RIA Leaders: Top 10 firms by number of financial advisors for 2024

For the first time in at least three years, the ranking of fee-only financial planning firms with the most financial advisors has a new No. 1.

The top 10 list below for Financial Planning's annual RIA Leaders feature that was collected by data partner COMPLY includes three newcomers in 2024: Aspiriant, Homrich Berg and Modera Wealth Management. Savant Wealth Management, Moneta Group Investment Advisors and EP Wealth Advisors grabbed the first three spots on the list. While each of those half dozen firms appeared on another RIA Leaders rankings for fee-only registered investment advisory companies based on their assets under management, Savant unseated Moneta Group on the list of firms with the most advisors — a title Moneta Group held in 2022 and 2023.

The list shows the extent that fee-only firms have been joining in and fueling the record expansion of the RIA channel in recent years, too. Last year, those same top three firms had a combined 507 advisors and $64.7 billion in AUM. This year, they had 653 advisors and $86.1 billion. 

With hundreds of advisory teams moving to RIAs or launching their own companies, that type of growth is prompting many founders of firms of all sizes to think about how their footprint could enlarge in future years.

"In our business in particular, client success drives our growth," said Jason Ray, the co-founder and president of Philadelphia-based Zenith Wealth Partners. "So, as we serve our clients well, that will attract more clients, and I also believe that will attract more advisors."

For firms like Zenith that are gaining more advisors — even if not as quickly as some of the giant firms on this list that are completing massive M&A deals with private equity backing — the question of whether to someday fold into one of the consolidators revolves around factors like the impact to clients and the quality of resources such as technology, he said.

"It can be relatively disjointing for the client to continually switch systems," Ray said. "The technology looks better to the small firms. They think, 'Oh wow, if I had a million-dollar budget to invest in technology, this is probably what it would look like.'"

Scroll down the slideshow to see which fee-only RIAs that provide planning services to clients have the most financial advisors. For last year's rankings, click here.

And see other RIA Leaders 2024 coverage:

• How consolidation is testing fiduciary duty in RIAs
• The top fee-only RIAs ranked by AUM in 2024
• Download FP's list of the 150 largest fee-only RIAs
  

Notes: FP's data partner for the RIA Leaders feature, COMPLY, produced the below rankings by applying the following six criteria to firms' required SEC Form ADV filings in September 2024:

• Firms must have zero registered representatives of a broker-dealer.
• At least 50% of the firm's clients must be individuals or high net worth individuals.
• Firms must not list commissions as a compensation arrangement.
• Firms must have more than zero financial planning clients.
• Firms must not list commission-taking businesses in "other business activities."
• Firms cannot be affiliated under common ownership with commission-taking businesses.
  

In the absence of an official regulatory classification and definition for the titles "financial planner" or "financial advisor," FP is using the closest available figure available through Form ADV requiring firms to state the number of employees "registered with one or more state securities authorities as investment adviser representatives."