This episode of the RIA Edge podcast provides advisors with a view into the trends that are influencing and impacting growth across the RIA landscape. 

Specifically, industry veteran Tom Bradley, Managing Director at Schwab Advisor Services, and Informa’s Mark Bruno provide benchmarks for growth rates and a high-level view of the “levers” that top firms are using to accelerate growth. In addition, it addresses some of the challenges even the most successful firms have experienced from their growth – and how they have set their firms up to solve for these issues and continue to grow their businesses.

Mark and Tom also discuss:

• 93% of firms in Schwab’s Outlook research expect to grow over the next five years, and the average growth rate of net new assets is 17%. What will differentiate the firms that outperform and exceed these expectations?
  
• If I am looking to assess the quality of my firm’s growth – and more specifically, my future growth potential – what questions should I be asking? How do I connect this with the potential investments I might need to make in human capital, technology, marketing, or business development?
  
• Many RIAs have doubled, or even tripled in size, over the last decade. What are some of the most common challenges that this growth as caused for firms?
  
• While thousands of RIAs have seen their assets under management swell over the last decade, “true growth” – growth excluding market appreciation and M&A – was incremental for many. What are the most successful firms in the industry doing to create intentional and repeatable growth?
  

Resources:

 RIA Edge Podcast 

Connect With Mark Bruno:

• WealthManagement.com
  
• LinkedIn: WealthManagment.com
  
• LinkedIn: Mark Bruno
  
• Twitter: Mark Bruno
  
• LinkedIn: Informa
  

Connect With GUEST:

• LinkedIn: Tom Bradley 
  
• Website: Schwab Advisor Services 
  

About Our Guest:

Tom Bradley is Managing Director for Schwab Advisor Services and oversees the division that provides custodial support services for independent Registered Investment Advisors with up to $2 billion in assets custodied at Schwab. He is also a leader in driving the ongoing integration between Schwab Advisor Services and TD Ameritrade Institutional.

Prior to joining Schwab, Bradley spent over three decades at TD Ameritrade, much of that time in the service of independent advisors. He served as president of TD Ameritrade’s Institutional business for 12 years prior to becoming president of the firm’s Retail Distribution unit, which is where he spent his last five years at the firm. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business.