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Is a Real Deal Inevitable?
Published in Investments & Wealth Monitor, September/October 2008

In each of the previous two years, the advisory industry saw record numbers of mergers and acquisitions. In 2007, 58 transactions occurred with firms having more than $100 million in assets under management (AUM), representing a 21-percent increase over 2005, which was the previous record-holding year. Even more important is that some of the industry’s best known and most successful independent registered investment advisory (RIA) firms are selling to acquirers, consolidators, or financing third parties. Most advisors say they wish to stay independent and transition ownership internally—yet many successful firms sell. Why? Read the article.