The variety of RIAs has grown quickly prior to now a number of years, however none has develop into as huge as a sprawling wirehouse. Not but.
Marty Bicknell presents an authoritative prediction.
“In 5 to 10 years, there shall be a handful of really massive impartial RIAs that may rival the dimensions of the wirehouses,” Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors, tells ThinkAdvisor in an interview.
It’s a superb guess that Mariner, fourth on Barron’s record of prime RIAs, might be a kind of.
The Overland Park, Kansas-based agency, based in 2006, has grown at a quick clip — it has 110 places nationwide and now advises on a complete of $230 billion in property. Its 1,800 monetary advisors embrace staff and impartial contractors.
Inorganic development has been a big key to its success. Thus far, Mariner has made 55 acquisitions, the newest of which, a mix of institutional consultants AndCo Consultants and Fourth Road Efficiency Companions, closed in April. The deal kicked off the agency’s Mariner Institutional model and introduced in $104 billion in property underneath advisement.
Different manufacturers embrace Mariner Extremely, for ultra-high-net-worth shoppers, and Mariner Office, for enterprise house owners.
Bicknell argues that it’s important for advisors to supply a wide range of further providers, and Mariner itself has 125 tax professionals making ready shoppers’ revenue tax returns.
“We have now all of the bases lined,” Bicknell says.
Within the interview, Bicknell, who spent 16 years with A.G. Edwards earlier than founding Mariner, additionally talks in regards to the problem of working with ultra-high-net-worth shoppers and intently held household companies.
Listed here are highlights of our dialog:
THINKADVISOR: What has been Mariner’s chief manner of rising?
MARTY BICKNELL: We develop organically, however we additionally develop by means of acquisitions.
Are you making extra of a push to step up inorganic development?
It’s a unbroken effort. We made our first acquisition in 2012 and have achieved 55 in complete. The final one [closed] in April 2024.
We’ll be asserting one other one on the finish of July or in early August.
What are the largest challenges for RIA corporations right this moment?
The primary problem for many corporations is expertise: advisors, non-advisors, management.
There are extra corporations within the registered funding advisory house which can be rising, however [the field] may be very fragmented. Most corporations are at $1 billion or smaller.
The common corporations which can be rising are having bother rising past the founders and bringing different management into the group.
To what extent does Mariner have an lively recruiting program?
We have now a recruiting group that’s absolutely devoted to advisor recruiting and one other group that’s devoted to non-advisors.
What differentiates Mariner from different prime RIAs?
We have now among the most gifted advisors within the trade.
Our natural development is a differentiator, and it helps entice advisors to the agency. As they develop, we are able to present extra alternatives for them to serve increasingly more shoppers.
Our expanded providers is certainly one of our differentiators. Advisors are coming to us due to them. We have now all of the bases lined.
We name our advisors “advisors to our advisors.” If an advisor wants assist taking a shopper by means of the sale of an organization or property planning, for instance, they’ll advise them on the right way to finest serve the shopper.
What’s a big purpose for an advisor becoming a member of your agency reasonably than a wirehouse?
The primary purpose is our capacity to have providers in-house that encompass them to be able to elevate their worth proposition and the shopper expertise.
Inform me about your agency’s breadth of providers.
We’re increasing from simply investments into tax providers, belief providers, insurance coverage and others.
Demand from shoppers is driving many corporations so as to add providers. It’s a fantastic alternative to distinguish themselves.