Wait just a minute: Better put on your white gloves before you take that meeting.

Whether a firm is a family office or not, clients are increasingly looking for family office treatment. Expanded services are driving where high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients choose to park their assets, according to a report from Cerulli last week. The industry researcher also projects that by 2028, the total advisor-managed HNW industry will surpass $30 trillion in AUM.

In a market based on survival of the fittest, firms with the broadest offerings are expected to come out on top. “As AUM grows, so does the complexity of our client needs,” said Jeremiah Barlow, head of wealth solutions at Mercer Advisors. “Firms that invest in technology, talent and a client-first culture will be best positioned to thrive.”

Special Treatment

Returns and portfolio performance will always remain central, but firms are expected to spend less time on day-to-day investment management and more on services, said Chayce Horton, associate director of wealth management at Cerulli. “They’re looking for ways to centralize portfolio construction and move it off the core advisor’s plate,” he told Advisor Upside.

The shift is already underway. In 2024, firms serving HNW clients offered an average of 12 services, up from 10 in 2017, Cerulli found:

• Trust administration and private banking jumped from 42% and 34% of firms, respectively, to 61% and 59%.
• Roughly three-fourths now offer estate planning, up from 56%.
• Tax planning climbed to nearly 40% of practices, from about 30% in 2017.

One offering that’s losing steam, however, is concierge service. “It’s everything that a client who has a bunch of money and doesn’t know exactly where to go might ask for,” Horton said, adding that it includes buying vintage wine and fine art, booking private jets and finding dog walkers. “As you can imagine, it’s very time-intensive,” he said.

No Free Lunch. Adding services raises two big questions: Who will deliver them, and who will pay? Staffing is often a balancing act, said Andrew Larsen, analyst at Cerulli. “We’ve seen practices take outsourced services in-house and hire, but also the opposite, where advisors realize they don’t have the bandwidth and outsource instead,” he told Advisor Upside.

On pricing, some firms are moving beyond traditional asset-based fees. “The amount of revenue from financial planning fees has grown consistently,” Larsen said. “It’s still not a large slice of the pie, but it’s becoming more important.”

AI marketing agents are here. Are advisors ready?

Generative AI, which creates content by finding patterns in existing data, has been making headlines in the RIA world for its ability to transcribe client meetings, summarize emails and even give financial advice. But one area where it may cause the most disruption in the near future is marketing. AI marketing companies for financial advisors have sprung up left and right, from FINNY AI — which automates the work of reaching out to new clients — to Catchlight, which gathers data on promising prospects and advises on next steps. Experts say the influx is only going to accelerate.

“Expect more, especially because it’s getting harder to point out where AI starts and stops when it comes to its place in the modern workflow,” said Angel Gonzalez, chief marketing officer at Snappy Kraken. “It’s touching everything.”

Sloppy (AI) Joe

The latest AI marketing product to join the fray comes from the software platform Advisor CRM. Its new tools scrape the internet for an advisor’s data before drafting emails, social media posts and other materials in their personal communication style. Advisor CRM partner Leibel Sternbach estimates that roughly four in five advisors are still familiarizing themselves with AI generally and aren’t yet sure how to use it in their daily lives — something he thinks AI-driven marketing can change. “How does the advisor communicate? What is their tone? What are the types of things that they like to talk about? What are the things they downplay?” he said. “All of that goes into your marketing.”

Questions aside, advisors are drinking the AI juice. According to a recent Advisor360° survey:

• In 2025, 85% of advisors called generative AI a help to their practice, up from 64% in 2024.
• Three out of four advisors surveyed said they’ve enjoyed “immediate benefits” from using generative AI.

Not all AI companies are created equal, however. Used correctly, AI tools can ease advisors’ workloads by reducing the time and effort required to recruit new clients and keep existing ones. But without careful management and tool selection, AI can damage their image with sloppy craftsmanship that makes the sender appear out of touch, uninterested or even incompetent. Gonzalez warns of “slop” — generic AI output that risks alienating clients. Winning products, he said, will deliver tangible business outcomes: “What good is simply having content written that sounds like you if it’s not integrated with your [customer relationship management software], or connected with your marketing tools in ways that save time?”

Irreplaceable? While AI can be a helpful tool for communicating with clients and prospects, some public relations pros cautioned against using it for final drafts. This is particularly important as personalization — in everything from portfolio management to advertising — becomes the differentiating factor between RIAs in a maturing industry, said Will Ruben, senior vice president at StreetCred PR. “Nothing can replace the authentic voice of the advisor,” he added.

With over $500 billion in net inflows in the first half of 2025, exchange-traded funds are scorching.

The persistent growth is reshaping both client portfolios and financial advisor conversations. As the industry looks ahead to the potential approval of share classes, a game-changing structural development, it’s more important than ever for advisors to understand the evolving ETF landscape to help their clients navigate a growing list of investment choices.

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