FA ’ S 2024 RIA SURVEY & RANKING
Our annual survey shows that what RIAs have built has great value … and people see it .
BY ERIC RASMUSSEN
ERHAPS ONE SHOULD AVOID THE TEMPTATION to use house metaphors when describing something like an RIA business . And yet .
Like your house , your advisory firm has likely got a lot of your personal stake and stamp in it — it ’ s a product of sweat equity and the value of the relationships you ’ ve built . Like your house , your business is lately getting covetous looks from house flippers who ’ ve decided that they like what you ’ ve done with the fancy lights , landscaping , pool , sunken living room and expanded garage . They might want to buy it from you , dress it up and sell it up the food chain to bigger developers .
As with your house , you ’ re likely facing a conflict : wondering whether to sell it for the maximum value — the loftiest dollar amount for all you ’ ve put into it — or instead turn it over to the kids , the next generation , people who might do more to protect your legacy and the spiritual value of what you ’ ve created but who are going to give you less value for it . It ’ s likely been a nice annuity for you , too , something that keeps paying dividends to you while you slowly wind down into retirement .
And there are also blocks and blocks of other houses like yours , a lot of which have suddenly gotten quite big . Some have started putting up “ for sale ” signs as their owners consider the next phases of their lives . And as their prices have gone up in value , so has yours when you ’ re all in such a great location . That ’ s probably got you thinking the same thing — that you could take advantage of all this equity , find a buyer now — when private equity firms have to put their money to use — and cash out . Hard to imagine all this , but as the registered investment advisory industry has morphed over the last 20 years , a billiondollar firm is no longer as unique as it used to be . Instead , firms have evolved from mom and pop shops into something more corporate , more professional , its cubicles graced by specialists rather than one or two advisors wearing all the hats .
Brent Brodeski , the chief executive officer at Savant Wealth Management in Rockford , Ill ., remembers 30 years ago when his firm was just him and one other person doing everything , including taking out the garbage . Back then , he said , “ You told your employees to go on your wife ’ s [ healthcare ] plan .” Now he ’ s got 583 employees , including a new artificial intelligence expert trying to tame the firm ’ s swelling data lakes . The emergence of corporate structures ( and boards to report to ) has not only created health plans but also more defined career paths .
Marty Bicknell , the CEO and president of the voracious aggregator Mariner Wealth Advisors , headquartered in Overland Park , Kan ., has seen the changing attitudes toward his space , too . “ Even three years ago we had a hard time at Mariner getting a line of credit from a traditional lending source . Banks did not understand our business . They couldn ’ t find an asset to underwrite because it ’ s a cash-flow business . Over the last three years , there ’ s been dozens and dozens . When we did our last debt round , just a few weeks ago , we had 40 lenders offering to loan us money . Forty .”
IMAGERY VIA GETTY IMAGES JULY / AUGUST 2024 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 31