Advisors remain bullish on M&A RIA market amid economic volatility

Financial service providers are optimistic about continued growth for M&A dealmaking in the RIA market, despite the economic disruption triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

The aging population of financial advisors, with many now near retirement age, is seen as a key driving factor behind mergers and acquisitions amongst RIAs. Fidelity Investments tracked 2024 as a record-breaking year for RIA deal volume, as 233 firms entered M&A transactions totalling $670 billion in value. 

“Stratos remains incredibly optimistic about M&A and the RIA industry,” said Lou Camacho, President of Stratos Wealth Enterprises. “Over the next decade, an aging advisor population will need to consider succession, evolving client demand for additional products and services, continuity of the business, and realizing the liquidity of their life’s work.” 

Stratos Wealth Enterprises is the acquisitions arm of Stratos Wealth Holdings, whose family of wealth management companies oversee over $28 billion in client assets. Stratos recruited $3.5 billion in client assets in 2024, nearly tripling its total from new advisor recruits in 2023.

“The macro trends that are driving RIA consolidation are very much long term in nature,” added Brian Lauzon, managing director of Colchester Partners, an investment bank focused on the investment management industry. “We don’t see short-term market volatility impacting deal activity. Market volatility tends to fuel investors’ demand for advice, which bodes well for the financial advice industry.”

While a higher interest rate environment could make deals more expensive and deter some potential buyers, experts are not seeing any slowdown in private equity entering the RIA market.

“Private equity sponsors continue to be enthusiastic about the independent RIA industry,” said Lauzon. “Those that have invested in the space have done very well to date and we regularly hear about new entrants seeking their first platform investment, as well as sponsor-backed platforms seeking more and larger tuck-ins.”

The 2025 RIA Deal Room report from Advisor Growth Strategies (AGS) found that 47 firms bought multiple RIAs in 2024, up from 37 firms in 2023 who made multiple acquisitions. Brandon Kawal, partner at AGS and author of the report, referenced the 2022 macroeconomic downturn when projecting how potential prolonged volatility is more likely to result in fewer deals rather than lower valuations in the RIA market.

“I think the first move you're likely to see is buyers get selective. They're not going to shut it down, but maybe pull back on how many they go after in terms of capital deployment,” Kawal said. “In 2022, when interest rates went up and the stock market went down, valuations didn't really change much, but what did change was deal structure—so more risk alignment in more uncertain times with the economy.”