Robinhood referral network signs $17B RIA The Mather Group

The Mather Group, a Chicago-based RIA overseeing $17 billion in client assets, has joined Robinhood Advisor Network as one the early entrants into the new RIA client referral program that Robinhood began piloting in March.

According to an SEC filing dated April 7, The Mather Group (TMG) will pay Robinhood a referral fee equal to 25% of gross revenue from any accounts opened by clients referred through Robinhood Advisor Network (RAN), including accounts opened by members of the referred client's household. The fee will continue for as long as the referred client remains at Mather Group, regardless of if Mather Group stays part of RAN.

For clients referred through Robinhood Advisor Network, Mather Group will be required to custody those assets through TradePMR, the custodian that Robinhood acquired for $300 million in late-2024.

“If we transfer a referred client's assets from the TradePMR platform to another custodian, we must pay RAN a transfer fee equal to 300 basis points of the gross revenue in the client's account at the time of transfer,” reads Mather Group’s filing. “This transfer fee creates a financial incentive for TMG to maintain referred client assets on the TradePMR platform. However, this fee is paid solely by TMG and is never charged to clients.”

The Mather Group is headquartered in Chicago with 13 offices across the U.S. focused on serving high-net-worth individuals and families. Earlier this week, Mather Group acquired Sebold Capital Management, an Illinois-based RIA serving small business owners. 

In addition to Robinhood’s referral program, The Mather Group received client referrals from the Fidelity Wealth Advisor Solutions (WAS) program. Upon launch of Robinhood Advisor Network, TradePMR founder turned Robinhood executive Robb Baldwin told InvestmentNews that clients need at least $250,000 in investable assets to be referred to RIAs through RAN.

“For the last 30 years, the RIA industry has grown off baby boomers. The current client base of the wealth management industry is the baby boomer. Now, Robinhood has more Gen Z and millennials than all the other brokerage firms combined,” Baldwin said. “We believe Robinhood is uniquely positioned at the epicenter of the next generational wealth transfer.” 

Robinhood originally said upon its pilot announcement that RAN would have a broader launch in Q2 of this year. Financial advisor Michael Kitces challenged the Robinhood Advisor Network’s fee and revenue-sharing model in a LinkedIn post, which garnered a response from Baldwin. 

“These clients weren’t sitting in anyone’s pipeline. There’s no upfront fee, no annual fee, no marketing budget, no seminar spend. Robinhood absorbs the cost of client acquisition. That is time and money advisors are not spending to grow their firm,” Baldwin wrote in part of his response. "The [Robinhood Advisor] Network is the only custodian-driven digital-first referral ecosystem connecting next-gen investors with independent RIAs at scale, without branch friction or prospecting costs."