Find Advice · The Buy-In Deal Numbers

One firm · 200 clients · Every number that matters

The deal, by the numbers

Buy 20% of a 200-client firm, put the engine inside it, grow an advisor every six months. All numbers NZD. Tap any chart.

You put in
$100k
for 20%, day one
Worth in 5 years
$1.0M
+ $968k/yr fees by then
Cost per lead
$100
$4,000 ÷ 40 leads (trial)
Advisor's trial return
6×
$24k kept on a $4k package
1 · The funnel — one advisor, one month
show up
first time
reached with
follow-up
become
clients
Appointments booked80
Show up first time (30%)24
Reached after follow-up (70%)56
Become clients (10% of reached)5.6
The follow-up multiplier

Only 24 of 80 show up first time. Follow-up lifts that to 56 — 2.3× more conversations for the same booked appointments. Follow-up isn't admin. It's most of the revenue.

2 · Sales velocity — what one advisor produces
Per week
1.4 sales
$11.2k upfront commission created
Per month
5.6 sales
$22.4k new premium on the book
Per year
67 clients
$269k API · $538k upfront
Advisor keeps (70%)
$376k
per year, before renewals

Commission builds like clockwork — $44.8k created every month:

3 · One sale, split three ways
Advisor keeps 70%$5,600
Find Advice gets 20%$1,600
The firm keeps 10%$800

This split applies to engine-sourced sales, after buy-in, forever. Sales the firm finds itself: advisor 70% / firm 30% / Find Advice $0 — your shares earn there instead. The firm's 10% is its running cash + clawback pot. Renewals are never fee'd.

4 · How long clients stay — attrition

About 1 in 10 clients leaves each year. Here's what happens to 100 clients:

Average stay
~10 yrs
10%/yr attrition = a 10-year life. Same fact, two ways.
Best firms keep clients
18 yrs
servicing quality is the lever
Half the book gone by
yr 7
why the engine must keep adding
A kept client pays twice
$8k + $8k
$8k upfront, then ~$800/yr renewals × ~10 yrs
5 · The book — adds beat losses

The book only grows while new premium beats the 10% that lapses. With an advisor added every 6 months, it's not close:

New premium written that year
Premium lost to lapse (10%)
The book at year end (line)
6 · What that makes the firm worth
Book today — 200 clients × $2,500$500k API
Renewals today (20%)$100k / yr
Value at your rule — 4× renewals$400,000
20% by new-share subscription~$100k
The firm — 4× its yearly renewals
Your 20%
YrRenewalsFirm worthYour 20%Your fees
7 · The deal — three steps, priced on day one
20%
Now — subscribe ~$100k
The firm issues you new shares. Your cash lands inside the company — it pays the setter and builds the clawback pot. You skip buying the firm's old history.
pay today's price
35%
Year 3 — first step-up
A written option, priced by a formula fixed today (the old book's run-off value, set dollars, or earned via growth milestones).
formula locked day one
51%
Year 5 — control
Second option, same locked formula, funded from the fee + profit share the first steps earned. No big cheque, ever.
earn the growth, never buy it back
The golden rule

The firm is worth $400k without you and $5.0M with you. If step-ups were priced at future value, reaching 51% would cost ~$1.55M — you'd be buying back your own work. Lock the formula before the engine turns on.

Two documents, never blended
A services agreement (fee + deliverables) and a shareholders' agreement (options, vetoes). Your fee can't change without the other owners — and vice versa.
Clawback shared, full 24 months
Each party refunds its own slice. Shortening it is a concession — trade it for fee points or equity, never free.
Setters become advisors
Graduates start at 50–60%, earn up to 70% over 2–3 years. The spread splits firm / Find Advice — the pipeline pays for itself.
8 · If they won't sell equity
1 · Own the override instead
No shares. Your 20% fee + a written trail share on engine-written policies only. Easiest yes there is.
2 · Build a joint NewCo
A new firm you majority-own; your graduates go there; the owner gets a slice for licensing + mentoring. All new growth lands in your entity.
3 · Vendor-financed succession
Retiring owner: buy 100%, paid from the book's own renewals over 4 years. Your price rule becomes the payment plan.
9 · Who to target — in order
Your 3 current firms · start here
They passed the trial. You hold their real conversion, follow-up and payment data. No stranger can be vetted this well.
Retiring advisers, no successor
Mature books like this 200-client example. Your graduates are their succession plan; vendor finance closes it.
Young, hungry, small book
Nearly free to partner with — they'll trade equity for appointment flow every time.

Skip trial failures (the data answered) and the big incumbents — they're future clients, not first deals.

10 · Year 10, at 51% — one firm
Book of premiums
$14.7M
~3,600 clients
Renewals per year
$2.9M
still climbing toward $5.4M/yr at full size
Firm worth (4×)
$11.8M
from $400k at buy-in
Your 51%
$6.0M
+ ~$968k/yr fees + half the profit

You're 35. Renewals rise with premiums, and premiums rise with age and inflation — this is a hold-for-30-years asset, and the playbook repeats across firms. Ten advisors is one setter's ceiling (200 appointments/week), so each new firm gets its own setter — and every setter is a future advisor in a firm you part-own.

11 · Watch-outs
The valuation-formula trap
Step-ups priced at future value = buying back your own work. Lock the formula day one.
Shares carry history
Old advice, complaints, tax travel with the company. Due diligence — or subscribe for new shares.
Key-person risk
If the main advisor walks, lapse jumps. Key-person cover + restraint of trade + leaver terms.
Minority = no control
Until 51%: reserved matters (debt, book sale, dividends) + a board seat.
Servicing eats time
~3,600 clients by year 10 = ~7 annual reviews per advisor per week on top of new sales. Reviews must get efficient.
The firm must stay liquid
The 10% slice + renewals covers wages and the clawback pot. Squeeze it and the goose starves.
Licence duties
Owning part of a licensed firm brings fit-and-proper + disclosure duties. Lawyer + accountant before deal one.
Your own bandwidth
The weak point isn't leads — it's coaching hours and setter quality. Every firm needs both.
The numbers behind this
Existing book200 clients × $2,500 API
Firm value rule4 × yearly renewals
New advisorevery 6 months
Appointments booked, each advisor20 / week (80 / month)
Show up first time30%
Reached with follow-up70%
Of those reached, become clients10%
New premium per sale$4,000
Upfront commission (200%)$8,000
Renewals to the firm20% of API / year
Attrition10% / year (~10-yr stay)
Setter ceiling200 appts / week (10 advisors)
Trial offer$4,000 · 40 leads · $100/lead

New advisors assumed at full pace from graduation (real ramp lags a few months). Step-up prices not subtracted — formula-locked and largely earned. All NZD.