Five Steps for Building a Business Continuity Plan

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You’re a financial advisor still working to make up for the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Prospecting and marketing your practice are even bigger challenges, but you’ve virtualized your practice and are adapting to the new challenges brought on by this global crisis.

What about the next crisis? What about a combination of crises?

Many Southern Californian financial advisors were asking exactly this a couple of weeks into the lock-down when a 4.9 magnitude quake struck in early April. They continue to ask these questions (and hopefully are addressing them) as the region continues to experience an earthquake swarm near the southern end of the San Andreas Fault.

The U.S. Geological Survey has predicted when the “big one” does hit, the business disruption losses caused by the quake, resulting fires and disrupted services could total $200 billion after the first six months. Even businesses not located in California could be cut off from 40% of the nation’s imports and pipelines.

If you don’t know what you would do if you were suddenly affected by a natural or man-made disaster on a local, national or global scale, you don’t have a business continuity plan.

Here are five considerations to start building one. Today.