RIAs hit record scale, but asset growth trails decade gains

An annual report from the Investment Adviser Association and compliance firm COMPLY, released last month, shows SEC‑registered registered investment advisers reached record levels: 16,544 firms, about 1.1 million employees, $176.8 trillion in assets under management and 73.7 million clients.

The report found AUM at those firms rose 22% year over year in nominal terms. The report also compared annualized AUM growth with equity returns: the annualized AUM gain was 0.3 percentage points higher than the 25‑year annualized return of large U.S. stocks and 4.6 percentage points lower than large‑cap returns over the past decade.

Authors of the report and industry participants note that market gains and merger and acquisition activity account for much of the headline AUM increase, while new client inflows and organic asset growth are less prominent in the data.

Consolidation and adviser recruitment have contributed to the scale increase. Ryan Halliday, managing partner of Crewe Advisors, observed that some firms are aggregating advisors and assets by the dozens rather than building a single integrated firm, a pattern that can lift AUM quickly without reflecting longer client tenures.

Advisory firms are emphasizing organic growth targets such as new client acquisition and increasing assets from existing clients. Angela York and Elyse Stoner, founders of an events firm that plans gatherings for advisory practices, described client events as one way to surface held‑away assets and strengthen client relationships. York described a younger adviser hosting a post‑church meal to introduce the clients of a retiring adviser to a successor. Stoner recounted an adviser who ran a Thanksgiving educational event around pies and then received a question about moving an external account into the firm.

Crewe Advisors reported growth in its own AUM from about $1 billion five years ago to $3.5 billion at the end of last month. The firm credited referral requests to satisfied clients and a paid relationship with Crewe Capital, which offers clients access to pre‑liquidity investment opportunities. Crewe also received a minority, nonvoting investment from Wealth Partners Capital Group and private equity firm HGGC; Halliday described the funding as arriving when the firm reached an “inflection point” and said the external partners will support inorganic growth.

Industry specialists urged caution in assuming acquired client relationships will persist after deals. York cautioned that routine review meetings can miss changes in client sentiment. Stoner recommended that advisers act as hosts at client events and bring in outside experts so advisers have opportunities for one‑on‑one conversations that may reveal held‑away assets or other issues.

The IAA and COMPLY report provides the raw figures for firm count, staff and assets and sets those totals alongside comparisons of AUM growth and long‑term large‑cap stock returns.