This Week in Wealth

Ian dials in from the Future Proof conference in Huntington Beach, California, to give the lowdown on Anthropic’s Claude for Financial Advisors suite and dig into the AI firm’s tie-up with custodian Charles Schwab. Alex and Ian also discuss Creative Planning’s acquisition of RVK Inc., an institutional investment consultancy overseeing roughly $4.3tn in client assets, and the strategic rationale for the deal.

Ian and Alex fire up the transatlantic telegraph cable to break down Envestnet’s deal for Vestmark (news that Citywire RIA readers saw before anyone else). They also discuss New York City-based RIA Savvy Wealth raising $100m via a Series C funding round and Schwab Wealth Advisory hiking fees for certain clients.

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is creating a menu of wealth managers to service its employees following its initial public offering later this year, which could be a huge boon to any RIA that makes the list. Ian unpacks his scoop, explaining what Anthropic has asked of wealth managers and how the firm’s approach differs from the one taken by a group of SpaceX employees earlier this year. Andrew also joins the pod to discuss Bain’s plans to reinvest in mega-RIA Carson Group, extending a bet it first made in 2021, and the team squeezes in a section on Schwab hiking new client minimums for long-short SMAs to $10m. It really has been a summer of scoops!

Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown joins Ian and Alex to discuss his take that the ‘steroid era’ is over for advisors. He argues advisors who have based their growth on rankings, low rates, and referrals (from custodians) are in for a rude awakening. This episode was recorded minutes after it was announced that Vanguard had agreed to acquire RIA custodian Altruist. As a client of and shareholder in Altruist, Brown also gives his insights on the deal and what it might mean for the wealth management industry.

For the second time in a year, Charles Schwab is more than doubling the AUM threshold at which it will refer brokerage clients to RIAs in its lucrative Schwab Advisor Network. Ian Wenik and Alex Steger are joined by a scoop of reporters to unpack one of the biggest wealth management stories of the year. The team also dives back into Citywire's 2026 50 Growers report to explore some of the smaller firms to make the list, as well as those powering ahead without the help of outside capital.