Episode summary
RIA Edge Podcast: Building a Full-Service Financial Firm with Marty Bicknell
Summary
Mariner Wealth Advisors is shifting from a traditional RIA into what Marty Bicknell described as a full-service financial firm, with tax, trust, insurance, retirement-plan and investment capabilities built in house. He argued that keeping those services under one roof improves culture control, elevates advisor value, and creates a better client experience than relying on outside partners.
Bicknell said Mariner’s M&A strategy has evolved from simple asset gathering to targeted acquisitions that add talent, capabilities and niche expertise. The firm has done about 70 acquisitions since its first deal in 2014, and it now looks for businesses tied to dentists, athletes, first responders, closely held business owners and other niches where Mariner can both deepen advice and source future growth.
He also said Mariner is using acquisitions like Woodbridge to stay close to clients “when money’s in motion,” while its institutional platform can create future retail opportunities, even if that cross-over remains difficult. Looking ahead, Bicknell sees AI and a new operating system as the biggest lever for capacity, saying the firm wants to expand advisor capacity from about 100 relationships to 300 or 400 within a couple of years.
Key takeaways
- Bicknell said Mariner’s first acquisition failed culturally, and that lesson now drives a strict culture-first M&A filter across roughly 70 deals.
- Mariner is building in-house tax, trust, insurance and 401(k) capabilities so advisors can offer a broader client experience without outsourcing key services.
- The firm is targeting niche acquisitions in dentistry, athletes and first responders because those specialties can add both clients and expertise.
- Bicknell said Mariner’s 80-person business development team is built to fill advisors’ funnels, while advisors focus on closing and share-of-wallet growth.
- He expects AI to raise advisor capacity from about 100 relationships to 300 or 400 within a couple of years if the platform scales as planned.
Notable quotes
“we wanted the service and the talent to be inhouse, not doing partnerships, not referring things out, but building it all from within”
“we can control the culture, we can control the deliverable, we can control the priorities, and it just makes for a better client experience”
“the reason for the seller wanting to do the acquisition is really important in the beginning”
“we measure organic growth is revenue from new clients to the firm. That's it”
“I believe there's going to be a time at mariner within a couple years like two years that number can is can be 300 or 400”
How the episode opens
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This is my opportunity as to talk with the individuals who are leading some of the fastest growing and I think most interesting registered investment advisory firms in the nation. We talk about the business of financial advice. We want to get a sense of their strategic thinking, how they make the decisions they need to make to continue growing their firms.
Says, "We know being an executive is all about navigating trade-offs. You can't do it all. How do you decide where to focus your efforts to maximize the return on your time and effort?
So, today I'm thrilled to be joined by Marty Bnell, who has certainly proven he understands those trade-offs. Marty is the founder and CEO of Mariner Wealth Adviserss, one of the fastest growing RAS in the country. And Marty, thanks very much for joining us.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ria acquisitions
- advisor growth
- in-house tax trust insurance estate planning
- business development
- ai tools for advisor capacity
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Mariner Wealth Advisors
Watch the episode
Watch “RIA Edge Podcast: Building a Full-Service Financial Firm with Marty Bicknell” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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