Creative Planning hangs "Help Wanted" sign for advisors

Creative Planning, the giant registered investment advisor and brainchild of estate planning attorney Peter Mallouk, its owner and CEO, is looking to add up to 100 wealth management professionals, or almost another 9%, to its current financial advisor workforce by the end of 2025.

In an interview this week, Mallouk said Creative Planning, with more than $300 billion in total assets, had "one hundred job openings for CPAs, wealth managers, financial planners, across the board."

"I think we’re gearing up to really grow very aggressively in the coming 15 months," Mallouk said. "We've spent a lot of time building out the 401(k) business and our offering for business owners as well. With that integration behind us, we're focused on the next level."

"That said, we hope to have more organic growth in next 15 months and hope for acquisitions as well," he said.

Mallouk has been busy and keenly focused on growth.  A year ago, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it was selling its registered investment advisor business, Personal Financial Management, with $29 billion in assets and a few hundred advisors, to Creative Planning. 

Meanwhile, Mallouk confirmed a report that General Atlantic, a private equity investor in the firm in 2020, was looking to sell potentially a piece of their 17% to 18% stake in the firm. Attracted by the steady cash flows kicked off by RIAs, private equity managers for the past decade have been increasingly buying portions of firms or buying them outright.

"I’ll retain majority ownership and control," said Mallouk, who owns roughly 80% of the firm.

"The thing is, Peter will still be in control [of Creative Planning], and that's right where he needs to be," said Brian Hamburger, an industry attorney. "General Atlantic is hitting a four-year tenure, and last year's deal for United Capital was a lot to swallow."

Giant RIAs like Creative Planning keep climbing in value; last year, private equity manager Clayton Dubilier & Rice said it was acquiring the publicly traded Focus Financial Partners, an RIA aggregator, and taking it private for the price of $7 billion. 

Fisher Investments in June said it had sold up to 23.5% of the $275 billion registered investment advisor to a group of investors. According to Fisher Investments, the deal to buy the minority stake in Fisher Investments values the firm at $12.75 billion.

Mallouk declined to comment when asked about the valuation of Creative Planning.