Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs recently announced its acquisition of the national wealth management firm United Capital for $750 million in cash, causing many in the RIA community to question what the deal means for the future of independence.
Many registered investment advisors who came out of the wirehouse world will tell you they left the big Wall Street firms so they could gain independence and more autonomy over running their own business.
So the 220 advisors who sold their practices over the past 14 years to follow Joe Duran’s vision of what financial advice should be for clients will find themselves, in a sense, right back where they started.
Some say the deal is proof of the maturation of the RIA space; others say it’s a dark signal that big banks and brokerages are infecting RIAs. These seven industry observers weighed in.
