Independence, once the defining advantage of the RIA movement, is quietly being repackaged and resold as a different kind of corporate model. The independent investment-advisory industry that promised autonomy, local relationships, and boutique client service has, at scale, produced firms that look and act a lot like the wirehouses that advisors once fled.

The irony is stark: ‘independence’ now often means joining a large, branded, and centralized organization with private-equity owners, standardized platforms, and acquisition-driven growth strategies — not the small, doctoring-your-own-practice freedom many advisors imagined.

Scale brings benefits: better technology budgets, institutional research, and compliance infrastructure. But it also brings the same incentives that created wirehouses: predictable revenue, brand leverage, cross-selling, and centralized product selection. As RIAs continue to grow and evolve, that level of scale enables corporate-style departments for marketing, investment management, HR, legal, and compliance – exactly the organizational model wirehouses use. And so, we are seeing the dawn of new category: the RIAhouse.

How we got here

What accelerated this transformation was the attention that the RIA market received from industry outsiders. Private equity inserted itself into the industry, providing growth capital for large RIAs — and that changed both behaviors and incentives.

Private equity has been involved in roughly two-thirds of disclosed wealth management deals in recent years, and private equity buyers accounted for a substantial share of transactions and aggregated assets under management (AUM) – a flow of capital that favors roll-ups, platform-building, and governance structures optimized for exit events or back-end incentives.

When private capital is behind the balance sheet, independence gets weighed against scale and return-on-capital, and operating decisions begin to echo corporate playbooks. A client-centric, purely fiduciary-minded model now becomes a corporate institution answering to its shareholders, not its clients.

The RIAhouse is real: it is diluting what independence once was and what it was always meant to be. One company executive from a large hybrid platform told me that he could argue that a wirehouse is independent and not that different than an RIA. With the way the industry is evolving, there really is not that much difference between a wirehouse, an independent broker-dealer (IBD), a hybrid, or an RIAhouse. 

Another demographic pressure fuels the corporate tilt. The industry faces a looming talent and succession wave: an estimated 110,000 advisors, roughly 38 percent of the current advisor base and representing some 42 percent of industry assets, are expected to retire in the coming decade. That creates a seller’s market for large platforms offering retirement options for founders.

The RIAhouse positions itself as the reliable legacy option: it buys practices, standardize client service, and folds the smaller RIA into its business. In other words, a lack of succession and probably more importantly, a lack of ability to monetize an advisor’s life work, often drives the route away from boutique independence toward corporate consolidation.

There is a cultural implication too. Advisors who once left wirehouses for autonomy now find themselves in environments where brand and process trample local culture. Firms that resemble corporations in governance and incentive design are those which cultivate career ladders, performance metrics, and cross-selling goals. The friendly image of the small fiduciary practice, where an advisor who knows your kids’ names and plans your estate, is harder to maintain when teams of specialists and standardized workflows become the dominant operating model.

Ready to dive into the report and discover more about Amit Dogra’s article? You can read and download the report online here.

How to safeguard independence

If independence is to mean something distinct going forward, advisors and clients need more clarity and honesty. Transparency about ownership, product economics, and the degree of centralized control should be non-negotiable. When a firm brands itself ‘independent’, then clients should be able to see whether a private-equity sponsor, aggregator, or national brand controls key decisions. Disclosure of product sourcing, revenue-sharing, and how model-portfolio decisions are made would let clients decide whether they prefer boutique autonomy or corporate efficiency.

Regulators and trade associations also have a role. The SEC’s improved data transparency has helped everyone see the transformation underway, but industry standards for labeling and disclosure around aggregator relationships and private-equity ownership, would reduce marketing opacity. Professional groups should develop ‘independence scores’ or guidelines that help clients and advisors evaluate whether a firm is truly advisor-owned and locally governed or part of a national, sponsor-backed platform.

But they are not the only ones who have a role. It’s up to the advisors to not ‘sell out’ and the time for alternative capital partners is now. ‘Investerators’ need to step up and step forward as the better option, an aligned option, for advisors. What is an investerator? It is growth operators from within the advisory business backed by capital. Investerators view the business as advisors do, but bring the pragmatic business approach many advisors lack.

How are they different from private equity firms? Their main focus is not on efficiencies and synergies. Their main focus is on the advisor/client relationship, concentrating the highest and best use of capital for that relationship, not just margin expansion. Two things can be true at the same time, and that is where the investerator can make meaningful impact and growth in an advisor’s business.

The independent advisory revolution promised a return to client-first, boutique service. The RIA movement has been celebrated as the antidote to the wirehouse ecosystem — a place where advisors could break free from rigid corporate structures, restrictive platforms, sales quotas, and bureaucratic oversight. ‘Independence’ was not just a business model; it was a cultural identity. It symbolized professional autonomy, entrepreneurial freedom, and the ability to serve clients without the constraints of a massive institution looming overhead.

But today, the irony is unavoidable. The rise of the RIAhouse has transformed independence from a grassroots ideal into a corporate enterprise. And along the way, many advisors are finding that independence – at least as it is often marketed – may be more illusion than reality.

Goodbye independence, it was nice knowing you.

Interested in reading the US RIA Toolkit 2026? You can read and download the report online here.

About the US RIA Toolkit 2026

The US RIA Toolkit 2026 describes an era of transformation for the RIA ecosystem. Rapid growth, accelerating consolidation, and rising client expectations are converging with advances in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to reshape how RIAs compete, scale, and serve clients. This report is intended to help RIAs and those serving the segment to navigate this transformation. It highlights real-world technology solutions, implementation strategies, and resources designed specifically for RIAs operating in an increasingly complex environment.

With RIA assets under management at historic highs, private equity activity accelerating, and a growing number of advisors making the jump to the RIA segment every year, competitive differentiation has never been more important. From digital client experience and automation, to AI-driven personalization and cybersecurity, this report explores the tools that can materially improve efficiency, growth, and client satisfaction.

Our broader Toolkit Report Series covers thematic, geography and wealth manager segment-focused reports, each tasked with delving into the topics and supporting technologies of relevance to help wealth managers of all types better understand how they should bring technology into their business and in which areas.

About Amit R. Dogra

Amit is an executive with over 25 years of experience in helping investment advisors, FinTech firms, family offices, and wirehouse firms grow through business leadership, practice management, service delivery, investment management, business development, and relationship management.

You can visit and follow him on LinkedIn here.

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