Understanding the RIA Channel
An RIA is a “registered investment advisor” registered with the SEC (U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission) or one or more U.S. States (Department of Commerce
or Securities Agency) to do business as a financial advisor. RIAs manage client
porfolios as fiduciaries and typically take fees based on assets managed for
services versus commissions on trades or products sold.
What’s an RIA?
Wealth Managers
$2.237 Trillion in Total Assets Under Management
12,802 firms
TAMPs
Hybrids
Turn-Key Asset Managers
$480 billion in Total Assets Under Management
70 firms
RIAs & Broker / Dealer Affiliates
$46 Trillion in Total Assets Under Management
4,067 firms
RIA
Market
Hedge Funds
$42.7 trillion in Total Assets Under Management
2,684 firms
Asset Managers
$42.5 Trillion in Total Assets Under Management
3,103 firms
Aggregate Assets of Independent Wealth Managers
$ 2.237 Trillion } Total Assets Under Managment (AUM) of independent wealth managers.
7,902,715 }
Total Accounts managed by
independent wealth managers.
$174,768,279 }
Average Account Size managed by
independent wealth managers.
Total Discretionary Assets Under Management of independent wealth
managers.
Total Discretionary Accounts
managed by independent
wealth managers.
{ 4,761,524
{ $ 1.662 Trillion
Average Discretionary Account Size
managed by independent wealth
managers.
Source: RIA Database (RIADatabase.com)
{ $129,857,777
The Number of Independent Wealth Management Firms
by AUM buckets
2,973
$0-$5 million
1,066
$5-$10 million
850
$10-$15 million
667
$15-$20 million
560
$20-$25 million
1,807
$25-$50 million
993
$50-$75 million
609
$75-$100 million
898
$100-$150 million
521
$150-$200 million
1,494
$200-$1 billion
364
Greater than $1 billion
Where’s the Money?
Independent Wealth Management Firms
based on Aggregate Assets by firm size
Firms 0 to $50m
5%
Firms 50 to $100m
5%
Firms 500 to $1b
13%
Firms 1b to $2b
13%
Firms 100 to $200m
9%
Firms 2b to $3b
7%
Firms 200 to $500m
15%
Firms > than $3b
33%
1/3 of all assets reside with firms over $3 billion
Source: RIA Database (RIADatabase.com)
Wealth Manager Asset Growth
based on total assets under management
$1.1t
$1.3t
$1.2t
$1.6t
$1.9t
$2.0t
$2.1t
$2.2t
2,266,149
3,035,392
3,516,824
4,330,985
5,141,547
5,290,059
5,343,834
7,902,715
Total Accounts
Wealth Manager Assets Have
Doubled in Past 5 Years.
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Trends in New Firms
New Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs)
New Wealth Management firms
4500
1000
4000
950
3500
900
3000
850
2500
800
750
2000
700
1500
650
1000
600
500
550
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
ETF Usage by RIA Firms
$755B or roughly 40% of all ETF assets are reported by firms in RIA Database.
$2.237 Trillion in Total Assets
Under Management
Of $2.01 Trillion or 89% of all
Wealth Manager Assets
21% or 688 firms represent
However only
89%
21%
14%
5%
of those assets are with
firms with Over 100m.
Report ETF Assets
or $91B out of the $653B in
ETF Assets
of Wealth Manager Assets
are in ETFs.
Source: RIA Database (RIADatabase.com)
2014