One of the largest wealth managers in the U.S. has bought one of the last major independent institutional advisors, one more sign that the lines between retail and institutional investing are blurring.
Creative Planning announced plans to buy RVK, a more than 40-year-old non-discretionary investment consultant that advises roughly 200 institutional clients with $4.3 trillion. Peter Mallouk, president and CEO of Creative Planning, said in a statement that the advisor needed RVK’s investment research and consulting expertise to enhance the $70 billion registered investment advisor’s growing retirement and institutional business.
The acquisition follows a series of similar deals in which large wealth advisors have acquired institutional consultants, including Cerity picking up Virtus in February and Hightower buying a controlling stake in NEPC roughly two years ago.
“When we joined Hightower we predicted this would be a greater trend and that many of our peers would follow suit,” said NEPC’s chief investment officer Sarah Samuels. “We were happy to pick our dance partner early.”
“There’s a lot of opportunities for institutional-focused organizations to provide some best practices and advice to the wealth space,” Samuels added.
RVK’s co-president and senior consultant Spencer Hunter told Institutional Investor via email that the decision to go under Creative Planning’s wing “was less about timing and more about aligning with the right partner.” Hunter added that RVK’s current management team will continue to run the business, and while there are no initial plans to change the RVK brand, that could change over time.
Industry observers have noted that the deal, which would have been unheard of a few years ago, is another indicator that the investment advisory industry's traditional boundaries are changing.
“Historically, these were very different businesses. Today, the lines are increasingly blurring,” said Bradley Alford, founder of Alpha Capital Management.
Alford also noted that “private equity is part of the story” (Creative Planning has significant minority investments from TPG Capital and General Atlantic). He added that this deal should raise a question for institutional investors: “What does ‘independent advice’ mean as institutional consulting becomes part of increasingly large and diversified financial organizations?”
While the institutional market is quite mature, the retail space is far less so, as demonstrated by how fragmented it is (“If you’ve met one financial advisor, you’ve met one financial advisor,” Samuels joked). As more investment firms are making serious efforts to make private investment products available for retail investors, wealth advisors are increasingly looking for institutional research processes.
The lack of growth within institutional has also driven the migration of institutional advice to the retail channel. After having pivoted to retail years prior, Cliffwater’s CEO Steve Nesbitt told II in May 2025: "The institutional market has flatlined." Meanwhile, Mercer vet Rich Nuzum left the non-discretionary advisory business to run Franklin Templeton’s outsourced CIO business after seeing “ex-growth” in the defined benefit space.
Donald Putnam, managing partner at Grail Partners says the news makes sense. “When prices are high and the benefits of combination are obvious, it’s just plain silly not to merge with like-minded firms,” Putnam told II before adding: “The best model for clients, reps, and owners is the consortium model. The bigger the consortium, the better the outcomes and lower the costs.”
Alford added that this deal should raise a question for institutional investors: “What does ‘independent advice’ mean as institutional consulting becomes part of increasingly large and diversified financial organizations?”
