Report excerpt — SAM H1 2026
Rent or Own: Sunset Programs vs the Market
The retire-in-place decision, priced against the open market. Excerpted from The State of Advisor Movement.
What's inside
Every large firm now runs a sunset program that pays a retiring advisor for the book over a final tour of duty. The honest question is what the same book commands outside the program. This excerpt carries the report's rent-or-own framework verbatim: the in-house sunset economics, the open-market alternatives, and the third option the recruiting market never advertises.
- The rent-or-own framework, the report's central referendum
- Sunset-program economics vs open-market alternatives
- The sunset question for the advisor weighing a final decade
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The referendum underneath every transition decision
Strip the noise and an advisor weighing paths is answering one question: rent the enterprise or own it. The recruiting escalation prices the rent, up to 300-400%+ of production for a decade of tenure. The valuation market prices ownership, at a record median 11.6x EBITDA for firms sold as enterprises. Sunset programs are the purest form of rent: the firm pays for the book the advisor built, on the firm's paper, at the firm's price.
What the programs pay, and what the market pays
Retire-in-place programs, UBS's ALFA, Merrill's CTP, Edward Jones' RTP among them, typically pay a multiple of trailing production spread across a transition period, with successor selection and client experience controlled by the firm. The open-market alternatives, sell-and-stay, majority sale, minority capital, or an external sunset at a new firm, price the same book against the enterprise market. The excerpt lays the two side by side, including the fine-print variables that swing outcomes: payout multiple, successor control, and post-exit flexibility.
Common questions
What is a retire-in-place or sunset program?+
A firm-run succession arrangement in which a retiring advisor transfers the book to a successor inside the firm over a defined transition period, in exchange for a multiple of trailing production. UBS's ALFA, Merrill Lynch's CTP, and Edward Jones' RTP are the best-known examples, each with different economics, lock-ups, and successor rules.Is a sunset program better than selling my practice?+
It depends on what the same book commands outside the program. Sunset programs offer convenience and continuity at the firm's price; the open market prices the book as an enterprise, and the difference can be substantial for practices with strong recurring revenue. The framework in this excerpt puts the in-house option side by side with sell-and-stay, majority sale, and minority capital so the comparison is explicit.What should I check before signing a retire-in-place agreement?+
The payout multiple and its measurement, who selects and controls the successor, what happens to your clients if the successor relationship fails, post-exit restrictions on your flexibility, and how the program's total compares to the open-market value of the book. The fine print varies widely by firm, and it is where outcomes are decided.