Episode summary
RIA Edge Podcast: Carnegie’s Jordan Raniszeski on Managing for Future Growth
Summary
Carnegie Private Wealth has nearly doubled in size since launching in March 2023 after leaving Wells Fargo’s bank-brokerage model. Jordan Raniszeski said the move was driven by a desire for brand control, a custom client experience, and more flexibility to build the firm’s own technology, marketing, and service model.
Jordan said independence has accelerated growth, not slowed it. Excluding four recruited advisers, the firm added about $400 million of assets organically last year, helped by community visibility, client referrals, and a broader service model that goes well beyond portfolio management. He described the firm as increasingly built around associate advisers who can handle more day-to-day planning work while lead advisers focus on growth and high-value client relationships.
The firm is also formalizing management so the founders can keep client contact while delegating operations to specialists. Jordan said he and Angie Austin are taking on more of the management load, with plans to add leadership in operations, finance, and marketing. He sees that infrastructure, plus future acquisitions and later even tax preparation, as part of the path to getting beyond the $2 billion scale ceiling he believes many advisory firms face.
Key takeaways
- Jordan Raniszeski said Carnegie’s break from Wells Fargo was about control, flexibility, and the ability to build its own brand and client experience.
- He said the firm added about $400 million organically last year, excluding four recruited advisers who brought in roughly $500 million.
- Carnegie is building an associate-adviser bench to protect service quality while freeing lead advisers to focus on growth and relationships.
- Jordan said the firm’s next scale step is adding non-revenue-generating management roles, which he thinks requires more growth and margin.
- He said the firm is open to acquisitions, but only if they fit its geography, culture, and operating model.
- Jordan sees tax prep as a possible future expansion, but only if it functions as a break-even loss leader that creates more advisory opportunities.
Notable quotes
“we have grown organically in a significant way. And I I really it's a testament to the independent model being able to build our own brand”
“our lead advisors carried too too much of the burden of the client service responsibilities and we really needed to have support advisors”
“the people that make decisions get so far removed from what it's like to work with clients that they don't they tend to make decisions that are not always good”
How the episode opens
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Hi everyone and welcome to the RA Edge podcast. I'm David Armstrong. As you know, this is my opportunity to speak to executives at growing RAIA firms to try and figure out uh how they're doing it, uh how they're approaching growth, how they are thinking about building their firms to take advantage of growth. Uh and today I'm pleased to be speaking to Jordan Reneski from Carnegie Private Wealth. Jordan, thanks very much for joining us.
Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, this is our first uh podcast of 2026 for the R Edge.
Uh so I'm I'm excited to uh this is great. Uh you know, for folks who don't know, I know relatively new firm. I know you guys came out of Wells Fargo back in the day, but do you want to just give me a brief moment for the folks who don't know your firm as well to tell us, you know, uh where you are, where you came from, uh what the firm looks like now, client profile, etc.
Sure. First of all, we're we're located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Um, as you noted, uh, a lot of us, uh, that started the firm came after careers at Wells Fargo, uh, adviserss. Uh, we started the firm in, uh, it's coming up on three years. It'll be March, it'll be three years, March 1st, 2023 is when we launched.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ria growth
- independence vs bank model
- client experience
- management structure
- marketing and referrals
Companies and tickers mentioned
- WFC
- Carnegie Private Wealth
- Deloitte
- Wells Fargo
Watch the episode
Watch “RIA Edge Podcast: Carnegie’s Jordan Raniszeski on Managing for Future Growth” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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