RIAs have myriad challenges, but a persistent issue is asset churn. Especially as costs rise for clients, advisors face steady income withdrawals and serious one-time distributions impacting their plans. A new report from Cerulli Associates focused on what advisors can do to address those big outflows, among other notes from a complicated 2026.
Key Takeaways:
- Outflows for RIAs are a notable issue, with 56% of those outflows driven by regular income withdrawals and one-time distributions.
- Meanwhile, as RIAs look to grow their businesses, just over half ask for client referrals, limiting the ability to offset those outflows.
- RIAs should consider specializing their marketing and outreach efforts to certain subgroups, the report asserted.
This edition of the Cerulli Edge, The Americas Asset and Wealth Management Edition, focused on managing those outflows. According to a press release from the firm, “regular income withdrawals and one-time distributions” accounted for 56% of RIA outflows.
Those specific outflow types come amid pressure on an older base of clients. The report found that “more than half of RIAs’ clients are age 50 or older, and 25% are age 60 or older.”
“These clients are either in or approaching the decumulation stage, in which spending increases as assets are depleted,” the report wrote.
“Without a dedicated business development focus, RIAs immediately put themselves at a disadvantage, as client assets naturally tend to decline throughout the year,” said Stephen Caruso, director, in the release. “In many regards, this can dampen a firm’s ability to expand.”
What, then, should RIAs do with that information? Cerulli of course points to new client pickups. While every RIA wants new clients, the research outfit emphasized intentionality when it comes to finding those new clients.
For example, the report asserts, while referrals drive the majority of new client pickups, many RIAs don’t approach referrals with sufficient intentionality.
“Currently, just 51% of RIAs proactively ask for client referrals, with 22% planning to implement them as part of an organic growth strategy,” the release said.
What’s more, the report asserted, just 14% of RIAs use a dedicated marketing resource, while just 5% of total expenses go to referral work.
All of these efforts come despite growth in M&A in the RIA space. Indeed, the report said, organic growth efforts are growing, and may be worth engagement among RIAs of all sizes. Cerulli anticipates RIAs will “increasingly” add business development roles to address some of these items.
RIAs, the researchers assert, should focus on finding a repeatable, scalable model for referrals. The goal, then, should be to balance accessibility with a sense of specialized services available to clients, the report asserted.
“Firms that establish a clear and consistent brand can build referrals more effectively than those that rely on websites with slim-to-no details and an air of perceived exclusivity,” the report said. “At the same time, firms that seek to support all client types—with subpages for every possible client— create an environment in which investors know they would be one of many, with little to no specialization.”
RIAs are encouraged, it continued, to find some key personas or types of client with which they’re familiar and specialize. That can be business owners, retirees, niche groups like doctors or lawyers, or even institutions.
Together, those new clients could help offset outflows potentially driven by rising costs. RIAs have a lot on their plate, but with some intentionality, they can offset those changes.
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