Market Data · Last updated: October 31, 2026
RIAMergers.com Market Data
RIA dealmaking set records in back-to-back years, then concentrated into fewer hands. The count went up; the buyer list shrank.
For most of a decade, RIA mergers and acquisitions grew in a steady drumbeat. Then 2024 broke the record with 272 transactions, beating the 264 deals of 2022, on the back of a fourth quarter with 81 deals — the busiest quarter DeVoe & Company had ever tracked. Rate cuts in September and December lowered the cost of capital for leveraged consolidators, and post-election market gains lifted seller valuations at exactly the moment buyers were ready to pay them.
2025 went further: 322 transactions, with a third quarter of 93 deals, the most active quarter on record. But the buyer pool narrowed. DeVoe counted 22 fewer buyers than the year before, and first-time buyers fell to 8% of deals, the lowest share on record. Growth, not distress, is now the top seller motive — firms joining larger platforms because organic growth has stalled, not because they are failing.
Schwab's benchmarking work tells the same story from inside the firms: 41% of firms engaged in inorganic growth activity in 2024, and 19% did M&A specifically. The average seller in 2024 was about a $1 billion firm, up from $827 million and $819 million in the two prior years. Deals are getting bigger, buyers are getting fewer, and the middle of the market is where the action concentrates.
Key figures
Trend column: each figure is compared with its prior period from the same source, with the prior figure shown. Where no prior-period figure from the same source was available, the figure is labeled Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh.
| Figure | Value | Source | Trend vs prior period |
|---|---|---|---|
| RIA M&A transactions, 2024 (record at the time) | 272 | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | ▲ Up vs prior record (2022): 264 |
| Prior record, 2022 | 264 | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| RIA M&A transactions, Q4 2024 | 81 | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| RIA M&A transactions, 2025 (new record) | 322 | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | ▲ Up vs 2024: 272 (new record) |
| RIA M&A transactions, Q3 2025 (most active quarter on record) | 93 | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | ▲ Up vs prior record quarter (Q4 2024): 81 |
| RIA M&A transactions, Q3 2026 | 77 (down 17% vs Q3 2025: 93) | DeVoe & Company Q3 2026 Deal Book via Wealth Solutions Report | ▼ Down vs Q3 2025: 93 (ends seven-quarter record streak) |
| RIA M&A transactions, year to date through September 2026 | 244 | DeVoe & Company Q3 2026 Deal Book via Wealth Solutions Report | Baseline — first nine-month total in this series on this page |
| DeVoe full-year 2026 forecast | 320–340 transactions (vs 2025 record: 322) | DeVoe & Company via Wealth Solutions Report | Projection, not a result |
| First-time buyers as share of 2025 deals (lowest on record) | 8% | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| Private-equity-backed share of Q4 2024 deals (vs. 69% in first three quarters) | 78% | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | ▲ Up vs 69% in the first three quarters of 2024 |
| Average seller size, 2024 (vs. $827M in 2023, $819M in 2022) | About $1 billion | DeVoe & Company via WealthManagement.com | ▲ Up vs 2023: $827 million |
| Firms engaging in inorganic growth activity, 2024 | 41% | Schwab Advisor Services, RIA Benchmarking Study | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| Firms engaging in M&A, 2024 | 19% | Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study via WealthManagement.com | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| RIA market size projected over the next decade; advisor retirements projected | Surpassing $4 trillion; more than 26,000 | Cerulli Associates via Wealth Solutions Report | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
Reading the numbers
Deal counts are not deal values. DeVoe counts announced transactions; it does not publish an aggregate dollar volume for the year, and this page does not estimate one. A year with fewer, larger deals can move more assets than a year with more, smaller ones.
The concentration trend cuts both ways for sellers. Fewer buyers with deeper pipelines can mean faster closes and higher prices for firms that fit a platform's gaps — and fewer bidders for firms that do not.
Methodology
Included: DeVoe & Company deal counts as reported in public trade coverage (2023–2025), Schwab benchmarking participation rates as reported by Schwab and trade press, and Cerulli market projections as reported publicly. Excluded: paywalled DeVoe Deal Book detail, valuation multiples (no public aggregate multiple series was verifiable in this session), and any aggregate deal-value total. Figures were chosen to show volume, buyer composition, and seller size together.
Disclaimer. Public figures change as new reports are published, and estimates from different firms are built on different definitions, so a single headline total should never be read as a precise count. Figures on this page are aggregated public estimates compiled for information only. They are not investment, legal, tax, or professional advice, and they do not predict future results. Where sources disagree, both figures are shown and the difference is explained rather than averaged away.
Sources
- WealthManagement.com — DeVoe: 272 deals in 2024, 81 in Q4, PE-backed 78% of Q4
- WealthManagement.com — DeVoe: 322 deals in 2025, 93 in Q3, first-time buyers 8%
- WealthManagement.com — DeVoe Q3 2024: average seller about $1 billion
- Schwab Advisor Services — 41% of firms in inorganic growth activity in 2024
- WealthManagement.com — Schwab: 19% of firms engaged in M&A in 2024
- Wealth Solutions Report — Cerulli: RIA market surpassing $4 trillion, 26,000+ retirements
Changelog
- October 2026: Initial edition — deal counts, buyer composition, seller size, Schwab activity measures, and the market projection established; trend indicators added to every figure (prior-period figures shown where the same source publishes them; all other figures labeled Baseline (October 2026)).
- October 31, 2026: DeVoe Q3 2026 added (77 deals, down 17% vs Q3 2025; 244 year to date; 320–340 full-year forecast). 2024–2025 rows unchanged.