Sell a Registered Investment Advisors (RIA) business

Owner-operator registered investment advisors (ria) businesses trade at 4x–6.5x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 8x–15x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from InsuranceJournal Q4 2024 + Cerulli Associates RIA M&A 2025 + Optis Partners. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

Focus Financial (private since 2023), Mercer Advisors, Hightower, Beacon Pointe, Wealth Enhancement Group, and Creative Planning drive RIA consolidation. Active buyer archetypes in financial services include Aggregator / roll-up platform, Financial services PE, Internal succession. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

RIAs with recurring-fee AUM above 80% of revenue, sub-3% annual client-attrition, and next-generation-advisor bench trade at premium — the recurring-fee book and G2 succession are what large aggregators actually pay premium multiples for. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in financial services are recurring commission or aum revenue (not one-time transactional); client retention rate (>95% for premium multiples); book of business quality (commercial vs personal, hnw vs mass market).

RIA valuations are highly market-level sensitive (AUM = revenue base); buyers scrutinize your fee compression trajectory and household growth-rate versus market beta. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize producer / advisor departure with book of business and carrier or custodian concentration. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for registered investment advisors (ria) is $1.0M–$100M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 523930 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in financial services. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.