AssetMark CEO touts record Q4 and year-end results, credits advisor ‘loyalty’

Before launching into her prepared remarks on an earnings call following the release of AssetMark’s fourth quarter financial, CEO Natalie Wolfsen thanked the more than 8,600 advisors and 850 teammates responsible for their success.

Approaching her first-year anniversary as the leader of the Concord, California-based turnkey asset management program and outsourced investment technology firm, Wolfsen said that as she looks back on her first 12 months at the helm, she will do so knowing that AssetMark has reached new highs in multiple categories, and with the belief that her growing team can keep up this pace in the new year.

“2021 was a record year for AssetMark. Platform assets grew to over $93 billion. We serve more advisors and investor households than ever before, all while achieving the highest net promoter score in our company's history,” Wolfsen said on the call, according to a transcript by Seeking Alpha. “We realized double-digit growth for top and bottom line financials and expanded margins by 300 basis points. We expanded into a new and growing channel. We completed our first capabilities acquisition allowing us to diversify revenue and entered 2022 with strong momentum.”

Advisors on the platform

Bucking the trend of higher earrings and fewer bodies seen elsewhere, the total number of advisors working with AssetMark rose by a net 195 representatives, or 2.3%, year-over-year to 8,649. The amount defined by the firm as “engaged advisors” with at least $5 million across its platforms climbed 12.7%, or 322, to 2,858. More than 6,800 new households and 215 new producing advisors joined the AssetMark platform in the fourth quarter, pushing the total number of households to 209,900.

Platform assets

Client assets managed on AssetMark’s platform grew 25.5% year-over-year and 7.7% quarter-over-quarter to $93.5 billion, setting a new high mark of $2.9 billion in quarterly flows. At $86.39 billion, engaged advisors were responsible for more than 92% of the assets on the platform. AssetMark’s advisors also continued to boost their business at high level: Production lift, a measure of the annualized organic growth of the practices, grew to 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Assets under custody surged by 32.4% to $71.32 billion.

“In 2021, we did a tremendous job of enhancing our platform, enabling advisors to serve investors,” Wolfsen said on the call. “We did this by adding new products, features and tools to our platform. And through this, we were able to capture more share of wallet from our existing advisors, as well as attract new advisors. In total, new products have added $8.5 billion of assets on our platform on a rolling 36-month basis.”

Another quarter of records

During Tuesday’s earnings call, Wolfsen said 2021 was a record year that would not have been possible without the loyalty of its advisors. The firm celebrated its first $1 billion month of net flows in December, along with record numbers for net flows, revenue, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS. The company earned net income of $12.4 million on total revenue of $144 million, and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $38.3 million, or 26.7% of total revenue.

“By redefining the advisor experience, AssetMark is also redefining what it means to be a modern TAMP,” Wolfsen said on the call. “Our singular focus is bringing unmatched value to independent financial advisors and their clients. We recognize that independence is sacred and we champion it.”
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING