The champagne has gone flat. After months of planning the great breakaway, signing independence paperwork, and celebrating freedom from wirehouse constraints, newly minted registered investment advisors (RIA) owners face a sobering reality. They've traded a boss for a back-office burden that's quietly strangling their growth.
Recent research from Cerulli Associates reveals that 83% of RIAs cite limited resources and advisor time constraints as a major or moderate challenge to growth, according to the firm's U.S. RIA Marketplace 2025 report released in November. The average independent advisor spends just 7% of their week, or roughly three hours, on business development. Operational tasks consume the rest of their time.
This creates a "day 2" problem. The industry narrative celebrates the breakaway moment, but Cerulli's data shows what comes next is harder. Once advisors finish transferring their book of business, the inorganic growth stops. 57% of RIAs consider new client acquisition a leading challenge. Many advisors have discovered they've created operational constraints that make organic growth difficult.
"In an ever-consolidating market, the need for positive net asset flows cannot be overstated, given their impact on the future of the RIA channels," said Stephen Caruso, associate director at Cerulli. The firm's research shows that without dedicated marketing, business development, and client service capabilities, RIAs struggle to tap into new markets despite gaining the independence they sought.
The Team Advantage
The solution isn't working harder — it's working smarter, through team-based structures, according to Cerulli's U.S. Advisor Metrics 2025 report released in December.
Team-based practices generate $20.3 million in annual organic growth compared to just $8 million for solo practices, the report shows. The performance gap extends beyond growth velocity. Team-based practices manage an average of $330 million, nearly 3.5 times the $95 million that solo shops typically oversee.
The difference isn't just headcount. Specialization drives the superior results. About 37% of team-based practices employ specialized staff such as dedicated financial planners, compared to only 8% of solo advisors, according to the data. That specialized support creates capacity for advisors to focus on revenue-generating activities rather than operational tasks.
Building for Scale
As consolidation continues and pooling resources becomes more feasible, larger multi-advisor practices are expected to become increasingly common. Just over half of all advisors currently operate in a team structure, the research shows. Wirehouse and hybrid RIA channels show the highest adoption at 64%.
"Large multi-advisor practices are expected to become more common as consolidation continues and as pooling resources becomes increasingly feasible," said Andrew Blake, associate director at Cerulli. "Larger advisor teams will require greater support, and firms will need to add resources and hire more specialized staff to make them as efficient as possible."
One area where scale makes a difference: financial planning capabilities. Financial planning is a fundamental service for attracting new clients and encouraging them to use a wider range of available services and products, according to the Advisor Metrics report.
For practices looking to expand these capabilities, Cerulli recommends adding at least one planning specialist or paraplanner. About 28% of team-based practices have dedicated financial planning or investment staff, the report shows. That's compared to just 5% of solo practices.
Beyond the Practice
The same time constraints limiting RIA growth are creating opportunities for asset managers and other strategic partners. With advisors devoting just three hours weekly to business development, many firms lack the internal resources to develop sophisticated marketing strategies, according to the RIA Marketplace report.
That gap is likely to widen. More than one-third of RIAs plan to retire within 10 years, according to the report. As founding partners who built the firm's client relationships exit, successor advisors will need even more support in business development and marketing.
By developing value-added content around marketing fundamentals, asset managers can position themselves as essential partners rather than just product providers, the research shows. These fundamentals include ideal client personas, branding, and business development strategies.
The approach could pay dividends. 93% of billion-dollar RIAs rank referrals as a top organic growth strategy, according to the RIA Marketplace report. Thus, firms that help advisors master business development will be well-positioned as trusted partners.
"The need for dedicated marketing, business development, and client service mindsets is crucial as firms seek to retool and refocus for their next stage of growth and opportunity," Caruso said. "Actioning these priorities is the challenge facing RIAs today as they seek to tap into new markets and leverage new technology in doing so."
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