Published on Nov 3, 2026
This article was written by Adem Tumerkan
Content Strategist, Dunham | 2025 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Award Winner | 2026 Wealthies Finalist, Thought Leader of the Year | Macroeconomics, markets, geopolitics & global trends
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Two weeks ago, I spent time at RIA Edge in Dana Point, California, listening to panels on AI, growth, and the tech stack behind both.
For those unfamiliar, the event brings together leaders from independent advisory firms to discuss how they’re growing, where they’re getting stuck, and what’s changing in the business.
It was a good event. But like many others I’ve attended, I think there’s an oversaturation of AI topics. And quite frankly, that leaves other worthwhile discussions off the table.
Still, after speaking with others and listening to panelists, I noticed two things.
Some advisors felt behind on AI and were rushing to catch up. Others were still trying to figure out what they should actually use it for. Sometimes, those were the same people.
That tension ran through several discussions. There’s pressure to get moving, but less clarity about where to start.
Anyways, here are the ideas that stuck with me - and what I think they mean for advisors.
One panelist started their session with a story.
Two firms grew revenue by the same percentage, so they looked identical on paper. That is, until someone broke down where those gains came from.
One firm leaned heavily on market gains. In other words, the rising market increased the value of clients’ existing portfolios, which lifted the firm’s AUM and fee revenue.
Meanwhile, the other had a steady flow of new clients, plus existing clients adding money to their accounts. The growth was not huge, but it was organic because it came from the work the advisors were doing.
Here’s an example - if a firm manages $100 million and charges a 1% advisory fee, it earns roughly $1 million in annual revenue, right?. Thus, if the market rises 10%, that same client base is now worth $110 million - and the firm’s revenue rises to roughly $1.1 million, even without bringing in a single new client or dollar.
This looks great. But when an appraiser looked at both, the market-dependent firm got flagged as riskier.
Why? Because markets boom and bust. So if revenue is rising mainly because asset prices are rising, rather than because the firm is adding clients and assets, that creates uncertainty (since if the market turns the other way, that revenue can fall quickly).
The point is, when markets run hot, almost everyone looks like a great business builder. That is the best time to check what is underneath.
Of course, working in finance, almost everything ties back to markets and asset prices to some degree. But the more revenue you can generate from factors you can influence – like new relationships, stronger retention, and additional client assets - the more durable your business becomes (think of rising asset prices as the cherry on top instead of the entire sundae).
Try it with your own practice. Break last year’s revenue growth into market movement, new clients, additional contributions, and clients who left.
Who knows, maybe you’ll catch something you didn’t notice before.
Another panelist had a phrase I liked. Some firms hire people just to “empty water buckets.”
That means moving data between systems, retyping information, fixing errors, and rebuilding the same spreadsheet every quarter.
The firm adds headcount to do all this, but revenue per employee doesn’t rise with it.
Put simply, divide recurring revenue by total full-time employees and track the trend quarterly or on a trailing 12-month basis. Is each added employee helping serve more clients or generate more revenue - or managing more manual work?
That’s where water buckets become an issue. You may be hiring people to keep up with work that a better process, consolidated data, or the right automation could reduce.
Another speaker shared a case where a client firm used a highly customized process to calculate fees. When she asked what that extra customization earned the firm, the answer was “nothing.”
Maybe it felt good to do. Or maybe it sounded nice when describing it to their clients. Either way, it took time and added costs without improving revenue.
A lot of us probably have a process like that. We put more effort into it than it is worth because we have always done it and it feels familiar.
So, start with one recurring task and ask:
You may find a bucket worth fixing.
AUM and revenue get plenty of attention. But they don’t tell you how efficiently your firm operates or where it may be vulnerable.
Throughout the conference, I heard people discussing other ways to measure their firms. Some were familiar – and others I didn’t even know about.
So I jotted what I heard down to share with you.
No single metric gives you the full picture. But taken together, they can help you see your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, and where it’s heading.
| Metric | How to measure it | What it can tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Net organic asset growth rate | Subtract client outflows from inflows. Exclude market movement, acquisitions, and advisor book transfers. Divide by starting AUM and multiply by 100. | How much AUM grew through net client flows. |
| Recurring revenue per household | Divide trailing 12-month recurring revenue by average active client households over that period. | Average revenue per relationship. Compare with service time and costs. |
| Revenue concentration | Calculate the share of revenue from your top 10 households. Separately, calculate the share tied to each advisor’s relationships. | Exposure if major clients or a key advisor leave. |
| Service hours per household | Divide total service hours by average active households over the same period. Separate client-facing and back-office work. | Where capacity goes. Rising hours may reflect added service, complexity, or inefficiency. |
| New-client sources | Assign each new household a primary source. Compare sources by households and assets gained over the same period. | Which channels bring in business. |
| Marketing conversion rates | Track the percentage of visitors who become qualified leads, leads who book meetings, and completed prospect meetings that produce clients. Use consistent tracking periods. | Where prospects move forward or drop off. |
Several speakers returned to the issue between collecting information and doing something useful with it. Meeting notes, prospect scores, and client details mean little without a next step and someone accountable for it.
Start with what you want to improve - more qualified meetings, faster follow-ups, or less paperwork. Then identify the information that could help - and give someone responsibility for the outcome.
Otherwise, you are collecting more data about the same unresolved problems.
As a writer, one part of the event really intrigued me.
A panelist said clients are “so over the AI slop.” Her concern was that people distrust content when it feels like something a thousand other people received - especially when it sounds AI-made.
And I think there’s an opportunity in that for independent advisors.
AI can produce writing that looks natural yet still feels generic. You start to recognize the same phrases, broad advice, and examples that could come from almost any firm (no real POV).
When your marketing sounds like everyone else’s, readers have little reason to remember you.
Your advantage is the voice and experience behind your advice. For instance, a client can find a definition of diversification almost anywhere. But your content can show how you explain it, answer questions clients actually ask, and connect the topic to their concerns. This gives them a sense of how you think and what working with you might feel like.
I’d recommend using AI to organize ideas, brainstorm arguments, check structure, optimize for SEO, or proofread a draft. But keep both your hands on the steering wheel. If AI supplies every opinion, example, and conclusion - your voice can disappear from your own marketing.
NOTE: Google’s publishing rules give advisors another reason to focus on quality. Publishing large amounts of unoriginal content to chase rankings can violate its spam policies, whether AI or people wrote it. Next week, I will look more closely at Google’s recent update and what advisors can learn about search visibility.
This brings me back to the advisors rushing to catch up.
Start with a business goal and check the tools you already pay for. You may have useful features available without adding another vendor.
One speaker suggested using AI as an easier way to work with software you already trust. Instead of clicking through menus to find a report, you ask AI to fetch it. AI interprets the request, and the software generates the report through its existing process.
Bring compliance into the discussion early. Agree on what information AI can access, which tasks it can perform, and what needs human approval. That’s a more manageable starting point than trying to redesign the whole practice.
Look at where your growth comes from, which processes drain your team’s time, and whether your marketing gives people a reason to remember you. There’s useful work to do in each area - with or without another AI tool.
It was clear that the AI fever keeps burning. But don’t let the pressure to catch up consume your attention. Start with a problem worth solving, then decide whether AI can help.
That’s what I took home from Dana Point - plenty of ideas to consider, but no reason to chase all of them at once.
This communication is general in nature and provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered or relied upon as legal, tax or investment advice or an investment recommendation, or as a substitute for legal or tax counsel. Any investment products or services named herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell, or an investment recommendation for, any specific security, strategy or investment product or service. Always consult a qualified professional or your own independent financial professional for personalized advice or investment recommendations tailored to your specific goals, individual situation, and risk tolerance. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative purposes only.
Information contained in the materials included is believed to be from reliable sources, but no representations or guarantees are made as to the accuracy or completeness of information. This document is provided for information purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice.
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