"And it's a good time to buy because there are lots of people interested in buying your business, particularly if you're a restricted business. It seems to be a more competitive market than the IFA [market] at the moment.
"The reason restricted businesses are in high demand is that there are more consolidators in the restricted space than there are in the IFA space," he said.
He also does not agree that the market could have reached the peak of consolidation.
"I don't see that. We think there's nearer 30 consolidators in the space now. And if all of those do five deals a year that's 150 deals, and we will do, as I said, typically we will do between seven and 12 deals a year for the next three or four years. So we'll do more than that.
"I don't see the space changing materially that much and that, you know, there'll just be fewer players, and a few bigger players."
Technology investments paramount
One benefit of working with private equity firms was the big amounts of capital they had access to and the fact they were always looking to make firms more efficient, said Stockton.
But the other thing was that they would invest in technology, which he described as a major element in preparing a firm for the future.
"One of the things that we underestimate in the next five to 10 years in this sector is just how much technology is going to change the way in which business are operated and you can see it in the mortgage advice space.
"Now, it's very rare that a mortgage adviser meets a client face-to-face and they're operating in the same way as we are now with screen shares and app shares and the rest," he said.
For clients with below £300,000 in assets an automated service will be the way to go, according to Stockton. For the wealthier ones, he predicts a continued demand for face to face service.
"I am a big positive on the face-to-face financial adviser but that's not to say that that financial adviser won't be backed up by use of technology.
"The annual review with no changes, you know, will get automated."
He added: "All of our businesses are just learning and just starting that journey, but that journey is here and you know, my average age of client is 60. So most of my clients will not change channel now, they like to have face-to-face, they like the security and they love the expertise of an independent financial adviser.
