RIA Growth Is Splitting Into Three Different Battles
RIA growth is no longer moving in one clean direction. Some firms are racing to add advisor teams from large brokerages. Others are helping wirehouse teams launch independent practices. Another group is trying to solve the succession problem before aging advisors run out of time.
That split showed up clearly in a new round of RIA moves. &Partners added two practices from Wells Fargo and Edward Jones with roughly $700 million in combined prehire assets. Sanctuary Wealth entered Idaho with a former UBS team managing $350 million in client assets. AmeriFlex rolled out a national succession platform designed to give advisors more structure around liquidity, continuity and eventual transitions.
The moves are connected by one larger theme: advisors are looking for more than a place to custody assets. They want a model that fits the next stage of their business, whether that means faster growth, greater independence or a cleaner path to succession.
TL;DR
&Partners scale: &Partners added 1796 Private Wealth from Wells Fargo and Nemec Wealth Advisors from Edward Jones, bringing its network to 114 teams and about $54 billion in prehire assets.
Sanctuary expansion: Iron North Private Wealth joined Sanctuary from UBS with $350 million in client assets, giving Sanctuary its first partner firm in Idaho.
AmeriFlex rollout: AmeriFlex launched SuccessionFully nationally to help advisors handle liquidity, continuity and transition planning through one platform.
Industry shift: The latest RIA moves show that growth is now happening through recruiting, independence and succession infrastructure at the same time.
Reader takeaway: The firms that win may be the ones that solve a specific advisor problem instead of offering a generic growth pitch.
&Partners Is Turning Recruiting Into A Scale Story
&Partners has added two more practices to its growing network, continuing a fast buildout that began after the firm’s 2023 launch.
The larger addition is 1796 Private Wealth, a Westlake, Ohio-based practice that joined from Wells Fargo with $590 million in prehire assets. The team is led by Clint Rickett and Dennis Champa and includes client service leaders Lisa Schumacher and Megan Barnes.
The second addition is Nemec Wealth Advisors, a Lake Suzy, Florida-based practice that joined from Edward Jones with $115 million in prehire assets. The firm was founded by Nicholas M. Nemec and is supported by John Ramirez and Heather Lonski.
Together, the additions push &Partners to 114 advisor teams and approximately $54 billion in prehire assets. That kind of pace matters because &Partners is still a relatively young platform. Its growth story depends on convincing experienced advisors that a newer firm can offer enough credibility, resources and long-term upside to compete with older institutions.
What The Two Additions Show
Ohio momentum: 1796 Private Wealth gives &Partners another team from Wells Fargo, a firm that has already been central to its recruiting story.
Florida reach: Nemec Wealth Advisors expands the platform with an Edward Jones breakaway in Lake Suzy.
Practice diversity: The additions show that &Partners is not recruiting from only one channel or one region.
Scale signal: Crossing 114 teams gives the firm more visibility in a crowded RIA and hybrid platform market.
Growth pressure: Fast recruiting can build momentum, but it also requires strong onboarding, service and platform execution.
Why &Partners’ Pace Matters
The &Partners story is not only about two teams moving. It is about whether a newer wealth management platform can keep turning recruiting wins into a durable national network.
That question matters because advisor teams do not usually move only for a logo. They often want more control, better economics, stronger technology, ownership opportunities or a platform that feels less restrictive than a wirehouse environment.
For &Partners, the challenge is proving that rapid growth does not come at the expense of culture or service. Adding teams quickly can create energy, but it can also create operational demands. Each practice has clients, staff, processes and transition needs that must be supported after the announcement.
That is where recruiting becomes more than headline math. A firm can win teams on paper, but the real test is whether those teams feel supported six months, one year and three years after moving.
Sanctuary Uses Idaho To Tell An Independence Story
Sanctuary Wealth addedIron North Private Wealth, a former UBS team that managed $350 million in client assets.
The practice is headquartered in Coeur d’Alene and marks Sanctuary’s first partner firm in Idaho. It was founded by Brad Desormeaux, who serves as CEO, and Abigail Allsup, who serves as president. Wealth associate Shelly Johnson also joined the practice with decades of financial services experience.
This move has a different shape from the &Partners additions. &Partners is showing recruiting scale across multiple teams. Sanctuary is using Iron North to expand geographically and deepen its appeal to wirehouse advisors who want to go independent.
Sanctuary framed the move around greater flexibility, control and room to grow. That message is familiar in the breakaway market, but it still matters because many wirehouse teams are not only asking whether they can go independent. They are asking whether the new platform can help them do it without losing service quality, client trust or operational support.
What Iron North Appears To Gain
Regional identity: The team can build an independent brand in Coeur d’Alene while serving clients under its own name.
Platform backing: Sanctuary gives the practice infrastructure, support and scale behind the independent launch.
Client range: Iron North serves individuals, families, athletes and institutional clients with wealth and investment management needs.
Business control: The move gives the team more room to shape its client experience and long-term growth plans.
Market entry: Sanctuary gains a first Idaho partner firm, giving the platform a foothold in a new state.
The Breakaway Question Is Becoming More Practical
The old breakaway story often sounded simple: leave the wirehouse, go independent and gain freedom. The modern version is more complicated.
Advisors considering independence have to think about custody, compliance, staffing, technology, investment access, client communication, brand identity, transition support and business continuity. The desire for control is only one part of the decision. The more difficult question is whether the advisor can recreate or improve the client experience outside the old platform.
That is why partner firms like Sanctuary matter in the RIA market. They try to make independence less operationally intimidating by giving teams a support structure after the breakaway.
Iron North’s launch in Idaho shows how the independence conversation is moving into more regional markets. It is not limited to large financial centers. Advisors with strong local relationships may still want national platform support, especially if their clients have complex planning, investment or liquidity needs.
AmeriFlex Is Framing Succession As An Execution Problem
AmeriFlex is attacking a different part of the advisor lifecycle: succession.
The firm announced the national rollout ofSuccessionFully, a platform designed to bring succession planning, marketplace access, continuity agreements and deal structuring into one system.
That matters because succession planning is often discussed long before it is actually executed. Advisors may have a rough plan for selling, merging or transitioning their practice, but the details can break down when client relationships, successor readiness, valuation, financing and income needs collide.
AmeriFlex is positioning SuccessionFully as a way to reduce that fragmentation. The platform includes SuccessionFlex, which allows advisors to monetize up to 49% of current revenue without fully exiting the practice. It also includes continuity agreements that can activate on day one if unexpected events threaten client service or advisor income.
What SuccessionFully Is Built Around
Partial liquidity: Advisors can monetize part of their revenue stream without immediately leaving the business.
Continuity protection: Agreements can be established early to reduce disruption if something unexpected happens.
Successor readiness: The model is designed to bring next-generation talent into the practice before a transition is urgent.
Deal structure: AmeriFlex aims to bring valuation, financing and transition mechanics into one coordinated process.
Client stability: The platform focuses on keeping service continuity in place while ownership or leadership changes.
Why Succession Is Becoming A Recruiting Issue
Succession is no longer just a retirement topic. It is becoming part of the recruiting and platform-selection conversation.
Many advisors have built valuable practices over decades, but that value can be fragile if there is no clear transition plan. Clients may leave if they feel uncertain about who will serve them next. Younger advisors may not stay if they do not see a path to leadership. Buyers may hesitate if the practice depends too heavily on one founder.
That creates an opening for firms that can make succession more concrete. A platform that helps advisors monetize part of their business, prepare successors and protect client continuity can become more attractive than one that only offers technology or payout.
AmeriFlex’s move fits that broader shift. It suggests that firms are competing not only for advisors who want to grow, but also for advisors who want to protect what they have already built.
The Bigger Pattern Is Advisor Choice
The three moves show how RIA growth is becoming more segmented.
&Partners is competing through rapid advisor-team recruitment. Sanctuary is competing through supported independence. AmeriFlex is competing through succession infrastructure. Each strategy targets a different advisor concern.
That is why the market feels more nuanced than a simple “RIA versus wirehouse” story. Advisors are not all trying to solve the same problem. Some want to leave a large firm. Some want a partner for independence. Some want liquidity. Some want a successor. Some want a platform that can grow without burying them in operations.
That same pattern has shown up in other recent moves where advisor teams were weighingplatform support and team movement as part of broader practice decisions.
The winners may be the firms that know exactly which problem they are solving.
What Readers Should Watch Next
The next test is execution.
For &Partners, the question is whether its fast-growing network can maintain service quality as more teams join. Recruiting speed can create market attention, but long-term success depends on onboarding, platform stability and advisor satisfaction after the transition.
For Sanctuary, Iron North’s Idaho launch will show whether the firm can keep expanding its partner model into new markets while preserving the local identity advisors often want from independence.
For AmeriFlex, the key issue is whether SuccessionFully can make succession planning feel practical instead of theoretical. Advisors may like the idea of continuity planning, but the platform has to help them solve real questions around valuation, successors, income and client retention.
The broader takeaway is that RIA growth is not only about getting bigger. It is about giving advisors a more precise answer to the problem they are trying to solve.
Frequently Asked Questions About The RIA Moves
What Practices Did &Partners Add?
&Partners added 1796 Private Wealth from Wells Fargo and Nemec Wealth Advisors from Edward Jones. 1796 Private Wealth is based in Westlake, Ohio, and brought $590 million in prehire assets. Nemec Wealth Advisors is based in Lake Suzy, Florida, and brought $115 million in prehire assets.
Why Is Sanctuary’s Idaho Expansion Important?
Sanctuary’s Idaho expansion is important because Iron North Private Wealth became the firm’s first partner location in the state. The move gives Sanctuary a new regional foothold and shows how supported independence continues to appeal to former wirehouse teams outside the largest wealth management hubs.
What Is SuccessionFully?
SuccessionFully is AmeriFlex’s national succession planning platform for financial advisors. It is designed to combine deal structuring, marketplace access, continuity planning, partial liquidity options and successor integration into one system instead of leaving advisors to manage those pieces through separate vendors.
Why Are Succession Platforms Becoming More Important?
Succession platforms are becoming more important because many advisors are aging while still serving long-standing client relationships. Without a clear plan, a founder’s exit can create uncertainty for clients, staff and successors. Platforms that organize liquidity, continuity and transition planning can help protect the value of the practice.
What Do These Moves Say About RIA Growth?
These moves show that RIA growth is happening through several channels at once. Firms are recruiting teams from large brokerages, helping advisors launch independent practices and building succession tools for advisors nearing the next stage of their careers. That means platform fit may matter more than size alone.
Further Reading
Sanctuary Wealth Welcomes Iron North Private Wealth: Sanctuary’s announcement on Iron North Private Wealth joining from UBS and launching the firm’s first Idaho partner office.
The AmeriFlex Group Targets Advisor Succession Breakdown With Single-Source Platform: AmeriFlex’s announcement on the national rollout of SuccessionFully.
Wells Fargo, LPL And Cetera Add Advisor Teams In New Recruiting Moves: A related NJ Financial News article on advisor recruiting, platform support and team movement across wealth management firms.
