The top 20 fee-only RIAs ranked by AUM in 2026
Far from being a bunch of small registered investment advisory outfits run by solo practitioners, the 20 largest fee-only financial planning firms manage more than half a trillion dollars.
The ranking below of those 20 firms’ assets under management comes from an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission Form ADV filings by
This year, Foster City, California-based IEQ Capital leapfrogged rivals to take the No. 1 spot with $56.8 billion in AUM, up from No. 4 in 2025. Last year’s No. 5 firm, Rockford, Illinois-based Savant Wealth Management, also jumped three spots to land in the No. 2 position with $55.6 billion in AUM. St. Louis-based Moneta Group Investment Advisors fell from No. 1 to No. 3, even though its AUM grew by more than $8 billion to $50.5 billion since 2025.
To be sure, the AUM disclosed in companies’ Form ADV filings represents a snapshot of a figure that continually shifts based on asset values, financial advisor recruiting, M&A deals and client additions and losses. And FP’s methodology for the ranking of fee-only financial planning firms ruled out some big RIA names and other giants of wealth management that either accept some type of commissions or have affiliates that do.
But all types of RIAs are growing to once-unthinkable sizes. The migration of advisors and clients toward financial planning services delivered under the fiduciary duty is driving that momentum, according to Ritik Malhotra, the founder and CEO of New York-based RIA services firm Savvy Wealth.
“What we see is advisors moving from captive to independence,” Malhotra said. “More advisors are realizing that the end client is voting with their feet and wants a fiduciary behind them.”
Scroll down the slideshow below to see the rankings of the 20 largest U.S.-based fee-only RIAs that provide financial planning services to clients.
A ranking of the top 150 firms is available in printable PDF format. To read the RIA Leaders feature story, “The custody fee conundrum,” click here. For last year’s top 20 rankings, follow this link.
Notes: FP’s data partner for the RIA Leaders feature,
- Firms must have zero registered representatives of a broker-dealer.
- At least 50% of the firm’s clients must be individuals or high net worth individuals.
- Firms must not list commissions as a compensation arrangement.
- Firms must have more than zero financial planning clients.
- Firms must not list commission-taking businesses in “other business activities.”
- Firms cannot be affiliated under common ownership with commission-taking businesses.
In the absence of an official regulatory classification and definition for the titles “financial planner” or “financial advisor,” FP is citing the numbers available through FINTRX’s analysis of how many “producing financial advisors” there are at each firm. While client assets under management remains a fluid figure tied to asset values, incoming and outgoing client assets and a number of other factors, RIAs typically state their latest available AUM each March in SEC filings. Some firms later update those figures in amended filings.
In the wake of the revelations involving Forbes and Shook Research (now called Veritant), it is important to state that no members of the teams at FP and FINTRX exchanged any money in the production of RIA Leaders, and no RIAs listed in the feature paid anything for their places in the rankings.
