. The final valuation. The ceremonial handoff. The quiet move into the next phase of life. Yet something different is beginning to take shape in Canadian wealth management. Succession is no longer the end of the story. It is the moment an advisor decides what they want the business to look like long after they stop leading it.
That shift is central to the perspective of Moyle Rowley Wealth Management Group of Wellington Altus Private Wealth, partners Steve Rowley and Grant Moyle, who together have guided families, entrepreneurs and multigenerational households for more than fifty years. They believe advisors should treat succession as an opportunity to redesign their future rather than close their past. As Rowley puts it, “More and more advisors are starting to look at succession as a growth opportunity, not an exit.”
Moyle takes the idea further. With more than three decades in the business, he sees succession as a moment that can reset both the structure and direction of a practice. “Succession really is a career inflection point. It gives us the ability to sit back and reassess what we want out of life. Do we want reduced hours. Do we want a mentoring role. Do we want to grow the practice into new areas. That clarity only comes when you step back and look at the future instead of the finish line.”
Succession as strategy, not closure
The practice an advisor builds is rarely just a business. It holds identity, long standing relationships and sometimes the legacy of an entire family. When the time comes to consider what happens next, emotion can cloud decision making. Rowley notes that advisors are often objective when planning for clients, yet personal planning becomes more complicated. “When it comes to our own succession, it is personal. It is emotional. This is what we have built for our families and for our legacy.”
That emotional pull is why a delayed timeline can box advisors into decisions they did not intend to make. Moyle has seen it many times. Advisors assume they will sort out succession eventually, then discover the clock has narrowed the field. “Without a clear timeline, you risk scrambling to structure your details, your payment structure, your cultural handoff. Retirement is not just a financial event. It is a shift in identity, and that emotional decision can create blind spots.”
Early planning allows advisors to consider the structure they want for the next decade, not the next month. It gives them the chance to expand capabilities, redesign team composition or deepen service for the next generation. Succession becomes the moment the advisor decides what the practice should become when they are no longer at the centre of it.
That design phase includes reassessing whether the current platform is the right home for the future. Rowley has seen firsthand how large institutions can influence transitions in ways that have little to do with clients. “Working with large brick and mortar institutions, there were outside influences that affected the transition of a business, and those influences had nothing to do with what was best for the client.”
Moyle stresses the importance of autonomy. “Many advisors think they will have the power to decide who will take over their business and on what terms. But when the time comes, many firms want to have a stronger hand in that decision. Those decisions are not always client centric. Advisors know their clients and their business better than anyone. They should have autonomy over who is the best fit for succession. It should not be the organization. It should be the advisors.”
This is why platform choice has become one of the most important strategic decisions in the succession process. Advisors who plan early can move to an environment that reflects their philosophy, their long-term goals and the type of client service they want the next generation to deliver.
Structuring a succession built for the next generation
The structure of a transition often determines whether a practice maintains its identity or loses it. Advisors who treat succession as a late-stage administrative task tend to discover that decisions begin to make themselves. Timelines narrow. Options shrink. Institutional preferences loom larger than intended. Without early action, advisors can find themselves boxed into choices that do not reflect the spirit of the business they spent decades shaping.
Thoughtful planning changes that trajectory. It creates room to explore the right successor structure, whether that involves a single leader who provides clarity or a team that can mirror the wide range of skills modern clients expect.
It also allows advisors to consider the practical details that rarely make headlines but matter enormously. Tax efficiency. Payment timing. Cultural handoff. Client comfort. The long tail of retirement income. These are decisions that require time, intention and, as both Rowley and Moyle emphasise throughout, guidance from people who have overseen multiple transfers. Experienced practitioners provide perspective that is not influenced by the motivations of large institutions, and they help ensure that clients come out ahead.
What ultimately separates a smooth transition from a strained one is the willingness to design the future before circumstances force it. Advisors who look five to seven years ahead can shape what their practice will become instead of reacting to what their timeline allows. They can position their clients for stability and their successors for leadership. They can define continuity instead of hoping it emerges on its own.
Which leads to the quiet but essential question at the heart of every succession plan: if the future of your practice were entirely yours to design, what would you want it to look like?
