Most RIA mission statements espouse core fiduciary tenets like integrity, excellence, placing shoppers first and delivering unbiased recommendation. Certainly, such values are so generally referenced throughout impartial advisory companies that it will possibly turn into arduous to inform us aside — not to mention from massive custodians like Schwab and Constancy that may be more than pleased to immediately service our shoppers.
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I would argue that an impartial advisory agency’s true fiduciary differentiator might be present in its succession plan. I would additional assert that if the plan entails non-public fairness, there’s doubtless a misalignment of values between the RIA vendor and the PE purchaser.
Will or not it’s a profitable exit? Certain, most likely. But it surely 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 house — it is a high-margin, recurring-revenue enterprise with sticky consumer retention.
RIA homeowners are more and more turning to this straightforward liquidity answer. In response to a examine by AdvizorPro, between July 2024 and July 2025 “complete AUM managed by PE-owned RIAs climbed 14% to just about $6 trillion representing 22.96% of all $100 million-plus RIA belongings.”
RIA leaders can say they’re client-first, long-term-oriented and prioritize stewardship and tradition. However the succession planning course of crystallizes a selection 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 arms over management to an organization whose job is to extract worth on a hard and fast timeline, actions begin talking louder than phrases.
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Inside alignment
The choice, inner succession, might be more durable.
It additionally forces founders to face uncomfortable questions like: Do I truly belief the individuals who helped construct this? Am I keen to earn sufficient as an alternative of all the pieces? Do I consider in my agency’s values past my very own tenure?
However the upside might 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 replicate your agency’s values … and your individual?
