CONCORD, Calif., June 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AssetMark, a leading wealth management platform for independent financial advisors, today released insights from its 2026 Growth Assessment, an analysis of 240 advisors that found firms achieving the strongest organic growth were more likely to consistently execute on referral development, accountability and hiring practices.
The findings come at a time when many advisory firms are reassessing how they generate sustainable organic growth in a changing market environment. While many firms experienced strong asset and revenue growth during the past decade, AssetMark’s analysis suggests favorable market conditions may have obscured meaningful differences in how firms approach growth execution and business development.
Sustainable Organic Growth Requires More Than Market Tailwinds
Growth outcomes also varied widely across firms. While 45% of advisors reported greater than 20% AUM growth over the past three years, 29% grew less than 10%. Notably, nearly 29% of advisors underperformed the returns of a passive 60/40 portfolio over the same period, suggesting that in some cases asset growth may have been driven more by market appreciation than by underlying business expansion.
“The last decade created significant growth opportunities across the advisory industry, but our research suggests that sustainable organic growth increasingly depends on operational discipline and consistent execution,” said Michael Kim, Chief Executive Officer of AssetMark. “Advisors who are building referral systems, investing in team capacity and creating accountability around growth initiatives are positioning themselves well for the future. Our goal in sharing this research is to help advisors better understand which behaviors are most closely associated with long-term growth and scalability.”
The Execution Gap: What Separates Growing Firms from Stalled Ones
The study analyzed advisor-reported asset growth over a three-year period alongside the business practices advisors used to support growth. While advisors with documented growth plans were generally more likely to report stronger growth, the research found that consistent execution mattered even more. Advisors who developed referral relationships, regularly reviewed growth progress and actively hired were more likely to achieve higher growth rates than those who focused primarily on planning.
One of the clearest signals in the dataset involved investment in team capacity. Advisors actively hiring or restructuring their teams reached the top growth tier 30 percentage points more often than those with no hiring plans (65% vs. 36%) – the strongest behavioral predictor identified in the analysis.
But team investment requires resources, and that's where the operating model behind the practice matters. AssetMark's 2024 Impact of Outsourcing Study shows that advisors who outsource investment management recover an average of 9 hours per week - climbing to nearly 12 hours for those outsourcing 90% or more of their assets - and 77% report lower operating costs as a direct result of outsourcing. That recovered time and capital is precisely what funds the growth-oriented behavior the analysis identifies as decisive.
Referral development also emerged as a meaningful differentiator. According to the assessment, 93% reported having no formal process to generate referrals consistently. Among advisors with 11 or more active referral sources, 58% reached the top growth tier, compared with 38% of those with fewer than three - a gap driven not by relationship type, but by the volume and consistency of sources actively sending clients.
The study also found that many advisors lacked formal growth-management practices and consistent accountability processes. More than half of advisors reported rarely or never conducting growth reviews, and nearly 90% did not formally review marketing outcomes, behaviors that appeared more common among higher-growth advisors.
Building Sustainable Organic Growth
The Growth Assessment data was collected as part of the application and engagement process for AssetMark Growth Consulting (AGC), the firm’s business consulting program designed to help advisors accelerate organic growth through disciplined execution.
The assessment evaluates how advisors operate across key growth dimensions, including team structure, referrals, marketing, technology, and accountability.
“The advisors I worry about are the ones who feel like they’re doing fine,” said Dana Burkhardt, Vice President and Head of Business Consulting at AssetMark. “Their AUM is up, their clients are happy, and they haven’t had to build a referral system or a growth process because the market has been growing for them. That works - until it doesn’t. The advisors who come out of the next correction in a position of strength are the ones building growth infrastructure right now, in the good times, before they need it.”
AssetMark Growth Consulting offers a one-on-one consulting relationship focused on helping advisors translate strategy into execution, reinforcing accountability, prioritizing near-term actions, and building repeatable growth systems rather than static plans.
About AssetMark
AssetMark, Inc. operates a wealth management platform with a mission to help financial advisors and their clients. AssetMark, together with its subsidiaries AssetMark Trust Company, Voyant, and Adhesion Wealth Advisor Solutions, serves advisors at every stage of their journey with flexible, purpose-built solutions, powered by its innovative technology platform. The company equips advisors with planning tools, investment solutions, and operational capabilities to help deliver better investor outcomes by enhancing their productivity, profitability, and client satisfaction.
Founded in 1996, AssetMark has over 1,000 employees and serves more than 10,000 financial advisors and over 300,000 investor households. As of December 31, 2025, the firm had over $160 billion in platform assets. AssetMark, Inc. is a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
For more information, please visit www.assetmark.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
Media:
Jen Deitsch
PR and Investment Communications Lead
jen.deitsch@assetmark.com
