RIA Edge 100 CEO Matthew Fleissig attributes Pathstone’s growth to unconventional moves that range from widespread employee ownership to hosting backcountry ski trips with clients.

New research shows nearly 40% of investors want detailed, actionable retirement plans, pushing advisors toward specialized distribution-phase technology, plus news of the week from Bento Engine, Betterment, Asset-Map, SUBSCRIBE, and Flourish.

Deals & Moves 🤝 The Mather Group, AlphaCore Snag $400M RIAs + Summit Wealth Group continues to expand with a firm in Tennessee, and $6 billion BakerAvenue sells a stake to Constellation.

The monthly Connected Ecosystem Support Fee has sparked debate over transparency, pricing models and who ultimately bears the cost in an AI-driven advisory landscape.

People Moves 🤝 Cresset Hires Blackstone Alum Joe Zidle Chief Market Strategist + Innovayte and RIA Arax name new COOs, and Mesirow hires an investment expert from Morningstar.

Hightower Signature Wealth, the branded W-2 RIA for Hightower Advisors, announced its sixth affiliate advisor addition with a deal to add Synergy Capital Solutions, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based RIA with $1 billion in assets under management.

Providing equity isn’t enough if employees can’t make sense of it.

Mercer Advisors, a Denver-based registered investment advisor with $111 billion in client assets, has refinanced $1.9 billion in existing debt through a syndicated term loan with a seven-year maturity, marking its entry into the syndicated loan market, according to an announcement.

Trilogy Capital, a hybrid registered investment advisor based in Irvine, Calif., has struck its largest deal of the year with Mountain Capital Investment Advisors, a $1 billion RIA based in Westminster, Colo.

Wirehouse advisor movement accelerated sharply in the first half of 2026. Louis and Jason Diamond unpack the numbers, the forces driving them, and what they reveal about an increasingly competitive advisor marketplace.

Ascentis Independent Advisors, a relatively new Dallas-based registered investment advisor platform owned by Ascentis Wealth Holdings, has added more than $1 billion in client assets through four advisory practices that joined from Raymond James Financial Services, the firm announced.

But the headline numbers don’t capture the size of teams leaving the wirehouses and mask significant differences by firm, according to a Diamond Consultants report.

Merit Financial Advisors, an Atlanta-based hybrid registered investment advisor overseeing $32.9 billion in client assets, continues its streak of buying former Commonwealth Financial Network firms, in the wake of LPL Financial’s acquisition of the independent broker/dealer last year.

There’s more than meets the eye when looking at the printouts.

According to the spokesperson, the firms account for less than 1% of Fidelity’s total clearing and custody assets under administration, which are about $5.8 trillion across 3,300 RIAs, family offices and broker/dealers.

Charles Schwab Corp. has agreed to sell Forge Trust Co., a self-directed IRA custodian, and its parent company, Forge Services Inc., to Alto, a marketplace and custodian connecting retirement capital with private market opportunities.

Financial services tech firm M1 has launched M1 Advisor, an artificial intelligence financial advisor built into the company’s investing platform. The new service is free for M1 clients through 2027.

Are they ready to take on their family’s philanthropic causes?

“At this phase, it’s more expensive for us to raise kids in New Jersey than New York.”

Open, honest and candid discussion about jobs numbers, Edward Jones expanding 401(k) tools, where to spend tech money and obstacles to the convergence of wealth and retirement at work.