DEALQUEST PODCAST – Marty Bicknell
M&A Talk with Leading RIA Aggregators and Integrators:
Marty Bicknell of Mariner Wealth Advisors
CEO and President of Mariner Wealth Advisors, Marty Bicknell, drives the strategic direction for the firm, coming up with innovative solutions to help meet the needs of Mariner’s clients. Marty has wide-ranging personal and professional experience with closely held family businesses and their exclusive complexities. As a result, he is often sought out as a mentor by other successful entrepreneurs and is a recognized leader in wealth management.
In 2006, Marty along with seven others founded Mariner Wealth Advisors with the leading goal of keeping the client at the center of the business. Marty’s vision was to build a firm that could simplify their clients’ lives by allowing all the needed resources under one roof. Marty and Mariner’s promise is to always put the clients’ interest first – a promise they haven’t budged from in their 17 years of business.
I’ve had the unique pleasure of following the growth of Mariner since the beginning, so having Marty’s experience and insight available to the DealQuest community is such an honor.
THE INCEPTION AND CORE OF MARINER WEALTH ADVISORS
Coming from a background of the wirehouses, that’s all Marty knew. He spent the first 16 years of his career with A.G. Edwards, which is an incredible firm with an incredible culture that, too, went through its own changes; ones that greatly impacted many advisors, including Marty. At this point, he needed to figure out his next steps and was fortunate enough to come across two people from Fidelity that assisted in educating him on what the RIA industry was. As soon as he had a good grip on the fiduciary model and the RIA industry, he knew it’d be an excellent fit for his team, his clients, and his own personal goals, so he “jumped right in.”
Marty and his fellow founders started Mariner Wealth Advisors with a simple philosophy that still stands today:
Clients first. No exception.
Associates second.
Shareholders last.
This philosophy became important to Marty and the Mariner team due to the fact that many firms today tend to prioritize shareholders a tad too much, but for Marty, he wanted his clients to feel their needs and wants were always met; never leaving the question if Mariner is on their side, or not.
FROM ORGANIC GROWTH AND ONBOARDING TO M&A INTEGRATOR: WHY MARINER SWITCHED
Looking at the wirehouse model, it isn’t uncommon to find a “corner office guy” to be the best business development professional, but lacking on the advice side. Looking elsewhere in the office, you’d find the opposite is true for someone else.
For many years Mariner Wealth’s growth consisted of a combination of organic growth and onboarding new advisors, but not from doing M&A deals.
With a deep dedication to their core philosophy, Mariner focused on client outcomes, differing from the model within the wirehouses. Mariner got their start as an in-house tax practice. In addition to that, Mariner also solely owns their Insurance General Agency. All of the many steps of forming Mariner allotted Marty and the team to bring to the table a great deal of diverse and new things, allowing them to perform greater for their clients.
Following approximately 10 – 12 years of operating primarily under organic growth, the studies began to show that organic growth was actually a lot lower, and slower. If you look at the average firm – below the big aggregator firms – you actually begin to see that growth is sitting at or under 3%.
Compiling the staggering growth statistics for firms that pursued deal-driven growth, Marty’s philosophy for Mariner, and what he and his team want to achieve for Mariner’s clients, making the switch to the integrator model began to make sense.
WHERE THERE IS FAILURE, THERE IS A CHANCE FOR GROWTH
The model switch was not an overnight, quick decision for Marty and the Mariner team. The switchover actually began in 2011 with Mariner’s first acquisition deal. Marty frankly states that it was an opportunistic deal that ultimately just did not work out. It was a beneficial and financially sound deal, but culturally it was not a good mix. This in turn resulted in Mariner having to ask their three largest revenue producers to leave the organization, taking their clients with them.
This failure was not without its lessons in growth. It made Marty take a step back and reevaluate. He learned what their non-negotiables were for a deal. Those non-negotiables in a deal have not faltered much if at all since that first unsuccessful deal.
THE HOW OF THE SWITCH
In 2012, Mariner used this new knowledge and successfully completed four acquisitions. From 2012 to 2018, Mariner had a holding company approach, with approximately 20 firms that Mariner owned, on average, 70% of; wherein they kept their own brands. This initial aggregator approach allowed Mariner to enter into the acquisition space. The problem which existed was that they weren’t getting any synergy; they were simply sharing 70% of the profits of the firms.
In 2018, Mariner began the process for the transition from that aggregation approach to an integration strategy, starting the One Mariner Project. The One Mariner Project involved:
Buying out minority owners
Brands transitioning to the Mariner brand
Operating under one ADV
The acquisitions from 2019 onward were full buyouts, which is an impressive feat considering these deals were entirely self-funded until June 2021, when Mariner brought in their first private equity partner.
INTEGRATOR VS. AGGREGATOR
For Marty and Mariner Wealth Advisors, the philosophy of “clients first” meant their firm’s growth relied on how they could provide their best for their clients. This is not to say that other models don’t or can’t work, as we know many firms operate under various models to serve their clients in their own best way. The takeaway from here is being aware what will work best given your unique business goals and target clientele.
With that in mind, I hope what you take away from this series includes some actionable next steps you can use to determine which wealth management model – or combination of models – works for your business, your clients and you in general. Also with the new understanding one the featured firms might be a good fit for you.
For my full discussion with Marty Bicknell, and more on the topic:
Listen to the Full DealQuest Podcast Episode Here
FOR MORE ON MARTY BICKNELL & MARINER WEALTH ADVISORS:
https://www.marinerwealthadvisors.com/
https://www.marinerwealthadvisors.com/our-team/marty-bicknell/ https://www.marinerwealthadvisors.com/our-team/marty-bicknell/
Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.
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