Join Ritz Stevens
You own the firm. You shouldn’t have to run it alone.
Three consulting programs for advisors who own their own RIA. One for the first years, one for a firm that’s built and has stopped growing, and one for the hand off at the end.
Flat monthly fee. No revenue share, no equity stake, no long-term contract. Ritz Stevens is run by former employees of firms like Schwab, Merrill, Vanguard and Fidelity.
Most of the advisors we talk to registered the firm themselves, took the clients with them, and have been the only person in it ever since. In Texas that’s about three out of four registered firms, one advisor, no partner, no bench. The decisions that end up setting what the firm is worth, the custodian, the pricing, the process, who takes it over, all get made once and usually alone. Our goal is to put an experienced bench next to that owner for a flat monthly fee, with no equity stake and no revenue share.
The Three Programs
Where you are decides which one.
They’re separate programs and you would only be in one at a time. Most advisors know which one they’re in as soon as they read the three.
01
Launch℠
For advisors in their first years of owning a firm, and for the ones still at a wirehouse or a broker dealer working out whether to go.
The first year is a run of decisions you only make once, the custodian, the tech stack, the compliance calendar, what to charge, and every person you can ask about them is selling you one of the answers. Launch is the expense and vendor audit, positioning and campaign build, technology selection, back-office workflow, and first look at practices coming available.
$1,100 a month, flat. Month to month, with no minimum term.
02
Full Desk℠
For firms roughly between thirty and eighty five million that are built already and have stopped growing.
At that size the custodian has your assets and nobody there calls you, so the owner does all the selling himself off a process he’s never written down, and that works right up until it doesn’t. Full Desk is sales call coaching against your own calls, a written sales process you keep, target marketing assist, vendor and pricing findings, the custodian question answered, and an annual valuation review.
$2,500 a month, flat. Three months to start, then month to month.
03
Next Destination℠
For owners inside the last five years of running the firm, and for the successor advisors on the other side of that.
Most owners sort of know who takes over and have nothing written down, so when an offer finally shows up it’s the only one on the table and they take it. We build the valuation, the deal structure and the transition plan, we find the successor, and we stay on after the closing. Ritz Stevens keeps a national registry of successor advisors who’ve already been vetted, so you’re choosing from more than the two people you happen to know.
A flat fee. We don’t buy your firm and we don’t take a piece of it.
Why Firms Work With Us
What’s different about the arrangement.
Advisors at this size get called on constantly, and most of what gets offered takes a percentage of something. Four things separate what we do.
01
You keep all of it
Flat monthly fee. No revenue share, no equity stake, no percentage of any transaction, and no long-term contract. You keep your book, your brand and your firm. The obvious alternatives all take a percentage or a piece.
02
The people have done it before
Ritz Stevens is run by former employees of firms like Schwab, Merrill, Vanguard and Fidelity. The people doing the sales coaching came out of firms that train salespeople for a living, and the succession work is run by former M&A specialists.
03
The network is why the fee is what it is
We’re already doing the custodian research, the vendor comparisons, the campaign work and the succession matching across every firm in the network, so the second firm costs a fraction of what the first one did. A consultant billing you by the hour has no way to spread that.
04
We stay for the long haul
Our involvement doesn’t end at onboarding, and on a succession it doesn’t end at the closing. One person who knows the firm, on a standing monthly call, for as long as it’s earning its keep.
What This Costs
What outside help costs, and what we charge.
A fractional COO for a small business runs $5,000 to $15,000 a month. A general business consultant runs $3,000 to $25,000 a month on retainer. Outsourced marketing for an advisory firm starts around $4,000 a month before you spend a dollar on ads.
$5,000 to $15,000
A fractional COO for a small business, per month.
$3,000 to $25,000
A general business consultant on retainer, per month.
$1,100 to $2,500
Ritz Stevens, per month, depending on the program. Flat, with no revenue share and no equity stake.
Consulting, fractional-executive and outsourced-marketing rates are 2026 United States market ranges from published industry pricing surveys. Not a representation of results.
Start Here
Start with a review of your firm.
You don’t have to pick a program to get in touch. Send us the firm name and we’ll put together a written review of it. What the public filings and the site say about how the firm is positioned, where the fee structure sits against comparable firms, and what we would change first. No charge and nothing owed. Tell us a little about yourself and we’ll be in touch within one business day.
Good to Know
Questions before you get in touch
Which program am I in?
Most advisors know as soon as they read the three. A new firm, or a wirehouse advisor still working out whether to go, is Launch. A firm that’s built already and has gone flat is Full Desk. An owner inside the last five years of running it is Next Destination. Put the firm name on the form above and we’ll tell you what we think.
Do you take a piece of my firm?
No. No equity stake, no revenue share, and no percentage of any transaction, including a succession. The consulting programs are a flat monthly fee and a succession engagement is a flat fee. You keep your book, your brand and your firm.
Am I locked into a contract?
Launch is month to month with no minimum term. Full Desk is three months to start and then month to month. A succession engagement runs on its own timeline because the work does, and we’re still there after the closing.
Do I have to be in Texas?
No. Most of the firms we’ve sat with are in Texas and the Southwest because that’s where we are. The registry of successor advisors is national.
Can I be in more than one program at a time?
You’d be in one. Launch and Full Desk answer different problems at different sizes, and a firm ready for the succession conversation is usually past both. If the right one changes as the firm changes, you move.
What does the Firm Review cost?
Nothing, and nothing is owed after it. It’s a written review of how the firm reads from the outside, off the public filings and your own site. We do that before anybody talks about a program.