"I'm of the mindset that the glass is half full, so let's let other firms launch and be successful," he continues. "There's plenty of business to out there with the ability to acquire practices with the breakaway brokers. There are enough bodies in play, and by sharing our stories more RIAs can gain scale and success."
And, of course, the very public nature of aRIA stands to boost the profiles of participating members. But they say the goal isn't to use the group as a marketing platform for their firms. "If that's a byproduct, then that's okay," Concepcion says. "But it seems life goes full circle, so to the extent that you give, good things happen. To the extent that our firms can benefit from sharing our information, then great. But I don't think that's necessarily the aim of this group."
For now, aRIA's roster list will be limited to its current membership. "We might add more members in the future but I don't expect it to get much bigger," Furey says. "Maybe one or two new advisors, but that could change over time."
Furey sees aRIA as a logical step in the maturation of the RIA channel. "When you look at the future and all of the unique models coming out--whether its a roll-up, consolidator or some sort of outsourcing company--what this group is trying to do is provide a point of view and talk about the future of value creation," he says. "For the industry in general, as groups like this continue to evolve I think it'll be of great benefit to advisors."
Other participants in aRIA's first meeting in March were Brian Hamburger, managing director at the compliance consulting firm MarketCounsel, and Sean Mihal, western regional director at Weitz Funds. The latter company, Furey says, is helping to sponsor the group's activities at industry gatherings.
aRIA itself, he adds, is a self-funded group.
--Jeff Schlegel