RIAs Will Take a Third of the Wealth Management Biz by 2018

Investment News:

…the RIA channel is likely to control some 28% of the market by 2018, according to research firm Cerulli Associates.

The RIA channel, which comprises approximately 15,800 firms managing $2.4 trillion in assets, currently manages some 19.8% of retail investor assets and represents 18.6% of adviser headcount, according to Cerulli.

The research firm expects that to grow to 27.9% of assets and 24.6% of headcount in the next three years. Approximately 12.4% of those assets will be held by dually registered advisers, up from around 8.8% currently, according to Cerulli estimates.

Big caveat: A lot of the growth in the RIA business is coming from dually-registered broker/advisor hybrid firms that allow the advisor to sell products for commissions sometimes and then give fee-only advice other times. In other words, what my friend James Osborne likes to call “Fiduciary When I Feel Like It.”

Either way, this was all foreseen by myself and many others as long ago as 2010. I also dedicated a chapter in my book to the rise of the RIA complex back in 2012.

It’s all happening.

Source:

RIAs to control 28% of assets by 2018: Cerulli (Investment News)