RIAs today face an increasingly competitive playing field. Since just a year ago, their ranks have increased by 374 to 15,860 advisors, according to a new report from SmartAsset.
Faster connections, expanded geographical reach and more access to financial tools, all sped up by financial technology, are forcing RIAs to innovate and act quickly in order to attract clients and managing growing assets.
In its report, SmartAsset ranked the 100 fastest-growing RIAs, narrowed down from some 2,000 firms that met initial qualifications: Each one is based in the U.S., offers financial planning services, has at least $500 million in regulatory assets under management (RAUM) and has no disclosures on its Form ADV. Firms involved in recent mergers or acquisitions did not make the cut.
Analysts then ranked qualifying firms on their one-year and three-year changes in number of clients and in RAUM, based on SEC data. The one-year period is for August 2024 and August 2023, and the three-period is for August 2024 and August 2021.
See the gallery for the 12 fastest-growing RIAs, according to SmartAsset.
