{"id":936143,"date":"2026-10-21T21:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936143\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T21:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:50:09","slug":"rias-ask-whats-the-advantage-in-having-your-own-form-adv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936143\/","title":{"rendered":"RIAs Ask: \u2018What\u2019s the Advantage in Having Your Own Form ADV?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pressures of running a modern registered investment advisor, including filing and maintaining a Form ADV with the Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a>, are pushing some advisors to consider a 1099 affiliation, according to two aggregators speaking at RIA Edge Orange County on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Matt Regan, president of Wealthcare Capital Management, said his firm has been benefiting from solo practitioners getting fed up with increased reporting requirements stemming from the advancements and risks of wealth technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an SEC audit last year on one of our ADVs\u2014104 questions, all on cybersecurity,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you are a $250 million advisor, you\u2019re dead in the water for six weeks trying to get through that. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s changing in terms of these good-sized firms \u2026 saying I\u2019m going to shut down my ADV and join your 1099.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Sandrew, head of Mariner Independent, the RIA\u2019s 1099 independent contractor division, said he also sees AI advancements driving solo practitioners to join larger platforms. In his view, though, it will be driven by fear of being left behind by larger firms that can outspend them on the technology.<\/p>\n

Related:AI Use Is Widespread Among RIAs Despite Lack of Strategy, Leadership<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is going to be a massive consolidation and massive chasm between the haves and have-nots going forward,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a very strong consensus that in the next three to five years, client expectations are rising significantly. … That dynamic between the advisor and the client is probably going to morph into something that is heavily EQ driven, and I think firms need to be thinking about that and that should be part of the decision-making process.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the panel, the RIA leaders were pitching their 1099 models to the RIA audience as a path to shed obligations while maintaining a firm\u2019s brand and identity. Regan\u2019s Wealthcare, owned by insurance holding company Sammons Financial Group<\/a>, is a 1099 aggregator that also operates a W-2 employee platform. Sandrew\u2019s Mariner division is for 1099 firms only, but advisors can also consider moving to Mariner\u2019s employee-owned RIA at some stage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the panel\u2019s Q&A, one audience member challenged the executives to consider how advancements in wealth technology may make it easier, not harder, to operate as a solo operator at a reasonable cost base.<\/p>\n

In response, Regan agreed with the notion, but stuck to the argument that \u201csupported independence\u201d allows for RIAs to maintain their clients and have the option to monetize their business, but \u201cnot spend time on things they shouldn\u2019t be spending on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:RIA Edge Podcast: Building an RIA on a Family Office Foundation with Andy Busser<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a recent study by the consultancy Winthrop & Co., supported independence channels tend to run advisors at 10% to 20% of revenue in exchange for offloading back-office tasks and gaining access to scaled resources and technology.<\/p>\n

During the panel discussion, moderator Stephen Caruso, director of wealth management at Cerulli Associates, also noted that his firm\u2019s RIA surveys show that many advisors question whether the cost of joining a platform is worth it, especially if they risk losing some of their decision-making.<\/p>\n

In response, Regan noted that independent firms, especially as they grow, have to start paying for additional staffing and services, which may be more expensive than giving up some revenue to the consolidator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll make the case that if you\u2019re an independent firm and your next step is to hire a CIO, a trader, a compliance officer, that it\u2019s actually more economic to join me than pay me the 20 basis points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sandrew argued that Mariner\u2019s role in taking on back-office tasks and offering lead-generation resources could give advisors more time to make decisions based on clients and growth strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will ultimately give you that time back to go deeper with your clients, to go and be more deliberate with your growth strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related:Advisor Sentiment Index: Market Optimism Slides Downward<\/a><\/p>\n

Mariner and Wealthcare are among a now-extensive, well-capitalized list<\/a> of 1099 RIA platform providers, along with W-2 employee aggregators, making their case to solo RIA practitioners.<\/p>\n

On a separate panel, Nate Angelo, CEO of Composition Wealth, called the recruiting push in wealth management a \u201cwar on talent,\u201d specifically for those \u201cmature\u201d advisors who are not near retirement, but have a strong track record and book of business.<\/p>\n

For firms like Composition Wealth to grow, he said, they need to both bring on that talent and invest further in it to help it expand once at the firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not see our path to growth through cutting costs; we see our path to growth through investing,\u201d Angelo said. \u201cIf we want to grow organically, we\u2019ve got to invest; if we want to fuel our existing teams, we\u2019ve got to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regan of Wealthcare said advisors shouldn\u2019t assume they need to become W-2-employed advisors to achieve a high valuation for their practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are paying full boat for 1099 independent contractors,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re paying the same multiples as everyone else because we know them, we like them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pressures of running a modern registered investment advisor, including filing and maintaining a Form ADV with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":["post-936143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}