A practical walk-through, plus a day-by-day plan for advisors preparing to move
Every advisor transition looks like a single event from the outside. The firm name changes on a Monday. There is a brief announcement. A change in business cards. The client thinks the change happened that day.
It did not. The change took months to prepare and takes months to settle. The first 90 days are the visible part.
I will describe the shape of those 90 days here, and then, at the end, lay out a day-by-day plan that reflects how I have seen transitions unfold for advisors with practices in the 200 to 400 household range.
The week before
The most important week of a transition happens before any client knows it is happening. The entity is finalized. The custodian relationship is confirmed. Account opening templates are prepared for high-priority clients. The technology stack is configured and tested. Client letters are drafted. Talking points are rehearsed. Legal review of the resignation language is completed. The quality of the work done during this week determines how the next twelve weeks unfold.
Days 1 to 7. Announcement.
The transition begins on a specific day, usually a Friday or Monday. The advisor resigns. The new affiliation goes live. The first wave of client outreach begins. Direct calls to the top twenty to fifty client relationships happen in this window, by phone, in a personal tone. The goal is clarity and calm. Speed matters. Precision matters more. By the end of the week, the top tier has been personally contacted.
Days 8 to 30. Volume.
Weeks two through four are the highest-volume phase. Accounts transfer through ACATS. Paperwork moves in batches. Client outreach broadens from the top tier to the full base. Most advisors have personally contacted the majority of their clients by end of week three. The prior firm’s retention response, if there is one, tends to surface in this window. By day 30, 70 to 85 percent of expected assets are transferred, in active transfer, or have signed paperwork pending processing.
Days 31 to 60. Reconnection.
Month two is calmer. Client meetings shift from transition conversations to planning conversations. Reviews resume. Workflows that worked in theory get tested in practice. Vendor relationships get refined. By day 60, asset transfer is typically near 90 percent.
Days 61 to 90. Stabilization.
The final month is about consolidation. Refining workflows. Cleaning up account titling, beneficiary details, and small operational items handled provisionally during the higher-volume weeks. Completing the second wave of client meetings, this time focused on planning, not transition.
By day 90, client retention typically lands between 85 and 95 percent for advisors who prepared deliberately. Operational systems are functioning without daily intervention. The advisor is spending less time on transition mechanics and more time on the work they came to do.
The practice starts to feel like the new thing it is, rather than the old thing that moved.
That movement in feeling, more than any operational milestone, is what the first 90 days are designed to create.
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Appendix: A Day-by-Day 90-Day Plan
The plan below assumes the prior week of preparation is complete, the custodian relationship is in place, and legal review of the resignation is finalized. Saturdays are marked for catch-up. Sundays are marked for weekly review. The goal is consistency of forward motion.
Phase 1: Days 1 to 7. Announcement and First Outreach
Day 1: Submit formal resignation. Activate new firm registrations and email. Confirm website is live. Direct calls to the top five client relationships before noon. Document each conversation in CRM.
Day 2: Calls to clients six through fifteen. Send personally addressed announcement letters to clients sixteen through fifty. Submit first batch of signed transfer paperwork.
Day 3: Continue direct calls to clients sixteen through thirty. Respond to all returned voicemails within four hours. Submit second batch of ACATS transfers.
Day 4: Direct calls to clients thirty-one through forty-five. Address urgent client questions about holdings, distributions, or scheduled transactions. Confirm receipt of first transferred accounts.
Day 5: Direct calls to clients forty-six through sixty. Send announcement letters to the second tier (sixty-one through one hundred fifty). Document any retention outreach from the prior firm.
Day 6 (Saturday): Catch-up day. Return voicemails, respond to weekend emails, review paperwork status.
Day 7 (Sunday): Weekly review. Tally clients contacted, paperwork received, accounts in transit. Plan week two.
Phase 2: Days 8 to 30. Account Transfers and Broader Outreach
Day 8: Calls to clients sixty-one through eighty-five. Submit third batch of transfer paperwork. Review which top-tier clients have not yet signed.
Day 9: Calls to clients eighty-six through one hundred ten. First team huddle to surface bottlenecks.
Day 10: Calls to clients one hundred eleven through one hundred thirty-five. Track accounts stalled at the prior firm.
Day 11: Calls to clients one hundred thirty-six through one hundred sixty. Schedule first in-person meetings for high-priority clients.
Day 12: Calls to clients one hundred sixty-one through one hundred eighty-five. Review compliance documentation. Verify beneficiary designations on completed transfers.
Day 13 (Saturday): Process paperwork. Respond to client emails.
Day 14 (Sunday): Weekly review. Tally retention rate. Prioritize unresponsive clients for week three.
Day 15: Calls to clients one hundred eighty-six through two hundred ten. Send second wave of personalized follow-up letters.
Day 16: Calls to clients two hundred eleven through two hundred thirty-five. Address account titling errors and missing documentation.
Day 17: Calls to clients two hundred thirty-six through two hundred sixty. Coordinate first client review meetings.
Day 18: Calls to clients two hundred sixty-one through two hundred eighty-five. Document contested transfers and engage legal counsel if needed.
Day 19: Final round of initial outreach calls. By end of day, every client has been personally contacted by phone, letter, or email.
Day 20 (Saturday): Catch-up for paperwork and follow-ups.
Day 21 (Sunday): Weekly review. Confirm 100 percent of client base contacted. Plan the shift from outreach to reconnection.
Day 22: Begin full client review meetings, highest-priority first. Confirm planning continuity.
Day 23: Continue review meetings. Systematic verification of beneficiary designations across transferred accounts.
Day 24: Client meetings. Operations refines workflows created under pressure in the first three weeks.
Day 25: Client meetings. Confirm technology integrations are functioning end to end.
Day 26: Client meetings. Mid-transition financial review with operations. Identify unexpected costs.
Day 27 (Saturday): Light day. Catch-up on paperwork.
Day 28 (Sunday): Weekly review. Three-week mark. Confirm 70 to 85 percent of expected assets are transferred or in active transfer.
Day 29: Continue client meetings. Schedule follow-ups with clients needing more time to complete paperwork.
Day 30: One-month mark. Formal 30-day review with operations and partners. Document what is working and priorities for month two.
Phase 3: Days 31 to 60. Reconnecting and Reinforcing
Day 31: Begin month-two client meetings focused on planning, not transition logistics.
Day 32: Continue planning meetings. Review CRM data for completeness and consistency.
Day 33: Planning meetings. Address second-wave operational issues from month one.
Day 34: Planning meetings. Document refined workflows for operations.
Day 35: Planning meetings. Confirm technology integrations functioning end to end.
Day 36 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 37 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 38: Planning meetings. Begin scheduled performance reviews for clients now with a full quarter of new structure.
Day 39: Planning meetings. Identify clients who signed paperwork but show signs of disengagement.
Day 40: Planning meetings. Internal review of vendor relationships (custodian, technology, compliance).
Day 41: Planning meetings. Confirm staffing is appropriate for post-transition workload.
Day 42: Planning meetings. Document institutional knowledge created during the transition.
Day 43 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 44 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 45: Planning meetings. Halfway mark. Formal mid-point review with team.
Day 46: Planning meetings. Address compliance documentation gaps from the mid-point review.
Day 47: Planning meetings. Refine client communication templates based on what worked.
Day 48: Planning meetings. First team retrospective on the transition process.
Day 49: Planning meetings. Begin planning the next phase beyond ninety days.
Day 50 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 51 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 52: Planning meetings. Review financial performance against pre-transition projections.
Day 53: Planning meetings. Address remaining account titling, beneficiary, or registration corrections.
Day 54: Planning meetings. Confirm all client portals are active and functioning.
Day 55: Planning meetings. Build the documentation library for the new practice.
Day 56: Planning meetings. Interim review with key partners or board members.
Day 57 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 58 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 59: Planning meetings. Schedule formal annual reviews for new-structure clients.
Day 60: Two-month mark. Formal 60-day review. Confirm asset transfer at or near 90 percent.
Phase 4: Days 61 to 90. Stabilizing the New Structure
Day 61: Focused work on remaining unresolved transfers. Engage prior firm directly on contested or stalled accounts.
Day 62: Continue resolution. Systematic review of completed account records for accuracy.
Day 63: Final cleanup of account titling, beneficiary designations, and registration details.
Day 64: Continue operational refinement. Address final workflow gaps from month two.
Day 65: Compliance audit of the first 60 days. Document procedures.
Day 66 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 67 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 68: Begin documenting standard operating procedures for the new practice.
Day 69: Continue documentation. Onboard any new staff hired for the new structure.
Day 70: First formal performance review with operations team.
Day 71: Client outreach for the second wave of planning meetings. Focus on clients who needed more time.
Day 72: Continue outreach. Address clients who signed paperwork but have not yet had a substantive planning conversation.
Day 73 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 74 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 75: Mid-month review of phase four. Confirm all clients are reachable and engaged.
Day 76: Review the practice’s investment policy statement and planning frameworks.
Day 77: Continue review of frameworks. Update client policies as needed.
Day 78: Formal review of the technology stack. Identify tools to add, remove, or upgrade.
Day 79: Review staff workloads. Identify roles to expand or redefine.
Day 80 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 81 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 82: Formal planning for the next 90 days. Identify the first major initiative beyond the transition.
Day 83: Client retention analysis. Confirm 85 to 95 percent range.
Day 84: Business development conversations for the post-transition period. Shift from retention to growth.
Day 85: Review brand and external positioning against the new structure.
Day 86: Document institutional lessons learned for future reference.
Day 87 (Saturday): Catch-up.
Day 88 (Sunday): Weekly review.
Day 89: Final pre-90 review of all open items. Confirm nothing critical remains outstanding.Day 90: 90-day mark. Formal review with operations, partners, and external advisors. Document the transition as complete. Begin the next phase.