THE BARATELLI INSTITUTE · Mentoring at Scale
FOR RIA PRINCIPALS & FOUNDING ADVISORS

The metrics every RIA partner should see monthly.

Effective fee rate, net new assets, clients per advisor, revenue per advisor, profit per partner. A/B/C client-tier economics. Most independent RIAs run on instinct and AUM growth alone — and miss the operating-economics view that separates good practices from great ones.

8
Practice metrics
NNA
Net new assets growth
A/B/C
Client tier breakdown
PPP
Profit per partner
YOUR PRACTICE
1
Practice profile
2
Revenue economics
3
Cost structure
4
Client tiers
5
Practice scorecard
STAGE 1 OF 5

Tell me about your firm

Defaults are typical for an established $250M-AUM independent RIA with 4 advisors and 180 client households.

Discretionary + non-discretionary assets you manage or advise. Excludes 401(k) plan assets if you're a 3(38) without participant-level fees.
$
Total advisory fees + planning fees + retainers + flat fees. Excludes commissions and 12b-1 if any.
$
Owner-partners with capital and a P&L share. Solo enters 1.
Anyone client-facing in an advisory capacity — partners, lead advisors, associate advisors, planners.
Operations director, paraplanners, client service associates, compliance, marketing — anyone non-advisor.
Distinct relationships, not accounts. A married couple = one household.
STAGE 2 OF 5

Revenue economics

Three ratios that drive an RIA's value: effective fee rate, retention, and net new assets.

New AUM gathered this year minus AUM lost (excludes market appreciation/depreciation). The single best growth metric.
$
Households retained / households at start of year. Top-quartile RIAs run 96-98%; below 92% is concerning.
%
Net market appreciation on existing AUM. Long-term equity-heavy portfolios run 6-8%; conservative books run 4-6%.
%
The "organic growth" metric. NNA / starting AUM = organic growth rate. Top-quartile independent RIAs run 8-12% organic; median is 4-6%; below 2% is structural stagnation. The composite of organic growth + market growth is what drives valuation multiples in M&A — buyers pay 8-10× EBITDA for a firm growing 10%+ organically vs. 5-6× for a flat firm of the same size.
STAGE 3 OF 5

Where the money goes

Industry median operating margin is ~25%; top quartile reaches 35-40%. The gap is almost always staff cost discipline + client-tier pricing rigor.

Base + bonus + benefits for non-partner advisors. Industry typical: 35-45% of revenue allocated to advisor pay.
$
All non-advisor staff fully loaded.
$
CRM (Redtail/Wealthbox/Salesforce), planning (eMoney/MoneyGuide/RightCapital), portfolio mgmt (Orion/Tamarac/Black Diamond), reporting, integration costs. Typical: 4-7% of revenue.
$
Schwab/Fidelity/Pershing platform fees (often passed to clients), trading costs, RIA platform fees, model-management fees.
$
SEC/state registration, ADV filings, E&O insurance, cybersecurity, compliance consultant if used. 2-3% of revenue typical.
$
Website, content, events, paid digital, referral program, conferences. 2-5% typical for growing RIAs.
$
Rent + utilities + insurance + supplies + travel + miscellaneous.
$
"Reasonable comp" or guaranteed payment per partner. Profit-share is calculated separately.
$
STAGE 4 OF 5

Top client households

Enter representative client households across your top, mid, and bottom tiers. Most RIAs follow Pareto: top 20% of clients ≈ 60-80% of revenue. The bottom tier often loses money once true cost-to-serve is allocated.

Allocation method. Total practice overhead (everything except direct advisor compensation) is allocated to households proportional to their fees. Average advisor servicing time is then layered on by tier (top tier ~14 hrs/yr, mid ~6 hrs/yr, bottom ~2 hrs/yr — adjustable). The result is each household's contribution margin after cost-to-serve.
STAGE 5 OF 5 · YOUR PRACTICE SCORECARD

Practice scorecard

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The eight RIA practice metrics

A/B/C client tier breakdown

Households segmented by AUM, with fees, cost-to-serve, and contribution margin per tier.

Benchmarks

Your numbers against typical Schwab Compensation/Schwab RIA Benchmarking and InvestmentNews data for sub-$1B independent RIAs.

Recommendations

PAIRS WITH
RIA in a Box · FO Reference Guide · Solo RIA Launch Playbook
The RIA in a Box bundle covers practice operations end-to-end — custodian and tech stack decisions, sample client deliverables, pricing model spreadsheet, marketing playbooks, AI agent templates, year-1 P&L for a launching practice. Subscribe to the library →
RIA IN A BOX

The full RIA practice playbook — by email.

Custodian decision framework, sample client deliverables, pricing model spreadsheet, marketing templates, AI agent templates, year-1 P&L. Launch or operate.

Benchmark ranges shown are illustrative typical-range values for independent RIAs based on publicly available industry benchmarking surveys (Schwab RIA Benchmarking, InvestmentNews Pricing & Profitability, Fidelity RIA Insights). Your peer-specific benchmark targets vary by AUM band, region, and service model — these are conceptual references. The cost-to-serve allocation in this tool uses a single method (proportional-to-fees plus advisor-time-by-tier); other methods (revenue-weighted, client-count-weighted, complexity-adjusted) can produce different per-household profitability. This is not investment, tax, or compliance advice.
WANT THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND THIS TOOL?
This calculator is one chapter of CFO & Controller's Reference Guide.
The tool gives you the answer. The guide gives you the argument — the case law, the worked examples, the negotiation playbook, the cross-check tables, the exception cases. Read the chapter and you can defend your number to a board, a buyer, an examiner, or a counterparty.
The methodology behind this calculator is in Ch 33 (RIA practice operating economics) of the reference guide.
See the Guide → Browse all 22 guides
PROFESSIONAL DISCLAIMER · PLEASE READ

Educational and informational purposes only. This calculator and any output it produces are intended solely for general educational and decision-support purposes. They do not constitute investment, tax, legal, accounting, appraisal, lending, insurance, or any other professional advice, and they do not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, accountant-client, or advisor-client relationship of any kind.

Estimates based on your inputs. All results are estimates derived from the data and assumptions you provide. Tax law, accounting standards, regulations, market conditions, and the specific facts of your situation can materially change the answer. The Baratelli Institute, its affiliates, and any co-branding professional make no warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, or fitness for any particular purpose, and disclaim all liability for decisions made in reliance on the output.

Consult your own qualified professionals. Before acting on anything calculated here, consult your own attorney, CPA, financial advisor, appraiser, lender, or other qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction who has reviewed your specific facts and applicable current law. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher of practitioner reference material. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, law firm, accounting firm, appraisal firm, or lender.

Co-branded versions: If a professional advisor's name and contact information appear on this tool, that advisor has elected to make the tool available to clients as a courtesy. Inclusion of an advisor's name does not constitute the advisor's endorsement of any specific result, nor does it transfer professional responsibility for the underlying methodology to that advisor. The disclaimer above applies regardless of co-branding.