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'This Week in Wealth' is Citywire's weekly podcast that breaks down the biggest stories in the US wealth management industry and what they mean for advisors. Citywire USA editor-in-chief Alex Steger and Citywire RIA editor Ian Wenik are joined by a rotating cast of Citywire journalists and notable industry names.
63 Episodes
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Special guest Michael Batnick, the managing partner of Ritholtz Wealth Management (and a prodigious podcaster in his own right!), joins Ian and Alex to discuss the latest changes to Fidelity's lucrative Wealth Advisor Solutions network, how his $7.6bn RIA found an internal succession solution and the red flags around private credit.
Happy Opening Day! Ian and Citywire RIA reporter Peter Saalfield speak with ex-New York Yankee Kevin Thompson, now the CEO of 9i Capital Group and learn about how he went from seeing his advisor affected by the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme to running his own wealth manager, how his firm operates as a smaller practice in a consolidating industry and how Derek Jeter made his own rules of the road (you'll understand when you listen).
Commonwealth reduced a $93m SEC penalty to just $5m. All it took was a seven-year legal battle and a new regime at the regulator. Plus, the CFP Board considers waiving its bachelor's degree requirement.
Ian and Alex discuss Edelman Financial Engines’ decision to award $175m in equity grants to its financial planners, the spate of lawsuits facing RIAs over client data breaches, and AlTi Global’s failure to meet its full-year earnings filing deadline.
Ian and Alex are joined by Citywire founder and chairman Lawrence Lever to discuss why US consolidators are looking across the pond to buy British wealth managers. These firms are cheap, compared to their US peers, so what's the catch?
They also cover Anthropic's endorsement of human financial advice and the key takeaways from Citywire's recent CEO Summit.
Ian, Alec, and Alex discuss two divergent deals from two of the largest RIAs in the market. Wealth Enhancement enters the support services game with its deal for FocusPoint Solutions, while Hightower edges away from that model, growing its Signature Wealth business by merging in $5bn Journey Strategic Wealth. Plus, Ric Edelman on how and why we might see a $1tn RIA.
If you want to keep track of all the M&A in the RIA market, take a look at our Deals Database.
Ian and Alex discuss the sale, or not, of listed wealth manager AlTi Global (formerly known as Tiedemann), plus Goldman Sachs’ plans to offer long-short SMAs to its RIA custody clients—a move that just happens to coincide with Fidelity putting an indefinite pause on such business. And Alec dials in to give an update on LPL’s partnership with Anthropic and whether this changes the conversation about AI’s impact on wealth management.
Ian, Andrew and Alex discuss LPL Financial’s move to lay off 3% of its workforce, a story that broke in the same week that the firm’s stock sold off dramatically amid AI anxiety. They also dig into Cerity Partners’ $1bn deal with private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which values the mega-RIA at $8.5bn.
Wealth stocks sold off sharply this week, triggered by a new AI-powered tax planning tool from custodian Altruist. But what does the tool do? And what does the selloff portend – the end of wealth management as we know it, or that listed legacy players will be disintermediated by new tech? This Week in Wealth separates the signal from the noise.
Ian, Alec and Alex discuss Barry Ritholtz, co-founder of $7.6bn Ritholtz Wealth Management, selling a portion of his stake in the New York City-based RIA to its employees as part of a planned internal succession. They also check in on LPL’s efforts to retain Commonwealth advisors following last year’s $2.7bn deal. And have the lowdown on $2.1bn RIA First Long Island Investors pursuing a sale, including the firm's financials and its founder’s past as an owner of the New York Islanders.
Ian, Alec and Alex discuss the outlook for mega-RIA Edelman Financial Engines under new CEO Ralph Haberli and the repercussions of last year’s failed sale. They also analyze a change at the top of Pershing and what this might mean for the platform in an increasingly competitive custodian market.
It has been a busy year for Hightower Signature Wealth. The business hit $21bn after merging in five new firms, is weighing a change to the way its advisors get paid and saw its head of succession planning depart. And we’re still in January! Ian, Sam and Alex dig into the details. They also discuss Ian’s scoop on Cresset raising $300m and explore the SEC’s latest piece of guidance on its marketing rule.
The regulator kicked off 2026 by proposing to raise its threshold for what constitutes a small advisory firm to $1bn in AUM, up from $25m. It’s a move that could affect more than 70% of RIAs, have an impact on the way future rules are written, and save advisors time and money. This Week in Wealth breaks down the details. Plus, there are two big deals to discuss.
Ian, Andrew and Alex are back for the first This Week in Wealth episode of 2026. And despite the year only being days old, there has been no shortage of big RIA news. The team discusses Andrew’s scoop on Goldman Sachs’ plans to refer clients of its Ayco executive financial counseling division out to independent wealth managers. Two of the country’s largest wealth managers have already signed up, but questions remain about how it will work. We also go deep on mega-RIA Mercer Advisors’ decision to raise fees by 50% for some of its smaller-dollar clients. Finally, it would not be an early 2026 podcast without some predictions. Happy new year!
We have a quiz! Play along at home! It's a fun, if occasionally labored, way of covering the most consequential stories in US wealth management from the last year. How many can you remember and what will their impact be? Alex, Ian and Andrew discuss. On the topic of massive news, the team also breaks down one last big deal — Corient's approach for $89bn AlTi Global. This is our final episode of 2025, thank you all for listening. This Week in Wealth will return in 2026. Happy holidays!
For our penultimate episode of 2025, This Week in Wealth is joined by Cetera Financial Group CEO Mike Durbin, who discusses everything from the firm’s efforts to recruit Commonwealth advisors to the importance of M&A for growth. In both instances, it’s a case of watch this space! He also explains why the firm is not solely focused on the RIA model and shares the pressures that keep him on his toes.
When robo-advisors first arrived, they were supposed to be an existential threat to the traditional wealth management industry. But It didn't quite work out that way. Alex, Ian and Alec discuss a few timely events in the robo business, as two of the sector's biggest businesses — Wealthfront and Betterment — pursue an IPO and raise fees on their smallest clients, respectively.
Alec Rich, Ian Wenik and Alex Steger discuss Citywire’s recent scoop on Mobile Assistant, a transcription service for advisors, which floated (and ultimately decided against) using anonymized historical data to train a wealth-focused AI tool. The story is interesting for a number of reasons, not least because it raises questions about what kind of legacy data advisors might have with various service providers and how that could be used in a world of AI. The team also dig into a reshuffle at the top of Fidelity’s custody division with leader Rohit Mahna leaving after just two years in the job.
Andrew, Ian and Alex discuss the end of a two-year legal saga between Mercer and ACG Wealth, a $1.3bn shop that the mega-RIA acquired in 2021. The deal quickly soured leading to claims and counterclaims over missing revenue, lower payouts, golf days and defamation. The team recap one of the messiest divorces in RIA M&A. They also breakdown LPL's move to stake $41bn Private Advisor Group and what this might mean for the broke-dealer's (sometimes tense) relationships with its OSJs.
Ian, Sam and Alex discuss the quiet rise of $580bn RIA Wealthspire, which this week unveiled its new C-suite following its re-acquisition by PE backer Madison Dearborn and subsequent merger with three other businesses. The team also looks at another wealth giant, $89bn AlTi Global. The firm is also a product of a series of mergers, and – according to Citywire’s reporting – there might be more deals to come.
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