Originally published in Financial Planning

By Yvonne Kanner

I was channel-surfing the other day when a TLC show about baking, of all things, hit a little close to home.

The show, “Buddy’s Bakery Rescue” is a spinoff from the reality show “Cake Boss”; a master baker sprinkles wisdom on a new generation of dessert makers. What struck me, however, was how similar the issues that affect mom-and-pop bakeries are to those at wealth management firms.

This episode featured a bakery that had gone to seed with the second generation, even with a matriarch still involved. It’s not that the next generation lacked skills: The son- and daughter-in law were trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and had better technical training than the founder.

Read the full story at https://www.financial-planning.com/opinion/cake-boss-fix-for-a-stale-ria

Yvonne Kanner is president and chief operating officer of Fiduciary Network, which provides funding to wealth management firms for internal equity transitions, acquisitions of other advisory businesses and buyouts of retired or inactive shareholders.