By Charles Paikert

For independent wealth management firms, inorganic growth through acquisitions is a proven way to add advisor talent, which is much needed and in short supply. But as valuations soar, buying other firms is increasingly expensive. Luring experienced advisors from competitors is equally costly.

Consequently, RIAs are investing more in training programs, either internally or from third parties. According to a recent survey from Charles Schwab, over half of advisory firms now have a documented process for training and development.

"The growing emphasis we're seeing on professional development reflects a longer-term mind-set among firms, as AI and rapid change reshape the industry," says Lisa Salvi, managing director, business consulting and education at Schwab. "Investing in people is one of the clearest paths to sustained results."

Schwab itself has a year-long executive leadership program that helps next-generation advisors learn management, communication and entrepreneurship skills.

Trade groups also offer training: The Financial Planning Association has an "experiential" residency program for young advisors where they can learn new skills working with both peers and mentors, and the CFP Board sponsors internship and workforce development programs.

Other third-party programs for advisors include ClientWise, which offers online training in sales, leadership, compliance and relationship management and The Ensemble Practice's G2 Leadership Institute, which emphasizes team-based training to help younger advisors learn business development, personnel management, and strategic skills.

A harder choice for firms is whether to institute their own internal training program, which can be costly. Schwab found the median spend per professional staff member was $2,300. It's also time consuming, pulling senior advisors away from time with clients.

But RIAs that have training programs say it's worth it.

"Our program plays a key part in how we grow," says Mark Deering, managing director at SageSpring Wealth Partners. The firm has a two-year mentorship program, embedding young advisors with senior wealth managers in client meetings and other aspects of the business. "We can organically grow advisors from scratch instead of acquiring them and are better able to retain them," says Deering. "And it's foundational in framing our culture. I can't imagine doing things differently."

Chase Keen, a SageSpring advisor who completed the program working with mentors and learning how to call prospects, onboard clients and run a client meeting, described the experience as a "PhD in financial planning practice where you learn to think like a high-producing advisor."

Blake Kollin, a 26-year old advisor for OpenArc Corporate Advisory, an Atlanta-based RIA that split off from Merrill Lynch last year, "wasn't a great talker" before entering firm's training program. But role playing in real life scenarios, including relationship building, "helped take me out of my shell," Kollin says.

Navigating "the age aspect" of being a young advisor wasn't as easy, he acknowledged. But overall Kollin believes the benefits of working closely with several mentors and "getting different points of view" as part of a curriculum that includes sales acumen and financial planning are "dividends that will compound over time."

The culmination of OpenArc's three-year program (which started while the team was still at Merrill) is a master class of case studies involving clients and prospects overseen by senior advisors. The firm establishes "pods," or small working groups that provide one-on-one mentorship to each advisor. Outbound calls, sales strategies and complex issues are reviewed and discussed in a cooperative environment, says Jordan Perelle, a senior advisor at OpenArc.

Capacity and spending "energy, time and effort" on new hires can be challenging, Perelle admits. But the payoff includes organic growth, support for senior advisors, and creating careers for new advisors, Perelle says.

Another bonus is having a new generation of advisors that can work comfortably with younger clients, as well as the next crop of incoming employees. "They share a similar space with their peers," says Perelle, "and in turn will be able to train the next generation of advisors."

Matt Petrozelli graduated from Schwab's executive leadership program 11 years ago at age 35 and three years later became president and CEO of Valley National Financial Advisors in Bethlehem, Penn. Schwab's program was like "an executive M.B.A.," that helped him build a "road map" to chart his firm's growth, which has nearly tripled in eight years to reach $1.4 billion, Petrozelli says.

He's hesitant to launch an internal training program, citing the challenges of cost efficiency and scaling for a midsize firm and the availability of third party alternatives. "There's a lot of good resources out there," Petrozelli says. "Advisors have a bunch of options."

One of them is The Ensemble Practice's G2 Leadership Institute, which has been training advisors for the past 12 years. Seventy percent of an advisor's learning comes from experience and 20% comes from mentoring, according to Ensemble CEO Philip Palaveev. While formal training accounts for only 10%, it's critical because "people tend to learn better together," Palaveev says.

G2 program participants work in teams of five or six with industry executives over two years to create a strategic business plan, incorporating organizational structure, business development, marketing and compensation for a hypothetical RIA.

The classroom simulations are tested by practical applications. "You can't learn to box watching YouTube," Palaveev explains. "You have to get into the ring. Otherwise you're wasting your time."

Extending the sports analogy, Palaveev says RIAs' interest in training programs for talented advisors is growing for the same reason coaches recognize that teams with the best players have the best chance of winning. "It's the most sustainable strategy," he says.

Training programs also help keep young advisors in a profession where the drop out rate is notoriously high. OpenArc says the graduation rate for its class of new hires has been over 90%, compared with industry norms less than half of that.

"Investing in people," says Petrozelli, "brings a good rate of return."

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2026 13:24 ET (17:24 GMT)

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