The US independent registered investment adviser (RIA) sector is seeing a split between profitability and growth. Profit margins reached a record 39% in 2025, while organic growth fell to a 10-year low of 3.7%. A survey by The Ensemble Practice of 173 RIAs and other advisory firms also found that cash compensation is broadly rising, while equity incentives are increasingly concentrated among senior leaders. Slower growth is making firms more cautious about hiring and expanding adviser teams—a shift that could affect retention and factor into buyers’ assessments when firms are sold.
Record margins, but organic growth at 3.7%
The Ensemble Practice and data partner ActiFi surveyed 173 RIAs and other advisory firms from January through April this year. Respondents reported a 39% profit margin in 2025, alongside organic growth of 3.7%, the lowest level in a decade. The sample may be skewed toward firms that had engaged with a consulting company or performed better than the industry average, so it may not represent the sector as a whole. Other recent research, however, has pointed to similar trends.
Strong profitability has not translated into an aggressive contest for talent. Firms appear to want greater confidence that a new adviser will bring in enough clients to justify the added payroll. Sluggish growth makes that harder to establish. Employee turnover across roles did not exceed 3.6% last year, and limited staff movement has helped existing employees benefit from pay increases.
Jeff Nash, CEO and co-founder of adviser recruiting firm Bridgemark Strategies, linked the cautious approach to the industry’s ageing adviser population. Some founding advisers remain conservative about hiring even when profits are healthy, he said, particularly when it comes to investing in junior talent. Firms without successors and a talent pipeline beyond the founders may face a valuation discount when they eventually sell. Buyers pay attention to businesses that lack growth, Nash said, and that can reduce what a firm is worth.
Cash pay rises as equity ownership narrows
As mergers and acquisitions reshape ownership across the RIA sector, compensation structures are changing too. The Ensemble Practice found that advisers’ cash pay continues to rise, putting them among the better-paid professional groups in the US. But as firms’ profit multiples climb, equity becomes more expensive, making ownership incentives harder to offer across the workforce.
Equity ownership varies sharply by seniority. In the survey, 78% of CEOs said they owned equity in their firm, as did 53% of senior advisers. Among advisers one level below, the figure was just 14%. For many advisers, compensation therefore depends more on salary and the revenue generated by their business than on long-term ownership of the firm.
Ownership structure also shapes career progression and the mix of pay. Adviser-owned firms tend to promote staff more slowly and rely primarily on salary, using equity to recognise long-term contribution and performance. Firms owned by outside capital offer higher cash compensation and faster promotion, and their advisers change employers more frequently. As consolidation continues, it remains an open question whether the stability and traditional ownership model can compete with the appeal of higher cash pay and a stronger focus on growth.
Service advisers lead pay growth
Pay increased across roles, but the fastest growth was not in jobs directly responsible for winning clients. It was among service advisers, who support client relationship managers. CEOs and client service associates saw the slowest pay growth. The report suggests firms are adding capacity to support the business rather than mounting a broad push to recruit revenue-generating advisers.
Client service associates and junior advisers remain the main entry points for hiring. At the senior adviser level, however, promotions outnumbered new hires. For adviser roles, promotions were roughly in line with the number of new employees. Meanwhile, revenue per employee fell 28% last year. Support roles expanded faster than the adviser headcount, raising questions about whether firms can continue adding staff before productivity recovers.
High margins could give firms room to recruit from competitors, but slower growth makes it harder to know whether new advisers will bring clients with them. More service and operational capacity could help firms handle additional business. The survey data do not establish, however, whether a shortage of talent and capacity is holding back growth or whether weak growth is prompting firms to slow hiring.
Revenue responsibility matters more than seniority
Beyond base salary, equity ownership and responsibility for revenue are two key factors in adviser compensation. The report found that senior advisers’ pay is most closely linked to the amount of revenue they manage, with a stronger relationship than years of experience or tenure. As a result, some lower-ranking advisers earn more than the lower end of the senior adviser pay range because they oversee more client assets or a larger book of business.
Pay is more tightly clustered among service advisers. They generally do not carry direct revenue responsibility; their value lies in supporting other advisers and increasing the team’s capacity. For firms, compensation is not just a question of how much to pay. It also shapes how they develop and promote staff, allocate equity, retain clients and expand their ability to serve the business.
The findings come from The Ensemble Practice’s True Ensemble Data Insights: 2026 Careers & Compensation Survey Results. The report groups advisers into four levels: junior adviser, service adviser, adviser and senior adviser. Roles including CEO, chief operating officer, president, head of marketing and portfolio manager are tracked separately. With margins high but organic growth subdued, firms’ choices around support-staff investment, adviser recruitment and equity allocation will shape both their talent mix and their appeal in future transactions.