South Florida has been a booming area for wealth migration thanks to low taxes and sunshine. The mega-RIA Carson Group still lacks a presence in the region, despite having offices in about 40 states and more than $66 billion in assets under management.
“The challenge with South Florida is foreign clients a lot of times. So we don't allow on our ADV right now foreign nationals as clients, and that you can run up against that in South Florida, like a lot of South American or Central American clients,” Michael Belluomini, Carson's senior vice president of M&A, told InvestmentNews on the sidelines of Schwab's recent IMPACT conference in Boston. “We don't support that.”
Carson has Florida advisor offices in Sarasota, Tampa, Ponte Vedra Beach and the Orlando area, according to its Form ADV, but nothing in the state's southern tier anchored by Miami, West Palm Beach and surrounding wealthy enclaves. Its network spans more than 165 partner offices across the U.S., including more than 50 Carson Wealth locations in its corporate RIA channel.
Miami is the top U.S. market for foreign homebuyers, who spent $4.4 billion on South Florida residential property in 2025, led by buyers from Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, according to Miami Realtors.
Some of the RIA industry's most active acquirers, such as Creative Planning and the Miami-headquartered Corient, made moves this year to buy wealth management firms in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, London and Paris. Belluomini said international expansion is “not on our immediate radar” for Nebraska-headquartered Carson.
“We would never be opposed to great acquisitions elsewhere. But at this point, there's so much great opportunity in the U.S. and there's so much deal flow that we haven't had to look international, but never say never,” he said.
Private equity firm Bain Capital is a minority investor in Carson Group, whose integrated Carson Wealth channel acquired a $1.6 billion firm from the Atlanta area earlier this week. Carson is on pace to finish 2026 with 26 or 27 announced acquisitions and about 35 completed, compared with 23 deals last year, Belluomini said.
“It's a monster year for us," Belluomini said. "We have not seen any slowdown whatsoever," adding that Carson has relationships with more than 60 investment banks that bring it M&A opportunities.
That pace contrasts with some industry tallies. DeVoe & Company reported a 17% drop in third-quarter RIA M&A, though Echelon Partners found RIA M&A held near record levels in the third quarter, counting five Carson Wealth deals worth about $2.7 billion in acquired assets.
Belluomini also named Jacksonville, Fla.; Boise, Idaho; and Newport News, Va., as metro areas where he hopes to see Carson expand. “I like being able to sort of support Main Street,” he said, noting that rural markets are also within Carson's M&A pursuits.
But Broadway and Broad Street are also on the table for the Omaha-based RIA.
“I think any metro area where we don't have a presence would be great. Philadelphia, like right in Center City, would be good for us. We don't have anything in New York City on the island. So I'd love something right in the middle of Manhattan. Midtown would be great,” he said.
A happy coincidence: one of LPL Financial’s corporate campuses happens to be based in Rep.-elect Wes Climer’s new district.
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