How This Advisor Built a Scalable Team and Bought Another Advisor’s Practice

Carrie Scott, a veteran financial advisor based in Portland, Oregon, is no stranger to evolution. During 28 years in the business, she has built an effective succession-ready team. Her recent moves—both structural and strategic—reveal how prepared leadership, operational capacity, and timing can come together to create growth through acquisition.

The team that made it possible

Carrie’s current firm is a multi-advisor, team-based practice she runs with her husband and two associate financial planners, Logan and Ely. The team also includes three full-time assistants—one of whom focuses entirely on financial planning.

This infrastructure has solved what Carrie calls her “capacity problem.” With more than 2,000 client households spread among the four advisors, her firm has transitioned from being limited by service constraints to becoming acquisition-ready.

Logan, for instance, inherited a block of 600 households when he started and is still working through them six years later. Between Carrie and her husband, another 1,100 households are managed. Their model isn’t about high-volume transactions. It’s about delegation, segmentation, and follow-through. Clients are split across months for service scheduling, with focused calls covering a checklist of goals, updates, risk management, and potential new services. Nothing is left to drift.

The acquisition that changed everything

In early 2024, Carrie and her team acquired the book of a retiring advisor—Mike—who had been in the business for more than 40 years. Mike was ready to exit abruptly. He gave the team about one month of client transition support and then left on March 1.

The acquisition itself was clean and clear. Mike’s book consisted of about $27 million in A shares and another $3 million in life insurance cash value. The purchase agreement gave Mike 60% of the negotiated value up front and the remaining 40% in December, conditional on client retention. If the book dropped below $30 million due to attrition or market decline, the remaining payout would be adjusted. That clause protected Carrie’s team while giving Mike the immediate retirement he wanted.

Carrie was blunt about the expectations: “You get what it’s worth on February 1. Anything that comes from it later—advisory transitions, rollovers, new products—that’s ours.” That clarity avoided lingering claims or resentment over future growth built on inherited relationships.

What transition looked like

Mike helped make introductory calls to his top 80 clients. Carrie’s team then took over the rest of the outreach—starting with mailers, followed by emails and calls. Each advisor on the team was assigned clients strategically: Carrie and her husband split 70 top-tier clients, Logan got 110, and Ely handled the remaining 100-plus.

Client pushback? Almost none. Most welcomed the change. Service improved instantly. Clients received scheduled monthly messages prompting check-ins. They were introduced to financial planning tools like MoneyGuidePro. Beneficiaries were updated, life insurance needs were reviewed, and long-term care conversations were initiated. Within three months, 20 of the 27 million in assets had already been transitioned to advisory.

Revenue jumped 25% in one year. The team recouped its buyout investment in four to five months. Client retention was over 99%, with only three clients lost—people likely waiting to leave anyway.

And Mike? He was diagnosed with Stage one colon cancer shortly after retirement and made a full recovery. Today, he’s healthier, happier, and still drops by to say hello.

The next acquisition on the horizon

Carrie is now in talks with another advisor, possibly for mid-2026. This time, the book is larger—around $80 million—and more complex. The advisor’s son is expected to inherit the transactional business (A shares, 529s, insurance), while Carrie’s team may purchase the $45–$50 million advisory portion.

This transition will be different. A six-month integration window is planned, during which the retiring advisor will be phased into Carrie’s practice. Clients will receive Carrie’s team’s regular emails and servicing model well before the handoff is complete. But Carrie is already wary of the emotional and logistical strain such overlap can cause. Clear boundaries and scheduled check-ins will be key.

Lessons for other advisors

Carrie offers a few pointed takeaways for those considering practice acquisition:

1. Build capacity first. “You can’t take on another advisor’s book if you’re drowning in your own,” she says. Her team structure was the difference.
2. Be crystal clear about value. Base the purchase price on current-day value, not future potential. Don’t pay extra for growth you create post-acquisition.
3. Control the transition. Don’t let the retiring advisor hover. Welcome involvement—but with limits. “He came in too often to chat. I had to start locking my door,” she said, half-joking.
4. Overcommunicate with clients. Clients need to know what’s happening. Emails, letters, phone calls, and service schedules must be in place before the retiring advisor walks out the door.
5. Have the cash or plan creatively. Carrie and her husband are strong savers and used a lump-sum buyout model. But she’s seen others structure three- or five-year payout plans through quarterly revenue shares if capital isn’t immediately available.

Carrie Scott didn’t just get lucky. She built a team before she needed one, saved for the opportunity before it arrived, and executed the transition with clarity, rigor, and empathy. She’s now scaling with purpose, and with another acquisition on deck, she’s proving that growth doesn’t have to mean chaos.

It just takes planning—and a little bit of tough love.