Stratego? Game helps advisers avoid bombing with succession plan

If you work well with a team and wouldn't mind if your firm's name or culture changed, your best succession strategy might be a merger rather than an outright sale or internal succession. That is according to a game developed by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, a unit of Fidelity Investments, as a way to help advisers get started on the difficult process of developing a succession plan. The custodian has developed a workshop program where advisers write a story about their lives in retirement and play a game that helps them figure out which type of succession would work best for them. “We want to help advisers envision their future,” said David E. Canter, executive vice president and head of practice management and consulting at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. In Fidelity's most recent survey of its client registered investment advisers, 75% said they either don't have a succession plan or have one that's not ready to be implemented, despite the fact that investors cite it as a concern. In developing its workshop program, Fidelity managers decided to steer clear of focusing on the nuts and bolts of how to put together a succession plan, and instead get advisers to think about the kind of life they want to have in retirement. A little self-knowledge may help them figure out what direction to go. Once they know that direction, Fidelity wants to help them execute their plan, Mr. Canter said. “Going forward, we would like to be as resourceful as possible if they want to sell or merge,” he said. Although the firm doesn't see itself as a matchmaker, holding events where advisers can network and talk about their plans could help some firms find partners or buyers, he said. Fidelity plans to hold the three-hour workshops in a variety of cities in coming months.