Sell an IFA business

Testimonials - Ashton House IFA Limited

Of course, it is not all plain sailing, to have run my own business for twenty-four years and then have key decisions taken away from me, some of which I am not at all happy about, can be tough. But all in all, I wouldn’t have done it any other way. AFH have some great people to work with.

Ashton House IFA was established in 1994.  Based in Dunstable, my practice was directly authorised with the FCA and serviced clients in and around the South East and the London area.   I was the only authorised adviser in the practice and was supported by nine admin and paraplanning employees.

Like may IFAs running ‘sole trader’ practices, I had got to the point where I knew I couldn’t go on working in the same way indefinitely.  I was increasingly being asked by clients what would happen if I was not around for whatever reason.  In addition, of course, dealing with PII cover and (to a lesser extent) the FCA was a very expensive burden and it seemed clear that bureaucracy and cost were only set to increase. It is likely that I would have been forced out of business.

One of the key comments in making my decision of who to join with was ‘your clients are under no compulsion to move (any funds) anywhere, they will only change if they are happy it is in their interests to do so’. This was in direct contrast to other firms, one of which said ‘we will move your client’s money very softly, over the next 6 months’.

Tony James - Ashton House IFA Limited
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