Osaic deepens RISR partnership as advisors race to serve aging business owners

Osaic is widening its relationship with business owner-planning platform RISR, giving the wealth management giant's roughly 11,000 affiliated advisors deeper access to tools for valuing, transitioning and protecting privately held companies.

The expanded arrangement builds on a partnership the two firms began last year and comes as Osaic leans further into technology it says advisors are adopting faster than almost anything the company has rolled out before.

The updated relationship extends RISR's capabilities across business valuation, succession planning, exit strategy design and risk management, allowing the giant hybrid RIA's advisors to link a client's business holdings more directly to their broader financial plan.

Jerry Schreck, senior vice president of advisor education and training at Osaic, said the expanded access reflects rising demand among advisors for structured ways to guide entrepreneurs through complex transitions.

“As demand for sophisticated business owner planning continues to grow, it's critical that our advisors have access to the tools and resources needed to serve clients with confidence," Schreck said in a statement on Thursday.

Citing McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility research, RISR notes that an estimated 6 million small and midsize businesses are expected to change hands by 2035 as owners retire, with more than 1 million of those representing viable sale or employee-ownership candidates worth roughly $5 trillion in enterprise value. Within its own platform, RISR said 57% of business owners it evaluated had no protections in place against death, disability or ownership disputes, underscoring what the firm frames as a widespread planning gap.

Read more: Most potential business successors think there's a plan – but owners say otherwise

Amanda Bussa, managing partner at Bussa Financial Partners, which offers securities and investment advisory services through Osaic, said the software helps her guide clients through fundamental valuation questions that shape growth and succession conversations, rather than treating business ownership as a side issue to retirement accounts.

RISR's push into Osaic's network follows a string of recent additions to its enterprise roster. Since its 2024 launch, the fintech firm has struck partnerships with Journey Strategic Wealth, Great Valley Advisor Group, Citadel Wealth Management, Wealthcare Capital Management, Modern Wealth and NewEdge Wealth, and it recently added the $16 billion RIA OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, formerly known as Bleakley Financial Group.

In May, the company introduced an AI-powered document analysis module that scans buy-sell agreements, insurance policies and operating agreements for coverage gaps, part of a broader effort to speed up work that previously required specialized expertise and significant advisor time.

Read more: RISR introduces business document analysis and risk module as AI document review expands into niche client areas

That expansion mirrors a pattern already visible across Osaic itself. Chief executive Jamie Price told InvestmentNews at Osaic's 2026 NXT conference in Boston that two of the firm's AI tools, financial-planning platform Jump and workflow-automation tool Zocks, reached nearly 30% advisor adoption within a year of launch – a pace Price called unlike anything he had seen in a decade at the company.

“These aren’t going to be three-to-five-year cycles anymore,” Price said, referring to the accelerating cadence of tech implementation. “Every tool we put on could be obsolete in a year. You have to be nimble enough to plug and play the newest solutions.”

Price attributed the faster uptake partly to Osaic's AI governance framework, which he said gives advisors clarity on what tools are approved for use in a heavily regulated industry, and partly to a cultural push to make employees and advisors comfortable experimenting with the technology. Osaic is also drawing on AI work from partners including Bank of New York Pershing, Fidelity and Envestnet's technology and consulting capabilities, which Price said the firm can layer alongside its own development.

Advisors within the Osaic network can access RISR directly through their existing Osaic relationship at preferred subscription pricing, according to the companies.