Name: Beyond AUM: The True Value of Scale for Advisory Firms
Uploaded: 2026-06-23T17:46:00Z
Duration: 3 min 21 s
Description: Having scale helps firms reinvest in the people, processes, and technology necessary to deliver superior client outcomes, Mike LaMena, the CEO of Wealthspire, tells Greg Bartalos, Editor-in-Chief of Barron’s Wealth & Asset Management Group.

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Having scale helps firms reinvest in the people, processes, and technology necessary to deliver superior client outcomes, Mike LaMena, the CEO of Wealthspire, tells Greg Bartalos, Editor-in-Chief of Barron’s Wealth & Asset Management Group.

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Beyond AUM: The True Value of Scale for Advisory Firms

So let's talk a little now more on the business-level about scale. And, you know, the AUM figures are really eye-popping. You just look at the numbers out there, and they're increasingly firms with huge AUMs where you're like, "I never even heard of that firm." And yet it... So, however, on the flip side, now, some... Not all firms at large AUMs are created equally and the valuations can differ. Talk to me about that and differentiation and value proposition and all of that. I'm curious.

Yeah. I mean, great question. I think it's easy in a world where there's been so much M&A and, you know, we've had very beneficial markets to get caught up in the world of AUM figures and number of employees. It's how firms are typically described at, you know, 50,000 feet. But to me, it's never been about size for size's sake or scale just to get bigger. It's about what does size and scale do in terms of enabling an organization and enterprise to reinvest in people, process, technology in a way that when you're laser-focused on delivering an amazing client experience, you're creating incremental capabilities that advisors can use to create great outcomes with clients. So, you know, if I look at Wealthspire, you know, we've evolved tremendously. Wealthspire Advisors historically grew from, you know, 6 billion in assets under management to 35 billion assets under management. Last year, we actually took Wealthspire Advisors and four other businesses that were all part of NFP, carved them out, integrated those businesses. Now we're directly backed by Madison Dearborn, and the statistics are eye-popping, right? 500 billion in asset center advisement on the institutional side, 80 billion plus in assets under our management on the wealth side, 1,300 people, 45 offices, US, Canada, UK. Those numbers get a lot of attention. What gets me most excited is the diverse set of capabilities that we're bringing together across those businesses that allow us to solve more problems for clients, use scale, use resources to be able to deliver more impactful solutions with clients. And that's whether it's an institutional client, an individual client, you know. I think we quickly assembled kind of the envy of the industry with respect to the full depth and breadth of capability. So we have defined benefit, defined contribution, Taft Hartley Foundation endowment capabilities on the institutional side, family office capabilities, ultra high net worth, high net worth, affluent wealth capabilities. We have an industry leading business management platform. All the capabilities that people want to be able to deliver a richer experience, we have. Now we have the opportunity to simplify the brand's story, integrate those capabilities, and deliver it in a more seamless way for clients. And if I... You know, not to oversimplify it, but the best advisors listen deeply to their clients, understand when they're surfacing problems or opportunities, and then use all the resources at their disposal to create solutions. So I feel like we filled, you know, the quiver with a lot more arrows for advisors to really go deep with clients and solve a lot of problems.