Securing the Future of Your Practice. If you’re like most advisors, you do a great job planning for your clients, but you haven’t given much thought to what will happen to your practice when you retire, or if you don’t make it back to the office from lunch one day. You’re not alone: Some 93% of advisors don’t have a legally binding contract in place for their succession. For the sake of your clients, family and yourself, you shouldn’t put off these preparations much longer: The average advisor is 55 years old, and crafting a formal, written succession plan is essential to preserving the value of an advisor’s practice.