Fee-only RIAs' lost share went to insurance-licensed rivals, Cerulli finds

RIAs with a brokerage business held 51% of assets among firms managing $5 billion or more in 2025, unchanged from 2020, according to a Cerulli Associates white paper. Credent Wealth Management commissioned the research. True fee-only firms — no affiliated broker-dealer, no license to sell insurance — fell from 42% to 34%, while RIAs holding insurance licenses went from 7% to 14%. The share fee-only lost did not go to brokerage hybrids, whose slice was flat; it went to RIAs licensed to sell fixed annuities and life insurance.

Insurance-capable RIAs grew from seven firms to 36 in five years, a 37.3% compound annual rate, versus 7.8% for true fee-only firms and 12.4% for brokerage hybrids. Cerulli counted 194 RIAs above $5 billion in 2020 and 343 now; fee-only firms went from 83 to 121 and hybrids from 104 to 186. The fee-only slide this publication reported Wednesday tracks the insurance cohort's gain almost point for point.

Brendan Powers, a senior director at Cerulli, said true fee-only RIAs are a larger share of smaller RIAs, and that the trend line would not change if the analysis were extended past that threshold. Cerulli warned that the "shrinking footprint" could make it "more challenging for clients to find a firm held exclusively to a fiduciary standard."