2026 Research Report
Small, Long-Registered Firms
Among Independent Financial Advisors
An analysis of 23,927 SEC-registered and exempt reporting advisory firms, from their public Form ADV filings.
have one or two employees
that filed one or two employees
with one or two filed employees
— the largest metro concentration
Finding 01
NEW YORK, NY has the most small, long-registered firms
Firms registered 20+ years that filed an employee count of two or fewer are concentrated in the largest metro markets.NEW YORK, NY alone accounts for 13 of them, roughly 3× the next closest market.
Finding 02
15% of firms that filed an employee count have one or two employees
Of the 17,211 firms that filed an employee count (Form ADV Item 5.A, total employees), 2,507 (15%) have one or two employees. Firms that filed exactly one employee number 1,018, or 4% of all 23,927 firms. (6,716 firms — 28% of the universe — filed no employee count and are excluded from this rate.)
Finding 03
Where acquisition-ready practices are concentrated
Practices with $5M–$75M in disclosed regulatory AUM are the range this report counts. 464 firms in this range have disclosed AUM within the dataset. Note: exempt reporting advisers do not report regulatory AUM, so they are not counted here.
Finding 04
AUM distribution: how the industry is sized
The majority of advisory firms in this dataset manage over $150M in assets — a reflection that the SEC-registered universe skews toward mid-to-large practices. The $25M–$150M band contains the densest concentration of practices at the inflection point between boutique and institutional scale.
Finding 05
New RIA formation has accelerated since 2018
The number of new independent RIA registrations reflects the ongoing breakaway advisor trend — experienced advisors leaving wirehouses and broker-dealers to establish independent practices. Each new registrant represents a practice at the infrastructure formation stage — actively building their technology stack.
Find practices near you in the SEC filings
See the acquisition opportunities near your office
The Synseus succession signal engine defines 7 signal types and currently evaluates five of them for the 23,927 SEC-registered and exempt reporting advisers in public SEC filings. No account required.