RIA Valuation Insights

A weekly update on issues important to the Investment Management industry

Category

Practice Management


Margins and Compensation

Striking the Right Balance Between Margins and Compensation

In the investment management world, evaluating a firm’s margin isn’t as simple as “more is better.” For RIAs, margin reflects efficiency, but it also reflects the firm’s tradeoffs with compensation.  Investment management is a talent business, and striking the right balance between margin and employee compensation that allows the firm to attract, retain, and incentivize talent is critical to an RIA’s success.

Wealth Management

Five Ideas to Turn Your RIA’s Success Into Momentum

To the surprise of many, it’s been another very good year for the RIA community — but success can be fleeting. Whatever brings about the rollover in industry trend lines, we all know it’s coming at some point. So, if 2024 is indeed the peak of the cycle for the investment management industry, what will you one day wish you had done now?

Current Events

Funding Your RIA’s Buy-Sell with Life Insurance Just Got Much Harder

SCOTUS Compels Closely-Held Business Owners to Review a Potential Problem in Their Ownership Agreement

As long as I can remember, RIAs and other closely-held businesses have used corporate owned life insurance to fund redemption provisions in buy-sell agreements. That practice is now in doubt, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that entity-purchased life insurance is additive to value for fair market value purposes. Has SCOTUS rendered what was long-standing conventional wisdom useless, or is the ruling subject to interpretation? Time will tell. For now, readers of this blog post will want to study the ruling and its implications for their own buy-sell agreements.

Margins and Compensation Transactions

Formula Pricing Gone Wrong

What Happens If Your Buy-Sell Agreement Prices Your Firm Too High or Too Low?

More often than not, the formula prices we encounter do more harm than good. The simplicity of formula pricing equations means they don’t consider important factors like debt, non-recurring items, loss of key staff or large customers, market conditions, or offers to purchase. Formulas can ground expectations but may set expectations unrealistically low or high, provide a false sense of security, and encourage partner behaviors that do not support the business model.

Asset Management Transactions

Are Toxic Cultures the Silent Killers of the Asset Management Industry?

We’ve written about the external headwinds facing asset managers relative to other sectors of the investment management industry with scant reference to what actually causes many of them to fail: toxic cultures.  As valuation analysts, we’re more fixated on the quantitative measures of an asset management firm, like investment performance and client retention, so we often turn to actual industry participants to get the story behind the numbers.  Paul Black, CEO of WCM Investment Management, a $67 billion asset manager headquartered in Laguna Beach, California, provides great insights on the impact of culture on the viability of a money management firm.

An Ontological Approach to Investment Management

Review of “Winning at Active Management” by William W. Priest et al.

“Winning at Active Management” by Bill Priest is an important book for managing a successful investment management practice. Emphasizing the importance of corporate culture, Priest argues against traditional command-and-control structures, highlighting that knowledge-based businesses like investment management thrive on intellectual contributions from all levels of the organization. The book provides a fresh perspective on the role of culture in mergers and acquisitions within the investment management sector, preaching that cultural compatibility is crucial for the success of such transactions.

Wealth Management

Employee Alignment Is Essential in Wealth Management

Employee alignment is crucial in asset and wealth management due to the industry’s reliance on human capital. Creating alignment between employees and shareholders is essential for the growth and success of these firms, particularly for firms with non-employee ownership. Effective compensation models and incentive programs can align interests, supporting the long-term growth and success of the enterprise.

Capital Budgeting for Team Building

Tools for Long-Term Greedy Practice Management

The recent cancellation of Apple’s decade-long “Apple Car” project underscores the opportunities that capital budgeting offers for strategic decision making. Capital budgeting is a modeling exercise that has applications in the RIA community as well, where resource allocation decisions are more likely to involve human capital as opposed to equipment. This week, we explore the concept of returns to labor versus returns to capital in investment management, illustrating how long-term strategic thinking about human capital can lead to significant returns using the same tools integral to decision making at industrial concerns.

Transactions

7 Considerations for Your RIA’s Buy-Sell Agreement

Working on your RIA’s buy-sell agreement may seem like a distraction, but the distraction is minor compared to the disputes that can occur if your agreement isn’t structured appropriately.  Crafting an agreement that functions well is a relatively easy step to promote the long-term continuity of ownership of your firm, which ultimately provides the best economic opportunity for you and your partners, employees, and clients.  If you haven’t looked at your RIA’s buy-sell agreement in a while, we recommend dusting it off and reading our seven considerations for your RIA’s buy-sell agreement.

Margins and Compensation

Evaluating Your Firm’s Margin

An RIA’s margin is a simple, easily observable figure that condenses a range of underlying considerations about a firm that are more difficult to measure.  As much as a single metric can, margins reflect the health of a firm—indicating whether a firm has the right people in the right roles, whether it’s charging enough for services, whether it has enough (but not too much) overhead, and much more.  But when assessing your firm’s margins, it’s important to consider the context of the firm’s ownership and compensation structure and also the tradeoffs associated with margins that are too high or too low.

Speed, Velocity, and Momentum

The Best Measure of RIA Success

Market performance gives you speed.  Employee performance gives you velocity.  Practice management gives you momentum.  If you want to be successful, focus on building momentum.

Margins and Compensation Transactions Trust Companies

5 Takeaways from the Association of Trust Organizations’ (ATO) 2023 Annual Meeting

During ATO’s annual meeting in New Orleans, industry experts weighed in on pressing topics for independent trust companies. Key discussions revolved around the limited impact of the FTC’s proposed ban on non-compete agreements, the potential advantages of AI in trust administration, and the unique financial trends and risks observed in the TrustCo sector. For those in the trust industry seeking insights on its current state, this conference provided invaluable perspectives and recommendations.

Unpacking Your RIA’s Income Statement

Performance Measurement Is More than Profits and Losses

Measuring the financial performance of an RIA usually starts with GAAP statements, but it shouldn’t end there. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) have their place, but are too vague and nonspecific to provide much in the way of strategic direction for an investment management business. In this post, we propose a path to break down your financials into key performance metrics, giving your leadership a more constructive way to think about what builds value in an RIA.

Succession Planning: RIAs Have Options

The RIA industry is facing a potential succession crisis, with many firms still helmed by their founders and lacking in non-founding shareholders. Although succession planning is vital for the long-term success of these firms, it is often sidelined in favor of immediate growth strategies. This article delves into various solutions for RIA principals, from internal transitions to external acquisitions, highlighting their benefits and potential drawbacks.

Asset Management Margins and Compensation

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Compensation

Compensation Structures for Investment Management Firms Whitepaper

Labor is the single largest expense for any investment management firm, but beyond that simple fact, there is surprisingly little similarity regarding how the thousands of wealth managers, asset managers, independent trust companies, and investment consulting firms pay their people.  Compensation studies show considerable variances in how much firms pay for certain positions, and the character of remuneration — salary, bonuses, equity compensation, benefits — varies as a function of firm history, economics, and culture.

Transactions

4 Considerations for Your RIA’s Buy-Sell Agreement

Understanding the intricate complexities of buy-sell agreements can provide a basis for shareholder transactions and mitigate costly legal disputes down the road. We explain the pitfalls of rules-of-thumb based valuation measures, the importance of the ‘As Of’ date, the necessary qualifications of your appraiser, and how updating your agreement annually can manage expectations and avoid surprises. Stay informed and avoid the inevitable challenges by familiarizing yourself with these key components of a well-crafted buy-sell agreement.

Current Events Industry Trends Transactions

ISO: Cheap Capital

All Models Are Wrong, Some Are Useful

The much-ballyhooed consolidation trend in the RIA space is in a state of transition. Many acquisition platforms, fine-tuned in an era of zero interest rates and plentiful equity capital, are challenged in the post-ZIRP environment. Picking up on economist George Box’s observation that “all models are wrong, some are useful,” it’s worthwhile to survey the acquisition landscape and see what worked and what still works.

Transactions

Four To-Dos Before You Sell Your Investment Management Firm

Considerations for Every RIA Owner

The intricate journey of selling a business you’ve built can be daunting, filled with complex emotions and countless considerations. This process, particularly in the investment management space, requires thorough preparation, strategic thinking, and an understanding of the many dynamics involved. In this post, we explore four critical areas that every investment manager must consider: developing a pragmatic pricing expectation, establishing a solid rationale for selling, preparing your firm’s financial documents, and understanding the tax implications of different deal structures.

Current Events Industry Trends

Common Valuation Misconceptions about Your RIA

Old Rules of Thumb, Recent Headlines, and the Endowment Effect

The endowment effect has an impact on your RIA and oftentimes rules of thumb and recent headlines can lead to overvaluation. We share the nuances of valuing your firm, from assessing cash flow, growth, and risk to understanding the relevance of non-systematic risks. Uncover the factors that truly influence your RIA’s value and learn how an independent valuation can help you make informed decisions for your firm’s future.

Margins and Compensation

RIA Margins: How Does Your Firm’s Margin Affect Its Value?

Curious about what makes a firm’s margin a powerful indicator of its performance? We explain the “typical margin” for RIAs and how different segments of the investment management industry have varying margins based on their business models. Learn why future margin prospects are more significant than the current margin when evaluating the worth of an RIA and how to protect margins in a rapidly changing industry, and how to generate stable, improving margins that lead to higher valuation multiples when the firm is eventually sold.

Current Events

An RIA’s Independence Is Valuable

Selling Control Is Losing Control

Harry Truman kept a sign with his personal slogan, “The Buck Stops Here,” on his desk. The reverse side of his sign, which faced the President, says, “I’m from Missouri.” Specifically, Truman grew up in Independence, Missouri, and took pride in his hometown. RIAs would be well advised to value their independence as much.

Succession Planning for Investment Management Firms

The Best Time To Plan Is Now

Succession planning has been an area of increasing focus in the investment management industry, particularly given what many are calling a looming succession crisis. The demographics suggest that increased attention to succession planning is well warranted: over 60% of RIAs are still led by their founders, and only about a quarter of them have non-founding shareholders. Yet when RIA principals are asked to rank their firm’s top priorities, developing a succession plan is often ranked last.

Investment Management

Mercer Capital provides RIAs, trust companies, and investment consultants with corporate valuation, litigation support, transaction advisory, and related services