Office address: 901 3rd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55402
Website: ameriprise.com
Year established: 1894
Company type: financial services
Employees: 21,000+
Expertise: financial planning, investment management, retirement solutions, insurance, asset management, mutual funds, alternative investments, college savings, advisory services, structured products
Parent company: N/A
Key people: James Cracchiolo (CEO); Walter Berman (CFO); Gumer Alvero (president); William Davies (global chief investment officer); Deirdre McGraw, Heather Melloh, and Kelli Petruzillo (EVPs)
Financing status: corporation
Ameriprise Financial is a Minneapolis-based financial services company, serving more than 3.5 million clients and managing over $1.4 trillion in assets as of 2024. The firm offers financial planning, investment management, insurance, and retirement solutions. Ameriprise is known for its one-to-one advisor relationships and the Confident Retirement approach.
Ameriprise Financial began in 1894, when John Tappan, just 24 years old, founded Investors Syndicate. By the end of that first year, the company managed $2,500 in assets.
Over the next decades, Ameriprise grew through the Great Depression and paid every dollar owed to certificate owners, even as markets crashed and times were tough.
The company moved into mutual funds in 1940, starting with Investors Mutual Fund and adding more by 1945. In 1949, it adopted the name Investors Diversified Services, then joined American Express in 1984. By 1995, it operated as American Express Financial Advisors, with James Cracchiolo taking over as president and CEO in 2000.
The firm became an independent, publicly traded company in 2005 after one of the largest spin-offs in US history. It launched new brands, expanded its reach, and continued to acquire businesses, including H&R Block Financial Advisors during the Great Recession.
The company also introduced the Confident Retirement approach in 2014, which shaped its personalized advice model.
The company celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2024 as it marked more than a century of putting clients first. The company now manages over $1.4 trillion in assets and serves millions of clients.
In 2025, Ameriprise Financial welcomed The Atlantic Group from Oppenheimer. This team manages more than $1.6 billion in client assets, further strengthening the advisor network.
Ameriprise Financial provides personalized investment options to match different goals and risk levels:
Ameriprise Financial also provides digital tools for easy account access and goal tracking. Clients benefit from ongoing, personalized advice and a strong advisor relationship.
Ameriprise Financial says that it has a values-based and inclusive culture that supports individual differences and encourages achievement. The company also reports that it values work-life balance and career growth for its employees. Their stated values include:
Ameriprise Financial states employees receive competitive pay, incentives, and access to many workplace resources. Benefits include:
In terms of community impact, the firm donated $18 million in 2024 through grants, matching, and individual gifts. The company supported 7,800 nonprofits and recorded 50,000 volunteer hours that year as well. Since 2009, Ameriprise Financial has partnered with Feeding America to provide 124 million meals and nearly 408,000 volunteer hours.
James M. Cracchiolo is chairperson and CEO of Ameriprise Financial, leading a firm with a 130-year legacy. Cracchiolo has guided Ameriprise and its earlier company since 2000, building on over 45 years in financial services. He earned both his bachelor’s and MBA degrees from New York University.
The executive team at Ameriprise Financial includes leaders with deep experience and unique responsibilities:
The Ameriprise Financial leadership team works to build a client-focused culture and support a workforce of over 21,000 people. Their goal is to keep employees engaged and deliver strong results for clients.
In 2025, the firm began actively recruiting leading advisors from major firms, including Commonwealth. This strategy aims to expand Ameriprise Financial’s advisor network and strengthen its future offerings for clients.
Ameriprise also set a new record in its wealth division, reaching over $1 trillion in client assets during the third quarter of 2025. It grew advisor productivity to $1.1 million per advisor and welcomed 90 experienced advisors, which showed steady expansion. These results help the firm boost its financial position and support its growth.
Mutual fund wrap accounts, sometimes seen as a retail-class underling to more sophisticated separately managed accounts, are gaining a bigger following.
The Kansas City, Mo.-based tax services provider reported a net loss of $134.9 million, or 41 cents a share, for the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with a net loss of $502.3 million, or $1.55 cents a share, in the year- earlier period.
Despite intense pressure from regulators to tighten recruiting standards for brokers with marks on their records, these bad apples are still being hired by new firms, recent cases illustrate.
A former broker from GunnAllen Financial Inc. of Tampa, Fla., stole $1.3 million from at least 16 elderly clients in the past six years, according to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities.
Seven in 10 financial advisers prefer working for a nationally recognized company over an independent advisory firm, according to a yet-to-be-released survey.
Advisers tell me that broker-dealers are not created equal when it comes to technology support.
LPL Financial plans a spirited defense against claims that it was negligent in its supervision of a rogue broker who allegedly stole $5 million from at least 40 victims, many from his church in Phoenix.
About 300 financial advisers packed the meeting room for the Financial Planning Software Show-down during the Financial Planning Association's national conference in Boston last week.
Despite the recent market upheaval, more financial intermediaries are increasing their investments in equity funds than are decreasing them, according to a survey by kasina LLC.
Reserve Management Co. denied claims of insider trading related to its Primary Fund in response to a lawsuit that Ameriprise Financial Inc. filed.
Ameriprise Financial Inc. has no immediate plans to bail out clients of advisers of its independent broker-dealer subsidiary, Securities America Inc., which saw $60 million erased last week when a giant money market fund, the Reserve Primary Fund, “broke the buck."
Third Avenue Institutional International Value Fund LP, a fund of Third Avenue Management LLC, filed a class action Friday against Reserve Management Corp. hinging on the firm's redemption process last week, when the net asset value of the Reserve Primary Fund fell to 97 cents.
A suit filed by Ameriprise alleges that The Reserve gave special treatment to its largest clients just as the Primary Fund was losing value and about to “break the buck,” or dip below $1 per share.
LPL Financial has agreed to pay a $275,000 penalty for violating customers' privacy, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.
Richard England, Jr., the team at Martin Capital Management, Marc Turner and Elizabeth Verterano were named Community Leadership Award winners last night at the second annual awards dinner sponsored by <i>InvestmentNews</i> and the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation Inc.
