At a glance
- For founders weighing a sale, a firm's value is hard to know in a small, illiquid RIA market because there are few recent sales of similar firms.
- The tool is an alternative to third-party benchmarking studies, which InvestmentNews describes as static and heavily dependent on how a report presents its data.
- Third-party benchmarking research has run for nearly 30 years, beginning with Moss Adams in the late 1990s.
FP Transitions introduced a valuation benchmarking tool for RIAs, InvestmentNews reported on Nov. 13.
For founders weighing a sale, a firm's value is hard to know in a small, illiquid RIA market because there are few recent sales of similar firms. Revenue-band reports, which group firms at under $1 million, $1 million to $2 million, $2 million to $3 million and so on, are one place where presentation limits the data.
The tool is an alternative to third-party benchmarking studies, which InvestmentNews describes as static and heavily dependent on how a report presents its data.
Third-party benchmarking research has run for nearly 30 years, beginning with Moss Adams in the late 1990s. InvestmentNews inherited that study, Schwab and DFA released their own, and The Ensemble Practice, led by Philip Palaveev, launched an annual study in 2025.
Reported by the Numbers desk from InvestmentNews. Published . Corrections