How Many Advisors Start Their Own RIA?

The short answer: No regulator publishes a count of advisors who start their own RIA, so Winthrop counted the firms. Between April 1 and August 31, 2026, 216 newly formed advisory firms with a main office in the United States registered with the SEC, between 41 and 48 in every month, counted from the SEC's monthly Form ADV files. Source: SEC and FINRA public filings (Form ADV, BrokerCheck, IAPD). 154 of them manage portfolios for individuals and advise no private fund, and the median one reports two people doing advisory work. Across every route into SEC registration, the Investment Adviser Association and Comply counted 1,478 new SEC-registered adviser firms in 2025.

Source: SEC and FINRA public filings (Form ADV, BrokerCheck, IAPD).

How many new RIAs register with the SEC each year?

The widest published count comes from the Investment Adviser Association and Comply. Their Investment Adviser Industry Snapshot 2026 found 1,478 new SEC-registered adviser firms in 2025 and 804 that terminated their SEC registration, a net addition of 674 firms. The report's 2025 data comes from the Forms ADV on file with the SEC as of April 6, 2026.

That total mixes several kinds of arrival. The report names them: professionals starting their own firms, new fund launches, mergers and reorganizations, and firms switching from state to SEC registration. Separately, the report found that in both 2024 and 2025 the net number of adviser firms moving from state to SEC registration was approximately 500, after deducting those moving from SEC to state registration. The report also found that over 93% of 2025's new SEC registrants had less than $1 billion in assets.

How many brand-new firms register with the SEC?

Form ADV has a box that isolates them. Item 2.A(9) is for a firm relying on SEC rule 203A-2(c), which is open only to an adviser that, immediately before registering, was not registered or required to be registered with the SEC or any state, and reasonably expects to be eligible for SEC registration within 120 days. The firm must amend its Form ADV within those 120 days, and if its eligibility rests on assets, they must reach $100 million by then. That fits a breakaway team whose new firm is registered by the day it resigns and whose clients' accounts are expected to arrive within four months; when to file relative to the resignation depends on the advisor's agreement and is a question for counsel. How to register an RIA covers the filing, and how to start an RIA sets out the full launch sequence.

Winthrop read the SEC's six monthly files of registered advisers dated April 1 through September 1, 2026, and counted every firm with a U.S. main office whose SEC registration took effect between April 1 and August 31, 2026 and which checked Item 2.A(9) in at least one of those files. The result is 216 firms: 41 in April, 43 in May, 43 in June, 41 in July and 48 in August. In the same five months, 697 firms with a U.S. main office had an SEC registration take effect on any basis. The count is a floor: a firm that filed its 120-day amendment, or withdrew, before the next monthly file would never show the box, and the September 1 file runs only to registrations effective August 28. Item 2.A(9) is the route the SEC's instructions give for a newly formed adviser, though any firm not registered immediately before may use it; at least 8 of the 216 existed earlier, 5 with CRD numbers far older than the rest and 3 that had registered in January 2026, left the register and registered again in August.

What do newly formed RIAs look like?

Most are wealth managers. 154 of the 216 checked portfolio management for individuals and/or small businesses on Item 5.G and answered no to advising a private fund. 18 of the 216 advise a private fund.

They are small teams. Among the 154, 57 report one employee performing investment advisory functions, 78 report two to five, 12 report six to ten and 4 report eleven or more, with a median of two.

Assets come later in the record. On the September 1 file, 152 of the 154 were still registered. 111 of those still had the Item 2.A(9) box checked, and 110 of those reported no regulatory assets yet. Of the 41 that had filed their 120-day amendment, 33 reported $100 million or more in regulatory assets, the median was about $183 million and the largest about $758 million. The earliest registrants amend first, so read that as an early sample. Whether a smaller book can support its own firm is a separate question, covered in going independent with a small book.

By main office, the 154 cluster in New York (24), Florida (19), California (17), Pennsylvania (9) and Arizona (8).

What can the SEC's files not show?

Three things. First, firms registered only with a state are outside these files, and most firms under $100 million register with their state; what a small RIA is explains the line. The IAA and Comply counted 15,799 state-registered adviser firms in 2025, a number that declined 1.5% that year.

Second, the files count firms. A team of four that launches one firm counts once, and an advisor who joins an existing RIA never appears. For where departing advisors actually land, see IBD or RIA in 2026 and whether the move to the RIA channel is slowing.

Third, intent sits outside any filing. Cerulli reported in February 2026 that 71% of advisors say they would choose an independent channel if they were to switch firms.

The registrations show how many firms start each month. Whether to start one, join one or stay where you are is the work of Winthrop's RIA Search & Launch, and the RIA Launch Checklist lays out the steps on paper. Request an introduction.