The best time to leave is when you are ready.  Whatever edge you can give yourself on top of that is helpful, but not crucial.  A long weekend can certainly be helpful that way.

OTOH, picking a holiday period like Christmas/New Years can introduce it’s own problems, as many of your clients will, understandably, put a higher priority on spending that time with their family no matter what you do.  Just because you are in a hurry doesn’t mean they will be, and some will not appreciate being pressured to deal with this during their family time.  For that reason, I prefer 3 day weekends that are not quite so “major” like Presidents Day or Labor Day or similar.  I used Memorial Day weekend.  If possible, I would prefer to avoid Christmas, Thanksgiving and the like.

And I suppose you may have just expressed yourself wrong, but your plans certainly should not involve having your clients sign anything before you leave.  It’s good to have a plan for how you’ll get them to sign beforehand, but not to actually have them sign beforehand.  I assume you know that but just want to be sure.

I always left on a Friday. BUT you need to run it though the new firm. I had a buddy leave Friday at noon because the new firm needed time to move his license. As they said (and technically they are correct) that the ACATS can’t be sent out until the lic is at the new firm.

If you are in a smaller branch, go when the manager goes on vacation.

Good advice both of you, I think you’re probably right about avoiding Christmas.

I left after my Q2 managed account business was paid.  For me and my require 2 weeks  made my last day on 7/11/2006.  My license was effective the next day.  My clients didn’t get called until Monday the 10th of July.  My 2 weeks coincided with how I got paid and the holiday weekend.  Independence day weekend was quite significant, and many were out of town, and I couldn’t transfer assets until my 2 weeks anyway…and they couldn’t be reached either.

You are 4 or 5 years away from leaving, and you are already trying to figure out what day of the week and time of the day you will resign?

Another negative about leaving around the holiday is that the regulators like to take off also.  I remember passing the test well before Christmas only to be told that the folks I needed to complete my licensing were gone for the balance of the year.  I think I finally got my green light on the 4th or 5th of January.  Don’t know if it still works that way, but I’m guessing that it could be problematic moving your license during the holidays.

I left before the 4th of July holiday. It was perfect! Some clients were out of town, but it took the former B/D a few days to catch up. Good luck!

Another hitch in your plan to move December 23rd; you can’t.  FINRA shuts down the last two weeks of December every year.  You could not be registered with your new firm until after the New Year. 

Don’t even think about having clients sign forms before you resign.  You could be found liable for selling away.  Check out Bill Singer’s web site www.rrbdlaw.com in the Cases of Note section.  You will find a collection of Darwin Awards for dumb things reps do without thinking of the consequences.