At a glance
- Firms credited 63% of that organic growth to new client acquisition rather than to added assets from existing clients, according to InvestmentNews's Oct. 26 report on the survey.
- For an RIA principal, the 17% figure is the usable benchmark: referrals are the tactic the surveyed firms rank first.
- Scale limits what the result can be read to mean.
F2 Strategy's Q3 2026 survey of 30 wealth firms found 14% fewer reporting organic growth of 5% or less so far in 2026, and 17% more reporting growth of 6% to 10%.
Firms credited 63% of that organic growth to new client acquisition rather than to added assets from existing clients, according to InvestmentNews's Oct. 26 report on the survey. F2 defines organic growth as net new assets not obtained through mergers or acquisitions. Referrals remain the top growth tactic, yet only 17% of firms proactively ask for referrals as a defined step in their process; most hope referrals follow naturally from service quality.
For an RIA principal, the 17% figure is the usable benchmark: referrals are the tactic the surveyed firms rank first. A practice that writes the ask into onboarding and review meetings is doing what most of the 30 firms do not, and the report locates that gap in how firms attract and convert clients rather than in spending.
Scale limits what the result can be read to mean. The 30 firms represent about $2.5 trillion in assets, roughly $83 billion apiece, and were drawn from a national cohort of 116 firms with $31 trillion, or about $267 billion each on average. A Form ADV filing dated Oct. 16, 2026 shows an advisory firm with $142 million in regulatory assets, five employees and 542 accounts, roughly 600 times smaller than the survey's average firm, though regulatory assets and the survey's asset figures are not the same measure. The growth shift F2 reports describes institutions, not the median RIA.
On AI, 81% of the firms said it was too early in their use to see measurable return on investment. Deployment is concentrated in prospecting, upselling and cross-selling, and in measuring marketing effectiveness.
InvestmentNews also cited a September 2026 Astraeus report, produced with Pirker Partners, that found firms disclosing meaningful AI use grew total headcount 15% between April 2025 and April 2026, against 8% at firms that had not adopted the technology. Headcount is a different measure from F2's return-on-investment question, and the coverage does not tie either AI finding to the 63% of growth the F2 firms credited to new clients.
Reported by the Numbers desk from InvestmentNews and Form ADV filings (SEC IAPD). Published . Corrections