Tim Fagan Featured in Financial Planning: The RIA Marketing Gap

A new report from Paithos Research, covered recently by Financial Planning, offers a useful baseline for understanding where organic growth stands across the RIA industry. Capital Turbine founder Tim Fagan was asked to weigh in. His take: the data points to a real marketing gap, and current technology may be closing it faster than most advisors realize.

What the Data Shows

Paithos Research compiled a same-firm panel of SEC Form ADV filings from the 14,000-plus RIAs registered with the SEC in 2025 and 2026. The headline finding: the median firm boosted its AUM by 15% but grew its client count by just 2% (approximately one new individual or institutional client) over a 13-month period. That data was drawn from a comparison of annual amendment filings across that span.

The distribution behind the median adds context. Out of the more than 14,000 RIAs of any size, a quarter lost retail or institutional clients, and another 20% reported the same number as a year ago. On the other end, 20% netted a spike of at least 15% to their client bases, including the 11% of RIAs that drew 30% more customers to their ranks.

The AUM growth itself is largely explained by market conditions. The S&P 500 delivered a return of 16.39% in 2025, and the IAA report cites the positive market environment that characterized much of 2025 as a key driver of AUM growth among advisors. As Financial Planning noted, many experts say firms that don't grow organically will fall behind the competition.

The Divide Between Large and Small Firms

The report also surfaced a divide in how large and small RIAs approach marketing. RIAs with more than $10 billion in AUM are two times as likely as those with between $100 million and $1 billion to use compliant testimonials in their outreach. Larger firms are, on balance, deploying more of the tools available to them under current SEC rules.

Tim noted in Financial Planning that for smaller independent advisors, ignoring compliant testimonials "means potentially missing a layup for brand differentiation." He also acknowledged that the gap reflects real resource constraints. A large firm has a dedicated marketing team; an independent advisor is typically managing that function alongside everything else in the practice.

The compliance picture around testimonials is also worth keeping in mind. Three years after the compliance date, the majority of registered investment advisers have not yet built a compliant testimonial and endorsement program. That low adoption rate reflects both resource limitations and the compliance overhead involved. The most common deficiency identified by examiners is the failure to provide required disclosures at the time the testimonial or endorsement is disseminated, which is why process and compliance routing matter as much as the content itself.

How AI Affects the Marketing Cost Equation

The more forward-looking part of Tim's commentary in Financial Planning addressed what's changed on the technology side. AI-powered tools from platforms like Claude, Meta, and Google Ads have, in Tim's words, "given every advisor a tier-one marketer at their disposal" at costs that would have been out of reach for smaller firms a few years ago.

His broader point: "An independent advisor with a small budget, a smart strategy and a clear niche can now outcompete any large firm with a giant budget. This was not the case until very recently." Whether that potential translates into actual client growth will depend on which advisors put those tools to work consistently, and with a defined audience in mind.

The advisors who show up in future versions of this report with real client growth, rather than market-driven AUM gains, are likely to be those who treated the current technology environment as an opportunity to close the gap rather than wait it out.

The Compliant Testimonial Opportunity for Independent Advisors

One specific area worth attention: compliant testimonials under the SEC Marketing Rule have been available since the compliance date of November 4, 2022, yet adoption among smaller RIAs remains low. The rule permits RIAs to use client testimonials in marketing as long as specific disclosure, oversight, and recordkeeping conditions are met. It does not open the door to unqualified or misleading statements, and the SEC's Division of Examinations has continued to treat the Marketing Rule as an active exam priority.

Used correctly, a well-crafted, compliant testimonial can do something that most content marketing cannot: give a prospective client a concrete reference point for what working with the firm looks like. That's a form of brand differentiation that carries real weight, particularly for independent advisors who rely on trust and personal connection rather than brand recognition.

Capital Turbine is built for advisors who want to close that kind of gap practically, with content that goes out, campaigns that run, and compliance trails that are audit-ready. If you want to think through what a more structured marketing approach could look like for your practice, we're happy to talk it through.

Common questions

What did the Paithos Research report find about RIA client growth?

Across more than 14,000 RIAs registered with the SEC in 2025 and 2026, the median firm increased its AUM by 15% but grew its client count by just 2% (approximately one new individual or institutional client) over a 13-month period. The data was drawn from a same-firm panel of SEC Form ADV filings compiled by Paithos Research.

How are large RIAs marketing differently from smaller ones?

RIAs with more than $10 billion in AUM are two times as likely as those with between $100 million and $1 billion to use compliant testimonials in their outreach. Larger firms generally have more dedicated marketing resources, which allows them to deploy more of the tools available under current SEC rules. Three years after the Marketing Rule's compliance date, the majority of registered investment advisers have still not built a compliant testimonial and endorsement program.

Can a small independent RIA realistically compete with larger firms on marketing?

Capital Turbine founder Tim Fagan's view, as expressed in Financial Planning, is that current AI-powered marketing tools have meaningfully narrowed the cost gap between large and small firms. An independent advisor with a defined niche and a structured strategy may now be able to produce marketing output that was previously available only to firms with dedicated marketing teams. The outcome will depend on how consistently those tools are applied.

Sources

• Paithos Research SEC ADV data: median RIA AUM grew 15% but client count grew just 2% over 13 months
• Paithos Research panel methodology and finding that reported assets grew sharply while client counts barely moved
• SEC Division of Examinations flagged failure to provide required disclosures as the most common Marketing Rule deficiency
• Three years after the compliance date, the majority of RIAs have not built a compliant testimonial and endorsement program