Most RIA mission statements espouse core fiduciary tenets like integrity, excellence, placing purchasers first and delivering unbiased recommendation. Certainly, such values are so generally referenced throughout unbiased advisory companies that it may well change into exhausting to inform us aside — not to mention from giant custodians like Schwab and Constancy that might be very happy to instantly service our purchasers.
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I would argue that an unbiased advisory agency’s true fiduciary differentiator could be present in its succession plan. I would additional assert that if the plan entails non-public fairness, there’s probably a misalignment of values between the RIA vendor and the PE purchaser.
Will or not it’s a profitable exit? Certain, in all probability. However it additionally carries echoes of fiduciary failure.
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PE’s open agenda
It is no shock that personal fairness is pouring cash into the RIA area — it is a high-margin, recurring-revenue enterprise with sticky shopper retention.
RIA homeowners are more and more turning to this simple liquidity answer. In accordance with a examine by AdvizorPro, between July 2024 and July 2025 “complete AUM managed by PE-owned RIAs climbed 14% to almost $6 trillion representing 22.96% of all $100 million-plus RIA property.”
RIA leaders can say they’re client-first, long-term-oriented and prioritize stewardship and tradition. However the succession planning course of crystallizes a alternative most would quite go away blurry: Is my agency one thing to be stewarded, or shortly monetized?
Let’s be clear about what non-public fairness managers optimize for: timebound returns, leverage and exit.
That is not a hidden agenda, that is PE’s said mannequin. When an RIA that claims to worth folks above all else palms over management to an organization whose job is to extract worth on a set timeline, actions begin talking louder than phrases.
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Inside alignment
The choice, inner succession, could be tougher.
It additionally forces founders to face uncomfortable questions like: Do I truly belief the individuals who helped construct this? Am I prepared to earn sufficient as a substitute of the whole lot? Do I imagine in my agency’s values past my very own tenure?
However the upside could be so, so candy.
There’s potential for a considerate glide path crafted from a spot of organizational energy. The possibility to see
Briefly, you get one thing far much less flashy however way more profound: alignment between what you say and what you do.
So earlier than you polish your subsequent mission assertion or redraft your core values, take a tough have a look at your succession plan. Does it truly mirror your agency’s values … and your individual?
