“Not just growing for growth’s sake,” is a phrase often uttered by advisors who claim that expansion is essential to providing a superior client experience in today’s world. But some registered investment advisory firms are clearly better than others at maintaining that emphasis on client service and quality of care while at the same time rapidly adding assets.
WealthManagement.com’s RIA Edge 100 list is an attempt to identify those firms that are seeing the most success while continuing to provide high-quality, hands-on service to an expanding client base.
The list was developed by the Wealth Management IQ team in partnership with Discovery Data. Analyzing the ADVs of all SEC-registered investment advisors, WMIQ and Discovery looked at AUM growth, ratio of employees to clients, ratio of advisors to clients, percentage of advisors with CFP certification and average client account size. Qualifying firms were limited to those that provide financial planning services, have high-net-worth individuals as more than half of their client base and manage at least $250 million in assets as of June 30, 2022.
The methodology and weighting were intended to give a clear picture of firm growth as it relates to client service. RIA Edge 100 firms are those with the most impressive growth rates combined with the best client ratios and most CFP certifications.
“We’re not just looking for the firms that are growing the fastest or gathering the most assets,” said Mark Bruno, managing director of the Wealth Management Group at Informa, the parent company of WealthManagement.com. “We developed the RIA Edge 100 to recognize the firms that are among the most successful in the business—while also growing in the right ways. These are the firms that are continuing to put clients first, while they invest in their businesses and their people as they navigate through a period of incredible growth.”
The RIA Edge 100 was intentionally not designed as a ranking; rather, it was developed to highlight a group of firms that are strategically growing and reinvesting in their businesses, and ultimately represent the best-of-the-best in the RIA industry.
