RIA Leaders

Savant Wealth Management, Moneta Group Investment Advisors and EP Wealth Advisors lead a group of fee-only firms with headcounts well above their peers.

This year the top three firms in FP's exclusive study of RIAs that do not do any commission business manage nearly $120 billion combined.

The printable PDF includes rankings based on the firms' AUM as well as statistics on each firm's employees, client accounts and financial advisors.

Fiduciary laws trace their roots to ancient times, but the terms of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act are still evolving today.

The largest fee-only RIAs expanded rapidly in the past year, but a new No. 1 led a group including Savant, Moneta, EP Wealth, Modera and The Mather Group.

The group of 20 massive companies including Moneta, Chevy Chase, Evoke and Savant manage a combined $343.9 billion in assets under management.

The printable PDF includes rankings based on the firms' AUM and includes number of employees, client accounts and financial advisors.

Business goals cannot always put clients' best interests first. Here's why even the executives leading fast-expanding advisory firms say the critics have a point.

See which firms in the channel have the most assets under management and meet a six-part criteria eliminating firms that take commissions in any form.

See the ranking of firms like Ballentine Partners, Pathstone, Facet, Savant, EP Wealth and Moneta Group, along with some lesser-known companies.

The former United Capital is losing out on new leads from one of the major sources while folding into a firm known for tapping into the former TD program.

Competitors to the giant custodians say they're developing their own programs even as members of existing networks push back against some of the criticism.

Using FP's criteria, data partner COMPLY scraped together a listing of the biggest firms that provide financial planning services but don't accept commissions.

Competitors and critics in an industry fragmented between large and small firms and obsessed with organic growth question the increasing exclusivity and fees.

Rankings compiled through FP's annual RIA Leaders study show how the largest firms are growing at a record clip in offices across the country.

Names like Wealthspire, EP Wealth, Cresset, Chevy Chase and Moneta ring a bit more familiar compared with other massive firms with less name recognition.

The lack of formal codification and an accurate count of customers leaves the profession struggling with fundamental questions about identifying the true practitioners and their base of clients.

After two years of record M&A, rising asset prices and increasing digitization, independent advisors are poised to take on the brokerages, executives said.

A firm with no website and a generic name has served internet pioneers Pierre Omidyar and Jerry Yang for decades.

A lack of uniform classifications and an identity crisis at the heart of the fragmented industry makes it a thorny task.