CEO Allen Darby sees a coming shift in M&A dynamics as AI eliminates clerical roles at RIAs, leaving buyers and sellers to negotiate who benefits from the added margin.
The $117 billion mega-RIA Wealth Enhancement says advisors who emphasize tax and trust planning can command higher fees. "We're actually seeing slight fee expansion within our organization," Wealth Enhancement's Dean Smith told InvestmentNews.
Since taking minority investment nearly one year ago from Joe Duran's Rise Growth Partners, OnePoint (formerly Bleakley) has grown by roughly $3 billion in assets and shifted from primarily being 1099 workforce to now having 85% of its AUM represented by W-2 advisors.
Steward Partners M&A head Scott Danner tells InvestmentNews the firm is actively acquiring RIAs with $500M to $2B in assets, as mid-sized sellers have nearly doubled their share of transactions since 2023, according to DeVoe & Company's latest RIA M&A report.
Eaglebrook Advisors' CEO Chris King expects his crypto SMA investing firm to jump from managing nearly $400 million to $1 billion over the next 12 months, as president Donald Trump signs the GENIUS Act and Bitcoin comes off new all-time highs.
Charles Schwab's 2025 RIA Benchmarking Study shows 97% client retention over a decade, but the industry may face a talent bottleneck with 70,000 new hires needed in five years to match growth.
A drop in interest rates and easier access to capital has reignited appetite among private equity-backed consolidators, who accounted for 53% of RIA deals so far this year- their highest share since 2021 according to DeVoe & Company.
The private equity era in RIA M&A isn't over but now faces entry from sovereign wealth funds and BlackRock-owned private credit firms. "They play a little bit different role than the traditional private equity investment," Mercer's CEO Dave Welling told InvestmentNews in reference to long-term capital from Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC.
Former CBIZ chief investment officer Anna Rathbun wants her new Cleveland-based Grenadilla Advisory to treat clients with the same "compassion and connectivity" she shares with audience members as a singer of classical music.
"By the end of the decade, tokenization will be the dominant investment platform in the industry, far eclipsing ETFs," Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ric Edelman tells InvestmentNews. "ETFs as we know them today really won't exist in five years."
