Print this article

Raymond James Intensifies HNW, Ultra-HNW Market Focus

Editorial Staff

18 May 2024

Raymond James has unveiled its Private Wealth Advisor Program to advance its offering of sophisticated solutions for advisors.

The program is designed to train advisors to attract and serve high net worth and ultra-HNW clients. The offering involves on-site and virtual sessions. 

Director of private wealth coaching, Andrea Beyer, recently joined Raymond James to develop the designation program and lead a team of coaches.

The firm’s inaugural class will complete the six-month program this Fall, with another cohort enrolled later this year.

Among recent moves, Raymond James appointed industry veteran Kevin Ruth as senior vice president of private wealth to develop solutions in the space.

The company has about 8,600 financial advisors. Total client assets are $1.19 trillion as of Aug. 24.

A number of wealth management groups, such as Hightower, have developed various programs to help advisors become more productive, increase clients and improve retention rates. And there continue to be developments in training and career development. For example, the Columbia School of Professional Studies in New York has built a wealth management program.

The wealth management industry faces a talent crunch. Digitalization of financial services, demands for new services and investment areas such as ESG, are forcing the sector to adapt and improve talent acquisition. Among recent developments, wealth management systems business Envestnet in early August reported record attendance at a student training program. According to Allan R Starkie, a partner at Knightsbridge Advisors, the loss of client-facing, revenue-producing advisors in the US is “staggering.” In 2007 the country had 330,000 of them, by 2017 the number had dropped to 280,000, and continues to drop each year. Almost half of these professionals are over 55 years old, and only about 92,000 of them are focused on high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients.