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.
Five index ETFs, including two from State Street, to anchor Trump Accounts as advisors weigh options against 529 and UTMA plans for clients
A bipartisan proposal aimed at aligning advisor compensation rules with modern business structures is headed to the full House.
Vanilla is extending its estate planning tech to Callan Family Office's ultra-high-net-worth business, while WealthFeed's organic growth engine will now be available to roughly 100 advisors at The Mather Group.
“We are helping families take an important first step toward building a financial foundation for the next generation,” said Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson
Richard Brothers Financial Advisors joins the fee-only RIA, adding its first Maine office and $240 million in client assets
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
Direct indexing is on pace to outgrow ETFs and mutual funds. Northern Trust's Ken Lassner explains why the advisors who get it wish they had started sooner.
