Schwab's annual RIA survey shows client referrals and recruiting are top priorities for 2026. Only 44% of firms have a referral plan, while hiring is set to accelerate.
Alpha Score of 65 reflects moderate overall profile with strong momentum, weak value, moderate quality, strong sentiment.
Client referrals remain the top strategic priority for registered investment advisors on Charles Schwab’s custodial platform, according to the firm’s annual RIA benchmarking survey. Recruiting new staff to expand capacity ranks second.
The survey of 1,236 firms with at least $250 million in assets under management shows that organic growth continues to be a pain point. Industry estimates put organic growth across RIAs and independent broker-dealers at less than 2%, a figure Schwab’s own surveys have reflected since 2023.
“Organic growth is a perennial top focus area for firms,” said Lisa Salvi, managing director of business consulting and education at Schwab Advisor Services. “This is a thriving growth-oriented industry, and we see this reflected in the top priorities year after year.”
Having a formal referral program helps. Firms with a documented client referral plan generated 1.6 times more new client assets than those without one, per the survey. Yet fewer than half of the firms – 44% – have a plan for existing clients, and only 30% have one for centers of influence. Even the top-performing firms run at just 52% and 36%, respectively.
“We believe organic growth is an imperative, and it helps create a very important cycle of opportunity within an advisory firm,” Salvi said.
Hiring picks up
The talent war in the RIA space is heating up. Three-quarters of Schwab’s surveyed firms hired in 2025, adding a median of two staffers. The largest source of new hires was professional and personal networks (56%), followed by colleges and universities (36%), other RIAs (28%), and non-financial professional services firms (19%).
For 2026, the median firm plans to add four new roles, and three-quarters expect to hire before year-end. That suggests the sector remains confident in growth, even as margins are squeezed by competition and technology costs.
Equity ownership remains a rarity. Only one in three RIAs has a documented path to an equity stake for employees. Of those that do, 49% cited retaining key talent as the primary reason, 30% pointed to succession planning, and 11% said it helps with management continuity.
AI enters the priority list
Artificial intelligence is emerging as a focus area. Improving productivity through AI and integrating AI into business strategy ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, among the survey’s priority list. Several large RIAs have been ramping up investment in AI tools, both for existing advisors and as a recruiting pitch.
Charles Schwab (SCHW) itself carries an Alpha Score of 69, reflecting a moderate outlook. The company benefits from the stickiness of its custodial platform as RIAs double down on growth and technology.
The survey underscores that the RIA industry’s core challenge – generating organic growth – remains unresolved. With referral programs still underutilized and hiring expected to accelerate, the pressure on firms to build a repeatable client acquisition engine is only increasing.
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