RIA Leaders: Wirehouse Breakaways, Service Expansion, More M&A to Dominate 2026

You tin find archetypal nonfiction present WealthManagement. Subscribe to our escaped regular WealthManagement newsletters.

It has been different engaged twelvemonth for registered concern advisors. 

From multi-billion-dollar acquisitions to ample wirehouse breakaways to a emergence successful tribunal disputes implicit RIA-to-RIA recruiting, the assemblage has had nary shortage of action.

As the twelvemonth winds down, WealthManagement.com asked leaders of immoderate of the country’s largest RIAs their instrumentality connected the twelvemonth that was, and what they expect for 2026. 

Some of the answers beneath person been edited for magnitude and clarity.

Larry Restieri, CEO, Hightower Advisors (663 advisors; $2.35 trillion AUM/AUA)

WM: What, successful your view, was the astir important inclination successful the RIA assemblage successful 2025?  

LR: The wide maturation of the space, specifically with respect to the modernization and professionalization of these mega-RIAs. You deliberation astir the exertion improvements; the world-class investments; the absorption connected advice. And we’re each doing it. It isn’t conscionable constricted to Hightower. 

WM: What bash you foretell volition beryllium a cardinal maturation operator successful 2026?

LR: I deliberation that everybody’s had a marketplace tailwind this year, truthful that has helped the numbers. But I deliberation successful wide marketplace uncertainty really helps RIAs, due to the fact that radical privation to speech to an advisor erstwhile the markets tin spell immoderate which way. And that has been the inclination that we don’t spot going away.

WM: What headwinds are you astir acrophobic with that mightiness stymie maturation successful 2026?  

LR: I effort not to deliberation of it successful presumption of, if the marketplace goes up, oregon if the marketplace goes down, if the marketplace for RIAs goes sideways, oregon if thing happens. I can’t power those things. If we conscionable play our crippled done the cycle, we’ll beryllium fine. And that’s however I effort to pb the team.

Peter Mallouk, President and CEO, Creative Planning (800 advisors; $668B AUM/AUA)

WM: What, successful your view, was the astir important inclination successful the RIA assemblage successful 2025?   

PM: Two large trends: progressively competitory and accelerated consolidation. 

WM: What bash you foretell volition beryllium a cardinal maturation operator successful 2026?  

PM: M&A volition beryllium wholly connected fire, and we volition spot larger firms spell to marketplace and articulation adjacent larger players.

WM: What headwinds are you astir acrophobic with that mightiness stymie maturation successful 2026?   

PM: The marketplace has been incredibly cooperative for each RIAs. If we person a prolonged pullback of 18 months oregon more, it volition statesman to abstracted winners and losers successful a mode we conscionable haven’t seen yet.

Marty Bicknell, President and CEO, Mariner Wealth Advisors (2,035 advisors; $609B AUM/AUA)

WM: What, successful your view, was the astir important inclination successful the RIA assemblage successful 2025?  

MB: We volition get truly adjacent to hitting $14 cardinal successful integrated assets this year. I joked with the squad yesterday that successful 2006, erstwhile we started the firm, I didn’t adjacent person a extremity to get to $14 billion, fto unsocial to bash that successful 1 twelvemonth from an integrated perspective. That has travel from having a dedicated concern improvement team. Instead of relying connected our advisors to capable their ain funnels, we enactment that astatine the endeavor level and presumption it arsenic our work to capable the funnel. We’ve had that strategy since time one, but present we person 85 dedicated concern improvement professionals crossed aggregate channels.