Natural development is taken into account by many to be the holy grail for registered funding advisors, whether or not RIAs are searching for to construct lifelong companies or bolster valuations for an eventual sale.
However new shoppers and expanded pockets share could be laborious to return by. In line with a year-end survey launched Monday by DeVoe & Firm, greater than half of RIA government respondents (53%) mentioned natural development is the commonest challenge holding them up at night time. (The following most typical stress-inducer was AI’s influence on their agency, adopted by the general economic system and inventory market efficiency at 31%.)
At the least one RIA government, nonetheless, referred to natural development because the agency’s most compelling achievement in 2025.
Marty Bicknell, the founder and CEO of Mariner Wealth Advisors, an Overland Park, Kan.-based agency, has had a lead technology crew in place for the reason that firm launched in 2006. In 2025, the effectiveness of that technique turned evident when the agency surpassed its typical year-over-year natural development charge of roughly 15%, with a greater than 30% improve in 2025 when in comparison with 2024.
Mariner, which has minority investments from non-public fairness companies Leonard Inexperienced & Companions and Neuberger Berman, is also called one of many extra lively RIA acquirers within the house. Bicknell additionally addressed that space of the enterprise, stating that he expects one other lively deal market in 2026, with a possible shift in the kind of offers Mariner is reserving.
The next Q&A has been edited for size and readability.
WealthManagement.com: What was a key pattern for Mariner in 2025?
Marty Bicknell: We are going to get actually near hitting $14 billion in natural belongings.
I joked with the crew yesterday throughout a name that, in 2006, once we began the agency, I didn’t also have a objective to succeed in $14 billion, not to mention obtain it in a single 12 months from an natural perspective. The 12 months was implausible from that perspective.
It was additionally our greatest recruiting 12 months ever, with simply over 200 recruited advisors. Marry that with doing 10 acquisitions. On the identical time, advisor and consumer retention charges stay at trade requirements.
I actually really feel just like the mannequin is getting an increasing number of understood, and an increasing number of appreciated by extra advisors.
WM: The natural development determine is hanging, notably since we all know even growth-focused RIAs battle in that space. What would you say drove these outcomes?
MB: I believe the primary factor is that it’s its personal enterprise unit for us. As a substitute of counting on our advisors to fill their very own funnels, we put that on the enterprise degree and look at it as our accountability to fill the funnel.
If you consider an advisor’s day, sometimes about 50% of it’s client-facing. Just a little north of 25% of that’s enterprise growth. We’ve eradicated that. That offers you 25% extra time to spend with the consumer. It doesn’t imply our advisors aren’t concerned in enterprise growth. It simply means their level of sale to clarify the worth proposition and the way they’re going to assist is all arrange by the enterprise growth crew.
WM: How lengthy have you ever had that crew, and the way many individuals are in it?
MB: We’ve had that technique since day one, however now, now we have 85 devoted enterprise growth professionals in a number of channels. They’re paid on variable [compensation] and so they’re paid first. Then the web goes on our advisor variable comp. payout.
We even have the custodian referral packages at each Constancy and Schwab. We now have a CPA alliance with nearly 70 regional CPA companies, with us appearing as their in-house wealth administration answer. We’re additionally rolling out a program proper now for group banks. We now have one associate in the present day and are having actually good success out of the gate.
We’re all the time fascinated with the place we will discover partnerships which have entry to shoppers who want our service. One of many issues we did final 12 months was purchase a boutique funding financial institution that does 40-plus transactions a 12 months of $20 million to $25 million in common valuation. Nearly all of these folks haven’t thought of property planning, tax planning or what they’ll do with these belongings. That has been an ideal channel for us to get our advisors in entrance of extra folks.
WM: On the inorganic facet, you’re clearly very lively in M&A. We regularly hear that the competitors has heated up on the customer facet—have you ever observed this, and the way are you competing for the companies you need?
MB: The competitors has positively heated up, and there are new names on a regular basis. From 2023 to 2024, nearly all of our acquisitions had been banker-led, responding to a course of. Again in 2010, six of our 10 offers had been self-sourced, and 4 of them had been banker offers.
Due to that aggressive banker-led market, we determined to bulk up our company growth crew and actually take the time and power to go discover our personal alternatives and scale back that competitiveness a bit bit. We needed to make it extra of a relationship promote, versus only a bid. It takes longer to develop, however it finally ends up with a sooner begin.
WM: You talked about doing 10 acquisitions in 2025. How do you anticipate 2026 to match?
MB: We completely anticipate the same quantity. I believe the make-up of them will probably be barely totally different.
Two of our actually massive belongings underneath advisement offers had been institutional choices. It sort of skews the truth of issues when you already know someone’s acquired $300 billion, however the income is similar dimension as considered one of my regular workplaces. There’ll be extra conventional RIA companies than this previous 12 months. To not say that we received’t do the opposite classes, as a result of I believe it strengthens our providing in a manner when our advisors go right into a scenario to have that entry—whether or not it’s a tax agency, property planning experience, the institutional providing, the funding financial institution, the worth proposition simply goes up.
WM: Subsequent 12 months, you’re saying there will probably be a better mixture of wealth-focused RIAs?
MB: I believe the availability of these is considerably better, and it’s a fragmented house.
On the institutional facet of the home, now we have, let’s name it, about $450 billion in AUA and a pair of million members. We have to proceed to determine how one can serve them.
The retirement to wealth problem will not be one thing now we have found out but, however we’re spending lots of time and power on attempting to determine it out. There’s a determine that about 10% of plan members depart the plan on an annual foundation. If now we have 2 million members, that’s lots of members leaving the plan—so we have to determine that out, and I believe lots of it goes to consciousness. Simply consciousness that they’ve the chance to work with us.
