I can tell you jsut from knowing some RIA's in my area, there really is no "average".  I know an ensemble firm that has well over $1B and 45 employees nearby, and I also am close friends with a couple of small solo RIA's that have like $15-25mm AUM.  One of the guys I know well has about 45 clients, $25mm AUM, and about 275K in revenues.  He has no assistant, a single office, and about 30K in annual expenses.

Everyone has a different view of what makes them happy in this business.  The solo guy with 25mm is where I am going with my business.  I've been in business for a while (6 years) and have moved from a couple of firms.  The attrition of clients through my moves has set me back a couple of years.  I'm at 11mm at 1% (110k annualized) as an RIA.  No assistant, in an office suite with shared staff.  Overhead is 20k ish per year. 

Anyone else in similar situations? 

http://www.fa-mag.com/component/content/article/5361.html?magazineID=1&issue=141&Itemid=73

Read this article - it's pretty good and addresses some of the things you might be asking about.

[quote=B24]

http://www.fa-mag.com/component/content/article/5361.html?magazineID=1&issue=141&Itemid=73

Read this article - it's pretty good and addresses some of the things you might be asking about.

[/quote]

Excellent Article.  Thanks for sharing.