Investment advisors in the U.S. - statistics & facts
Registered investment advisors (RIAs) are advisors registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or registered by the securities agency in a state. The role of the RIAs is to provide tailored financial advice to their clients, and manage their clients' investment portfolios. Generally, the clients of RIAs can be individuals, institutions, or pooled investment vehicles. The number of RIAs has been increasing annually, with there being approximately 14,800 registered investment advisors employed in the United States in 2021. The value of their managed assets also grew over this time, but in recent years, competition has risen on the market: the robo-advisors. These 鈥渘ew competitors鈥 are online platforms that base investments on algorithms with minimal human interaction. Although the value of assets under management (AUM) of robo-advisors in the United States is far below that of RIAs, the assets managed by robo-advisors are growing rapidly and is expected to roughly double within five years.
