We’ve witnessed the wealth management industry significantly up its game over the last decade, and it’s pretty clear who’s been leading the charge: RIAs with legitimate team structures.
Clients aren’t just looking for someone to “manage their money” these days. They demand access to financial solutions from a “one-stop-shop” advisor or a quarterback who can coordinate external specialists. The industry has evolved from a focus on investments to a broader emphasis on financial planning, and I expect it to move into holistic life solutions over time.
At the end of the day, we’re in the problem-solving business. That’s not going away, even with AI. People will always have problems. Solving them takes teams—specialists in-house, trusted partners, or a referral network you’d back fully. You also need a solid platform team to support it all and meet what clients expect and will grow to expect.
Competition’s heating up. Private equity is pouring cash into firms, pushing everyone to get better. Lots of places say they can “do it all,” but most don’t have the setup to prove it. That won’t work anymore. Teams and specialization beat empty words.
Teams make specialization happen. They help you grow. And they keep clients and advisors happy. That’s how you make an RIA better—turn it into something efficient and built for clients.
How Structured Teams Power the Next Stage of Wealth Management
Firms with legit team setups beat silo’d advisors with just support staff. They manage more assets per advisor, land bigger clients, and offer more services. Solo advisors with support staff hit a ceiling. Teams tap everyone’s skills and grow together.
Clients are pushing this. High-net-worth individuals want a team around them that handles all their problems—taxes, trusts, you name it—but still keeps that go-to confidant lead advisor experience. According to Cerulli, 94.5% of all RIAs above $500 million AUM have teams in some form. It’s basically standard now. But the real question is: how structured are they? Plenty say they operate as teams, but I suspect most of them aren’t fully utilzing team structures that can best help the firm move forward. Structured teams mean clear roles, regular collaboration, and a real plan to use everyone’s strengths.
Teams Enable the Transition from Practice to Enterprise
Advisor and platform teams work together to turn RIAs into real businesses, shifting from solo practices to structured firms that scale.
Advisory Team: The Base
In a silo setup, advisors handle everything—client meetings, investments, all of it. It’s not ideal for clients. They juggle and make it work with what they’ve got. No real strategy. Teams fix that. One advisor leads client conversations. Another digs into portfolios. Someone else tackles taxes. They lean on each other’s strengths. Regular meetings keep them on track. It’s efficient and gives clients confident answers.
Career paths matter here. Start someone as a paraplanner—fact-finding, onboarding. Train them to associate advisor—portfolio analysis, research. Then lead advisor—client strategy. It pulls in talent, keeps them, and builds know-how.
Platform Team: The Scale
With just support staff, advisors get buried in operations. Growth stalls. Platform teams change that. Each person focuses on their piece—operations, tech, whatever—and works to make it better every day. The firm gets proactive. Operations folks handle accounts. Tech people smooth out processes and data. A COO keeps it all steady and tied together. Compliance keeps it safe. Partners fill gaps, in-house or out. Solo setups react. Teams plan and scale.
Platform teams need career paths too. Hire an operations assistant—processing trades, fixing errors. Move them to operations manager—standardizing workflows, training staff. Then COO—leading strategy, not just taking orders. They’re not short-order cooks for advisors. Their experience shapes the firm—tech integration and upgrades, process tweaks. Private equity likes this as they buy team-based firms for their scalability. They back RIAs with platform resources to grow fast.
How Teams Drive Specialization
Solo advisors with support staff try to cover investments, taxes, trusts, business sales—everything. They go a mile wide and an inch deep. Teams change that. They go wide and deep, using collaboration. One person masters estates. Another runs portfolios. Someone else nails financial planning. Clients get sharp answers from experts in each area. Partners like accountants fill gaps where the firm needs it. That’s specialization that sticks and builds client trust in the team.
As firms move from a practice mentality to a business mentality nearing $1 billion AUM, they should hire niche advisor roles—like tax planning or estates—and platform team specialists. Your firm will shift from mostly generalists to more specialists over time; that’s part of growing bigger. It’s not bad, but it takes time to adjust.
How Teams Enable Scale
Silo setups without a strong platform team lack efficiency and confidence in hitting peak performance. Teams fix that by working smarter. Advisors and platform staff unify under strong leadership—everyone sticks to what they’re good at. Advisors chase big client goals while platform teams tackle operations. Partners fill gaps without extra hires—synthetic scale.
One team, pulling together, scales with confidence. Leadership sets a clear plan, keeping advisory and platform roles from overlapping. This cohesion builds a foundation to push to enterprise levels—multiple locations, more services—without losing steam going forward.
How Teams Deliver Superior Experiences
Well-built structured teams with the right people make things better. They’re steady, proactive, and sharp—for clients and advisors.
For Clients
Clients stay with firms where they’re surrounded by teams and regularly hear from members they like. They update plans fast, share news quick, and guide deals like business sales. It’s service they trust. Solo setups drop the ball. Teams don’t. Clients feel confident with a full team around them—they’re clients of the firm, not just one advisor. Platform teams help too, handling the tech-facing side clients expect more of now, keeping the experience smooth and solid.
For Advisors
Advisors in teams get room to breathe. Platform teams handle the day-to-day work—operations, tech, marketing, compliance, all that—so advisors focus on what they’re good at: clients. Solo setups pile on tasks, forcing advisors to react instead of plan ahead and streamline for next time. Teams split roles—new folks learn fast, seniors build stronger ties. It runs smooth. Platform staff aren’t just support; they shape the firm’s backbone, letting advisors zero in on clients. This keeps your best people as you grow together.
Practical Implementation: Building Your Team-Driven RIA
Here’s how to build an RIA with a real team:
- Set roles early. Figure out who does what—advisors, platform staff, everyone. Keep them on track.
- Use outside help. Lean on accountants or specialists who get your vision to fill gaps. Stay flexible.
- Offer growth. Build career paths for advisors and platform staff. Good people want careers, not jobs.
- Split advisor tasks. Try having one lead client talks, another handle portfolios, someone else plan taxes. Play to their strengths.
- Train for niches. Pick high-demand areas and start training experts. It’s a slow shift from generalists.
- Unify the team. Get advisors and platform staff working as one crew. Everyone sticks to what they’re good at.
- Lead strong. Set a clear plan to keep advisory and platform roles from clashing. Takes work.
- Focus advisors on clients. Let platform teams take operations, tech, marketing, compliance. Free advisors over time.
- Surround clients. Build a team they trust—not just one advisor. It’s a gradual change.
- Retain talent. Use teams to hold onto your best people. Growing together takes time.
Conclusion
Competition’s real—private equity’s cash shows firms have to step up. Solo setups can’t match structured teams that turn practices into real businesses. Advisors focus on clients while platform teams cover operations, tech, marketing, compliance. Specialization grows over time, moving from generalists to experts who handle every client problem—taxes, trusts, whatever comes up. It’s not a straight path—figuring out roles, paths, and unity takes effort and patience.
Trust the process, though. A unified team, led well, scales to places you never thought possible—multiple locations, more services, steady growth. Clients stick with a firm they trust, not just one advisor. Advisors stay because they’re freed to do what they’re good at. It’s messy at first, but that’s how you build an RIA that wont’t cap out.