Meet InvestmentNews' 5-Star RIA firms for 2025

After a comprehensive months-long selection process, InvestmentNews is revealing its list of 5-Star RIA Firms for 2025.

The inaugural list of 5-Star RIA firms recognizes some of the country's top-performing wealth managers. With a minimum of $1 billion in assets managed in 2024, the firms were selected based on verified data around AUM, AUM growth, and client growth.

Looking at the firms that made the cut, several clear trends emerged. Some of the best performers showed a penchant for high-touch service, coupled with a culture of accountability. Differentiated offerings, meaningful equity participation for advisors, and an integrated approach to planning were also common elements.

Not counting acquisitions, the freshman batch of 5-Star RIA firms sported an average client growth rate of 23% for the year 2024. At least some of that may be chalked up to marketing, but as Michael Kitces of Kitces Financial notes, it takes something special to achieve that kind of organic growth.

"It’s really hard to do that with referrals, networking, and seminars because you only have so much time to show up for events," Kitces says. "Building organic marketing successfully is extremely difficult, which is why very few firms are doing it especially well."

A growing appreciation for wealth and income-building beyond self-directed trading is also working in RIAs' favor. According to research by Cerulli, advisors are proving their worth for retail investors to reach their financial goals, with advised investors consistently expressing greater confidence than the do-it-yourself crowd in all areas from college education funding, estate planning, retirement saving, and building emergency funds, among others.

"Retail investors are aware of the need for financial planning and it’s definitely an opportunity for RIAs who are built around that mindset," says Stephen Caruso, associate direct wealth management at Cerulli Associates. “We’re going to continue to see that shift as more retail investors recognize there’s a lot of uncertainty and different levers in their financial picture." 

For this inaugural 5-Star RIA list, InvestmentNews is placing particular focus on Chicago-based Performance Wealth, whose formula to success has been built on a transparent, disciplined, and comprehensive approach to investments and planning.

"People want a clean product that’s transparent and objective," says Thomas Salvino, CEO at Performance Wealth.

Apart from a commitment to keeping fees down, Salvino's firm takes fierce ownership of its ideas and recommendations, with all research being done in-house. A long-term view of data, with years-long time horizons rather than just weeks or months, allows the firm to build strategies based on factful conviction.

And while its success is derived from organic growth, Performance Wealth stays true to its name. Rather than buy face time with clients through sporting events and dinners, it prefers to lean on its advisors' work and results to drive the business.

"We don’t do client schmoozing," Salvino says. "Ultimately, we have great performance and investments and have a great service team – that’s our focus."

To help maintain the vitality of its talent pool, Performance Wealth also runs an annual internship program, with 10 college students participating every summer. 

"We see their work and how they interact with the team as we want proactive, thoughtful, and caring people," Salvino says. "We view it as a way to give back, but ultimately, it benefits the firm by finding great talent."

To learn more about Performance Wealth, click here.

Read InvestmentNews' full report on its inaugural list of 5-Star RIA Firms here.