Sell your RIA before the 2027 multiple compression.

The 2025 median was 11.6× EBITDA across disclosed deals. Within that, range ran 8-15× depending on organic AUM growth, recurring revenue mix, advisor depth, and client demographic diversification. RIAs under $100M AUM trade at meaningfully lower multiples — typically 5-8× — because the buyer universe shrinks. Above $1B AUM, multiples can stretch beyond 15× for top-decile growth profiles.

18-30 months before close. The work that drives multiple — reducing principal indispensability, organizing audited or near-audited financials, documenting organic growth segmentation — takes that long to do right. Starting six months out typically leaves 30-40% of headline value on the table.

Five categories. PE-backed aggregators (Hightower, Mercer Advisors, Wealth Enhancement Group, Captrust, Beacon Pointe, CI Wealth). Independent RIA platforms (Mariner Wealth, Allworth Financial, Edelman Financial Engines, Creative Planning). Strategic IBD and bank wealth divisions. Other independent RIAs running tuck-in acquisitions. Family offices and strategic single-family vehicles. Roughly 70% of disclosed 2025 deal volume went to the top dozen aggregators.

If your top 5 households exceed 40% of AUM, buyers price the firm as a partial runoff asset. The discount typically runs 25-40% off comparable diversified firms. Concentration is fixable but takes 24+ months of intentional client acquisition. Buyers will look at top-10 and top-20 concentration too — single-decade demographic concentration (everyone over 70) is its own discount factor.

Most platforms make advisor retention a primary deal KPI. Earnouts tie directly to retention plus AUM retention. The cleanest deals have advisors with their own equity grants from the prior owner; the messiest are ones where advisors learn about the transaction at closing. Plan advisor communication 60-90 days before signing.

Custodian transitions almost always cause AUM run-off — usually 3-8% in the first 12 months. It's modeled into the deal price. The way to minimize it: brief major clients in person, time the repapering during a normal portfolio review cycle, never bundle the custodian change with a fee schedule change. Negative consent works for some clients; affirmative consent is more conservative but slower.

Two structures dominate. AUM retention earnouts pay out over 24-36 months as long as AUM stays above defined thresholds. Advisor retention earnouts pay as long as named advisors stay employed. Mixed structures are common. Earnouts typically represent 20-40% of total headline price. The structure that works for you depends on whether your AUM is portable or principal-dependent.

A recapitalization (recap) is a partial sale, usually 60-80%, where you keep equity that participates in the platform's next exit. Top-quartile founders often net more from a recap than from an outright sale because the platform-level multiple expands when the platform itself sells. The trade-off: another 4-7 years operating under the new ownership structure.

Yes, and asymmetrically. Clean disclosures rarely add to price; problematic ones (regulatory actions, customer complaints in last 36 months, key personnel departures, ADV amendments mid-process) can knock 10-20% off — sometimes more if the issue is unresolved at signing. Get your ADV reviewed by a third party before going to market.

Two differences. We use proprietary data infrastructure to surface qualified buyers across all five categories simultaneously, not the 8-12 names a regional advisor keeps in their rolodex. And we represent owners exclusively — never buyers — so when we negotiate, our incentive isn't split between getting your deal closed and keeping a buyer relationship for next year.