Research
Research library
Research worth an advisor's time from research firms, asset managers, regulators, central banks, academics and think tanks, each with a short summary in our own words, plus AdvisorIQ's own analysis.
As of Oct 8, 2026, the library lists 31 pieces on practice management.
Titles marked with an arrow open on the publisher's site. How we choose.
Practice management
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What Separates Sophisticated Investors? Risk Literacy and Investment Decision-Making (opens finrafoundation.org)
A research brief that sorts investors by how well they understand risk rather than basic terms. Only 18% show advanced investment literacy, and willingness to take a fraud-like pitch peaks among those with basic-only knowledge, which points to client education on risk and scams that goes beyond the basics.
Topic: Practice managementfinrafoundation.org
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The AI advice frontier: Use, trust, and the human edge (opens corporate.vanguard.com)
A Vanguard survey of 6,686 investors finds about 32% have used AI for financial guidance, but only 19% of them trust its accuracy. AI was far more likely to raise than lower the perceived value of a human advisor, and the paper suggests advisors lean into empathy and help clients use AI tools safely.
Topic: Practice managementcorporate.vanguard.com
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Will AI Replace Financial Advisors? Here's How to Prove Your Value to Clients (opens morningstar.com)
A Morningstar behavioral scientist draws on the firm's research into why clients hire advisors: behavioral coaching, goals-based planning and advice that feels personal and reliable. She concludes AI is best used for efficiency, and that uses which make the client relationship feel less personal can do harm.
Topic: Practice managementmorningstar.com
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M&A in wealth management: 2026 mid-year update (opens clearingcustody.fidelity.com)
Fidelity's midyear review of wealth management deals finds 120 RIA transactions in the first half of 2026, down from 132 a year earlier, but acquired assets of $342.9 billion, nearly double. Median deal size rose to $630 million, and acquirers are using deals to add capabilities such as tax and estate planning.
Topic: Practice managementclearingcustody.fidelity.com
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7 Ideas to Redesign Wealth Management Operating Models (opens bny.com)
Drawing on panels with operations and technology leaders at wealth firms, BNY Pershing outlines seven ways to redesign operating models around AI rather than automate old processes. Themes include treating advisors as co-designers, keeping control of client data, planning for change management early and avoiding a sprawl of tools.
Topic: Practice managementbny.com
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Advisor Retirements Underscore Need for Stronger Rookie Development (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli finds that about 35% of advisors, managing 40% of industry assets, plan to retire within 10 years, and more than a quarter of them are unsure of their succession plans. Practice management staff cite the time needed to train new advisors as the main hurdle, and Cerulli argues placing rookies on larger teams eases both problems.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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Survey: AI Dominates Compliance Priorities at Historic Margin as Firms Move from Awareness to Action (opens investmentadviser.org)
The 2026 compliance testing survey of 411 adviser firms finds 85% name AI the top compliance topic and 80% have formally adopted AI tools. Fewer have the controls to match: 48% have a human-review policy and 30% address third-party AI use, and the survey also benchmarks compliance staffing and budgets.
Topic: Practice managementinvestmentadviser.org
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2026 RIA Benchmarking Study (opens aboutschwab.com)
Schwab's annual benchmarking study of 1,236 RIA firms with more than $2.5 trillion in assets, collected in early 2026. Growth remains the top priority, firms credit organic growth to clear value propositions and marketing, and talent, AI and digital processes are the main levers for efficiency.
Topic: Practice managementaboutschwab.com
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AI Adoption Accelerates, Driving Financial Advisor Loyalty, JD Power Finds (opens jdpower.com)
J.D. Power's 2026 survey of more than 4,500 advisors links effective firm-provided AI tools to higher satisfaction and loyalty. Active AI use rose to 73% among employee advisors and 42% among independents, and teaming is spreading among younger independent advisors.
Topic: Practice managementjdpower.com
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Five factors set to disrupt the financial advice business (opens im.natixis.com)
Natixis distills its 2026 global survey of 2,950 advisors into five pressures on the business, from clients moving to cash to digital competition and an aging advisor workforce. Advisors expect assets to grow about 12% a year, 43% expect AI tools for self-directed investors to become their main competitor within five years, and 77% see advisor retirements as an opportunity.
Topic: Practice managementim.natixis.com
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Top 10 priorities shaping the future of wealth management leadership (opens ey.com)
EY summarizes its global wealth management industry report in 10 priorities for firm leaders. It expects pure asset-based fee schedules to get harder to defend, with pricing moving toward complex advice such as tax and succession, and treats AI as a redesign of the operating model rather than an add-on.
Topic: Practice managementey.com
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RIA Consolidation Drives M&A Activity as Market Nears $4 Trillion (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli examines continuing consolidation in the RIA channel, where more than half of firms, 54%, are seeking an acquisition. Retiring advisors, more than 26,000 projected over the next decade, form the largest pool of targets, while breakaway teams are harder to capture because leaving a broker-dealer is complex.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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Study: Financial Planner Compensation Outpaces Inflation for Third Consecutive Year (opens cfp.net)
CFP Board's annual pay survey of 1,624 planners puts median 2025 total compensation at $195,000, up 15% from 2024. It reports CFP professionals earn 11% more than other planners after controlling for experience and firm size, and that nine in 10 plan to stay with their employer for the next two years.
Topic: Practice managementcfp.net
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Investment Adviser Industry Snapshot 2026 (opens investmentadviser.org)
An annual statistical portrait of SEC-registered advisers drawn from Form ADV filings. The 2026 edition counts 16,544 advisers managing $176.8 trillion for 73.7 million clients, finds 92.8% of firms employ 100 or fewer people, and shows individual clients using advisers for asset management more than doubling over eight years.
Topic: Practice managementinvestmentadviser.org
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AI and the New Economics of Wealth Management (opens bcg.com)
A chapter of BCG's 2026 Global Wealth Report arguing that AI changes the economics of advice rather than adding another tool. BCG sees a likely future in which AI-first firms expand advisor capacity without removing the human role, and says firms with unified data can scale AI while those with fragmented systems stall in pilots.
Topic: Practice managementbcg.com
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The Effects of Organizational Trust on Investors' Expectations and Allocations (opens pensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu)
An experiment showing that the name of the firm on an otherwise identical index fund changes what investors expect and how much they invest. A trusted name raised expected returns, lowered perceived risk and increased allocations by five to 13 percentage points, and financial literacy dampened the effect.
Topic: Practice managementpensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu
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Internal succession planning: 5 key steps (opens ssga.com)
State Street's practice management team sets out five steps for handing a practice to someone already inside the firm, from choosing a single successor or a team to financing the sale when internal buyers lack capital. It recommends allowing at least five years, and up to 10, before a planned exit.
Topic: Practice managementssga.com
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Over 40% of U.S. financial advisors see wealth transfer as an existential threat to business, Natixis IM finds (opens im.natixis.com)
Natixis surveys advisors and investors on what happens to assets when wealth passes to heirs. Forty-one percent of US advisors call the wealth transfer an existential threat and 22% say they have already lost significant assets, while 47% of investors expecting an inheritance do not plan to keep the family's advisor.
Topic: Practice managementim.natixis.com
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The Impact of Financial Advisors Since the Uptick in Policy Risk (opens crr.bc.edu)
This brief compares how advisors and their older clients view policy risks such as Social Security, Medicare, deficits and inflation. Advisors are more upbeat overall but share specific worries, and having an advisor did not measurably change clients' outlook or investment approach, which the authors link to mixed messages.
Topic: Practice managementcrr.bc.edu
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Affluent Investors' Willingness to Pay for Financial Advice Reaches New Heights (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli tracks how the share of affluent investors willing to pay for advice rose from 38% in 2010 to 68% in 2025. Willingness rises with wealth, reaching 75% among households with $5 million or more, and the firm credits wider access to advice, lower fees and the spread of fiduciary models.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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Gen Z and Millennial High-Net-Worth Investors Are Reshaping Wealth Advice (opens cfainstitute.org)
CFA Institute surveyed more than 2,400 affluent and wealthy investors in six markets on what younger clients expect. More than 90% of wealthy Gen Z and millennial investors use some paid advice and most of those meet their adviser monthly, while human advisers remain the most trusted source even as about a third use AI to learn.
Topic: Practice managementcfainstitute.org
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Clients expect AI-savvy advisors. But fear not. (opens troweprice.com)
A T. Rowe Price survey of 182 advisors in January 2026 finds 83% use AI at least monthly but 77% do not consider themselves advanced users. The piece lays out a measured path for practices: start with one business need, build skills, assign responsibility and set review and disclosure rules for AI output.
Topic: Practice managementtroweprice.com
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A year in review: 2025 mergers & acquisitions (opens clearingcustody.fidelity.com)
Fidelity's annual review of RIA deals documents a record 2025, with 276 completed transactions and $796.4 billion in acquired assets, up from 233 deals in 2024. A record 102 buyers were active, private equity backed 88% of deals, and acquirers increasingly bought capabilities such as tax and ultra-high-net-worth services.
Topic: Practice managementclearingcustody.fidelity.com
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Advisors Signal Desire for More Technology and Product Education to Drive Growth in New Study from Broadridge and FSI (opens broadridge.com)
A Broadridge and Financial Services Institute survey of 428 advisors and staff finds 68% are not confident their firm's technology is set up for their growth goals. Most say better tools and training would help them win clients, and 51% use generative AI somewhere in their business, a share that is higher among younger advisors.
Topic: Practice managementbroadridge.com
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US wealth management in 2035: A transformative decade begins (opens mckinsey.com)
McKinsey sketches how US wealth management could change by 2035 as wealth shifts to younger generations and women and AI takes on more of the work. It flags a shortfall of roughly 100,000 advisors as nearly 40% retire within a decade, and notes that the share of investors seeking holistic advice rose from 29% to 52% between 2018 and 2023.
Topic: Practice managementmckinsey.com
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FSI Survey: Advisors Enter 2026 With Guarded Optimism and Growing Concerns (opens financialservices.org)
The Financial Services Institute's survey of more than 220 members looks ahead to 2026 for independent advisors and their firms. Members cite misperceptions of the role and unclear career paths as the main reasons young people hesitate to join, and about 20% say they are integrating AI across key functions.
Topic: Practice managementfinancialservices.org
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Team-Based Advisor Practices Outperform Solo Practices in Growth and Service Offerings (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli compares team-based and solo advisor practices. Just over half of advisors work on teams, and team practices average more than three times the assets of solo practices and more than double their annual organic growth, helped by specialist staff who widen the services they can offer.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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Investors in the United States: A Report of the National Financial Capability Study (opens finrafoundation.org)
The FINRA Foundation's fourth national survey of US investors with taxable accounts. The pandemic wave of new investors has faded, 34% of investors feel they must take big risks to reach their goals, rising to 62% among those under 35, and 26% use recommendations from social media influencers.
Topic: Practice managementfinrafoundation.org
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New CFP Board Report Charts the Path Forward for AI in Financial Planning (opens cfp.net)
CFP Board's AI working group sketches four ways AI could reshape financial planning by the end of the decade, depending on how far the public trusts AI and how much new entrants disrupt the field. The report names workforce development and professional standards among the areas the profession should prepare.
Topic: Practice managementcfp.net
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Financial advice economics: What SEC filings reveal about costs and services (opens corporate.vanguard.com)
Vanguard used AI to read the Form ADV filings behind more than 26,000 US advice offerings and compare what firms charge with the services they describe. Digital-only offerings typically cost 40% less than hybrid ones, fees for similar services vary more than six-fold, and 65% of advisors also charge fixed fees.
Topic: Practice managementcorporate.vanguard.com
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Schwab's 2025 Independent Advisor Outlook Study: Trust, Talent and Technology Shaping the Next Era of Independent Advice (opens pressroom.aboutschwab.com)
Schwab's survey of 912 independent advisors covers growth priorities, AI and technology. Fifty-seven percent of firms already use AI and 69% expect it to be fully embedded within five years, and advisors rank adding new clients and raising assets per client as their top goals.
Topic: Practice managementpressroom.aboutschwab.com
From AdvisorIQ
We have not published any articles of our own yet. When we do, they will be listed here, newest first, with the author and date on every piece.
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