By Matt Barthel

This year marks the 10th edition of Barron's annual ranking of the nation's top independent wealth management firms. Then-and-now snapshots of the 2016 and 2025 lists reveal massive growth at the top companies -- an upscaling of genuine import to the clients of these firms.

This year's list includes 18 firms that weren't ranked last year, including a new No. 1 mega firm, LPL Financial. We organize mega firms in their own category to note that their size makes them meaningfully different from the other firms listed.

Independent advisory firms are technically known as registered investment advisors, or RIAs. Financial regulation requires advisors at these firms to act as fiduciaries, providing investment advice that is in the best interest of their clients.

Historically, RIAs have been regarded as a folksy cohort -- fewer in number, smaller in size, and less corporate in character than the advisors employed by large brokerage firms such as Morgan Stanley and Bank of America's Merrill Lynch. Over the past decade, though, RIAs have been on a bona fide growth tear, adding advisors and consolidating at a breakneck pace.

The upshot is that RIAs are getting larger and more sophisticated, and the channel is attracting more client assets. According to data from Cerulli Associates, independent RIAs and hybrid RIAs (which have affiliated broker-dealers) increased their combined share of the wealth management industry's assets to 27% in 2023 from 16.8% in 2007. By 2028, Cerulli expects that share to rise to 30.8%.

At the top of the RIA food chain sit the firms on our Top 100 RIA Firms list. Unsurprisingly, the asset growth at these firms has been astronomical, in part because of bustling M&A activity. According to DeVoe & Co., a record 272 RIA mergers took place last year, including 81 deals in the fourth quarter.

To connect this trend to our lists, the dozen firms ranked in both the 2016 and 2025 Barron's lists managed a combined $149 billion in client assets in 2016. Today, that aggregate number is $837 billion, a 462% increase. The firms in this group are Mariner, Creative Planning, Edelman Financial Engines, Silvercrest, Moneta, BBR Partners, Aspiriant, Johnson Investment Counsel, CV Advisors, Savant, AlTi Tiedemann, and Curi Capital. Significantly, that 462% growth number doesn't even factor in new participants in the list, such as Corient ($143.6 billion in assets under management), SCS Financial ($43.1 billion), and RWA Wealth ($17.3 billion).

For all the listed firms, the quest for scale is driven by the increasingly complex and expensive demands of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, compliance, marketing, investing, and client service. Bigger, of course, doesn't always mean better. Smaller RIAs have access to a wider array of third-party service providers than ever before, and this can help them compete with their larger brethren. But for clients looking for a new advisor, asking specific questions about firm resources available in areas like the ones listed above is imperative.

Write to Matt Barthel at matthew.barthel@barrons.com

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September 12, 2025 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT)

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