How Much Is My Advisory Practice Worth?

Ask five advisors what a practice is worth and you’ll hear five rules of thumb. Buyers don’t use rules of thumb — they underwrite. Here’s the math they actually run, and how to see your own number in 60 seconds.

The multiple, in plain English

Most advisory practices are priced as a multiple of trailing recurring revenue. Recent transaction data puts that multiple between 1.6× and 4.4×, and in 2025, 39% of practices that sold cleared 3.5× or higher. A commission-heavy, slow-growth book sits near the bottom. A fee-based, growing book with younger clients and low concentration commands the top.

A worked example

Take a practice with $120M AUM producing $1.1M in trailing revenue, 80% of it recurring, growing 5% a year, average client age around 60, and no client concentration problem. Buyer-grade underwriting puts that book around a 3.3× midpoint — roughly $3.6M, with a realistic range of about $3.2M to $4.0M depending on structure and fit. Change one variable — say recurring revenue drops to 40% — and the number falls by six figures. That’s why generic rules of thumb are expensive.

What moves your number

• Up: high recurring revenue, consistent growth, clients in their 40s–50s, documented processes, a team that stays through transition.
• Down: transactional revenue, a book concentrated in a handful of households, aging decumulating clients, and everything living in the founder’s head.

The good news: most “down” factors are fixable with 1–3 years of runway. Knowing your number early is what creates the time to improve it. See the full breakdown in our guide to selling your book of business.

Get your range — confidentially, in 60 seconds

The free PracticeWorth Report™ applies real transaction benchmarks to your AUM, revenue, recurring mix, growth, client ages, and concentration. No listing is created. No fee, ever — buyers pay, sellers don’t.