Merit doubles assets in 2025 and plots 15-deal M&A spree next year

Merit Financial Advisors has hit a 10% organic growth rate as the Atlanta-based RIA targets around 15 acquisitions in 2026 to be its most acquisitive year to date, CEO Rick Kent told InvestmentNews.  

“We hope to bring in $3.5 or $4 billion in net new money in the door, which is just money that flows out versus money flows in,” Kent said of Merit’s organic growth aim for 2026. “We're right now in double digits. So we just hit 10% and it's going to be harder to hit that double digits as the company grows with more assets.”

Merit’s strategy for organically adding clients includes its partner program with local banks in key geographies, and its popular YouTube channel. As part of Merit’s acquisition of virtual financial planning firm Safeguard Wealth Management in April, Merit gained Safeguard’s YouTube channel which now has over 70,000 subscribers and operates under the Merit brand. 

Another organic growth driver for Merit is Fidelity’s WAS referral program. Merit had roughly $12 billion assets under management in April when it announced it was joining WAS, but is finishing 2025 at double that size after adding 13 firms via M&A deals closed this year. Custodial referral programs become especially vital during market downturns as prospective clients become more frantic over navigating declines, Merit president Kay Lynn Mayhue told InvestmentNews.

“That's a huge opportunity when the market goes down because those financial consultants that sit in those local branches of the custodial offices, they are only able to give so much from an advice standpoint,” said Mayhue. “And then it crosses over to a point to where, that's why they have the custodial referral programs.” 

Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Nashville were mentioned by Mayhue as cities that Merit eyes particular growth in. Blueprint Wealth Advisors, a former Commonwealth team with $1.2 billion in assets, joined Merit last month to mark its entry into Chicago. Mayhue aims for Chicago to grow into a $10 billion market for Merit, with its hometown of Atlanta eyed for a similar trajectory.

“We have a really great team in Atlanta, but we haven't identified necessarily that leader that's going to be able to take the $5 billion region to a $15 billion region,” said Mayhue. “You could look at our map and say, we're just getting started. If you can be a $24 billion, $25 billion startup, we're just getting started because there's so much open space on the map.”

Currently Merit has advisors in over 55 offices. Atlanta is an example of a region where Merit “would love to find one of those transformational partnerships,” Mayhue said in reference to firms it is eyeing in the $3 billion to $8 billion AUM range. An acquisition of that size would be unprecedented for Merit since outside private equity began fueling its inorganic growth strategy in 2019. 

“I wouldn't be surprised if 2026 held one of those transformational partnerships. We're having some really exciting conversations with larger firms than we've ever talked to before,” she said. “We weren't necessarily at a size or a scale where those conversations made sense just three or four years ago. Now that we've got the organic growth machine built out, the amazing technology stack that we have, the robust investment offerings and investment team, compliance, HR—we've got all of these boxes checked.”

Constellation Wealth Partners announced its minority investment in Merit in July, with the investment also giving Merit enhanced credit line terms. Wealth Partners Capital Group and HGGC’s Aspire Holdings exited their positions in Merit after being minority investors since 2019. Merit views Constellation’s minority capital as an advantage over other RIA acquirers that are majority-owned by a private equity firm.  

“We're different from some of the firms out there, they maybe have a five year timeline. If they're controlled by a PE firm, how much do they really want to invest for the long term? What they're looking for is that term coming up,” said Kent. “That's not Merit. It's a minority investment that we took on. We have been putting people in place to focus more on our daily growth. I don't know that all the other firms are focused like that. We don't have an end game.”