In 2015, most services we polled are offered by the majority of RIAs. Standard advisory functions, such as basic investment advice, investment management, financial planning and retirement planning are most common, but there is a split on estate, insurance and charitable giving planning. While there is relative consensus around offering planning-based services, the actual definition of such practices likely varies across firms. Advisors tend to refer clients to third parties for certain services like tax preparation, trust services, private banking and business advisory services. The only services not offered by a majority of advisors are concierge services and investment management to other advisors, both of which likely fall out of the scope of most RIA practices. Overall these results are largely consistent with prior year responses, but we do observe some changes, which are discussed in the next section and illustrated in Figure 3.
Next Part 3 of 7: Trends in Services Offered: 2013-2015