Many independent advisory businesses and their owners are riding high these days: The stock market is up, which means that for lots of advisors their asset levels and business results are, too. But as we all know, this market has been going up since 2008 —and that’s a long bull market.
I’m not saying that the market is going to take a nose dive in the coming year: I don’t know what the market will do, and neither does anyone else. But I do know that if history is any guide, it will go down eventually. When it does, we’ll most likely see tough times for independent advisory firms, and tough times call for sound leadership.