The variety of RIAs has grown quickly prior to now a number of years, however none has grow to be as huge as a sprawling wirehouse. Not but.
Marty Bicknell affords an authoritative prediction.
“In 5 to 10 years, there shall be a handful of really giant impartial RIAs that may rival the scale of the wirehouses,” Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors, tells ThinkAdvisor in an interview.
It’s an excellent guess that Mariner, fourth on Barron’s checklist of prime RIAs, could possibly be a kind of.
The Overland Park, Kansas-based agency, based in 2006, has grown at a quick clip — it has 110 areas nationwide and now advises on a complete of $230 billion in belongings. Its 1,800 monetary advisors embody staff and impartial contractors.
Inorganic development has been a major key to its success. Thus far, Mariner has made 55 acquisitions, the latest of which, a mixture 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 belongings underneath advisement.
Different manufacturers embody 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 quite a lot of extra 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 concerning the problem of working with ultra-high-net-worth shoppers and carefully held household companies.
Listed below are highlights of our dialog:
THINKADVISOR: What has been Mariner’s chief method 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 executed 55 in whole. The final one [closed] in April 2024.
We’ll be saying one other one on the finish of July or in early August.
What are the most important challenges for RIA corporations immediately?
The principle problem for many corporations is expertise: advisors, non-advisors, management.
There are extra corporations within the registered funding advisory area which might be rising, however [the field] may be very fragmented. Most corporations are at $1 billion or smaller.
The typical corporations which might be rising are having hassle 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 totally 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 proficient 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 shoppers.
Our expanded providers is one in every 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 best way to finest serve the shopper.
What’s a major purpose for an advisor becoming a member of your agency relatively than a wirehouse?
The principle 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.
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