Hedge fund capital reached a record of about $5.6 trillion in mid-2026 and wealth managers closed deals at a record pace, yet the fee on each dollar managed keeps falling. Six leaders on our list, from Bridgewater's Nir Bar Dea to Chatham Financial's Matt Henry, are answering by building their own AI, taking private markets to everyday investors, and buying the services their clients used to get elsewhere.
The short version
Four businesses charge in four ways. Asset managers take a share of assets, hedge funds take a share of profits, wealth managers charge households a yearly fee, and capital-markets advisers charge by the deal. More
Rising markets hide falling fees. Hedge fund capital hit a record in 2026, but index funds keep taking share and the fee on each dollar keeps falling. More
Five changes mark the innovators: building their own AI, taking private markets to everyday investors, buying new services, selling minority stakes, and moving active management into new wrappers. More
Six leaders on our list are making these changes, and one more outside it is making a similar move. Each profile ends with a question to ask. More
Brokers, custodians, consultants, and lead sellers take a cut. Fund managers pay for shelf space, and wealth managers pay a share of fees for referred clients. More
Ask which work they've rebuilt, not whether AI will replace people. Don't treat assets under management as revenue or call a wealth manager a broker. More
How the business works
Four businesses manage the same money and charge for it in four different ways
US-registered funds held $45.1 trillion at the end of 2025, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI). ICI Around those funds sit three businesses that outsiders often lump together with them: hedge funds, wealth managers, and capital-markets advisers, who help companies and investors hedge, borrow, and raise money.
The leaders on our list run all four. Each earns money differently, so the same question about growth or margin means something different in each one.
Business
How it earns
Typical fee or margin
Largest players
Our leaders
Asset managers (mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and institutional accounts)
Charges a yearly fee as a share of the money it manages, so revenue rises and falls with markets
Equity mutual funds averaged 0.40% of assets in 2025 ICI
BlackRock, Vanguard, and Fidelity; Capital Group and Wellington are among the largest privately owned
Mike Gitlin (Capital Group), Jean Hynes (Wellington Management)
Hedge funds (macro and multistrategy)
Classic funds charge a management fee plus about 20% of profits. The big multistrategy firms pass their costs, mostly pay, through to investors and add a performance fee
Investors kept 41 cents of each dollar of gross gains in 2023, down from 54 cents in 2021, BNP Paribas found Hedgeweek
Millennium, Citadel, Bridgewater, and Point72
Nir Bar Dea (Bridgewater Associates), Dmitry Balyasny (Balyasny Asset Management)
Wealth managers (registered investment advisers)
Charges households a yearly fee on the assets it advises on, usually tiered, and often adds tax and estate planning
Creative Planning, Fisher Investments, and Edelman Financial Engines
Peter Mallouk (Creative Planning)
Capital-markets advisers
Charges companies, property owners, and funds for advice and execution on hedges and debt by the transaction or as recurring fees; capital raisers take a retainer plus a success fee
Placement agents typically take 1.5-2.5% of the capital they raise, a vendor guide says Pipelineroad; hedging advisers don't publish fees
Chatham Financial, which says it handles over $1 trillion in transaction volume a year Chatham
Matt Henry (Chatham Financial)
Fees and margins are the latest each source publishes; the four businesses report profit in different ways.
Assets under management aren't revenue
A firm's assets under management (AUM) are its clients' money. The firm earns a fee on it, measured in basis points, or hundredths of a percent: $100 billion in equity funds at 0.40% brings in about $400 million a year. That's why a strong market makes every firm look healthy, and why the fee per dollar is the number leaders watch.
The largest firms are owned by their people
Most of the industry's giants aren't public companies. Capital Group calls itself privately owned and employs 9,300+ associates, Capital Group Wellington is a private partnership, InvestmentNews and Bridgewater's founder sold his last shares back to the firm in 2025. Hedgeweek Owners now sell minority stakes instead of listing: Millennium sold about 15% at a $14 billion valuation, Hedgeweek and TPG bought a minority stake in Creative Planning in 2024. InvestmentNews
The economics in 2026
Rising markets are hiding a fee per dollar that keeps falling
$45.1Theld in US-registered funds at the end of 2025source
$5.6Tof hedge fund capital at the end of June 2026, a recordsource
16,544SEC-registered advisers; 92.8% employ 100 people or fewersource
466wealth manager acquisitions in 2025, a record by Echelon's countsource
Notable change
Washington loosens fund rules and moves to open 401(k) plans to private markets
The Department of Labor proposed a rule on March 30, 2026 giving 401(k) sponsors a safe harbor when they pick investments, including private assets, after an August 2025 executive order. Morrison Foerster Comments closed in June, and no final rule is out as of mid-October.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrew 14 pending proposals in June 2025, including a rule on predictive data and AI, Paul Hastings and in November 2025 let Dimensional add ETF share classes to its mutual funds, which other managers copied. Seward & Kissel
So what: The products these leaders are building, from public-private funds to ETF share classes, depend on rules that changed in the last 18 months. Ask a leader which rule change they've built for, and which one they're waiting on.
The first chart tracks the money in hedge funds through the pandemic and since. The second shows the pressure on everyone else: index funds keep taking share, and fees keep falling.
Hedge fund capital is up 69% since the end of 2019 and set a record in mid-2026
So what: Investors have added money to hedge funds in every quarter since the start of 2025, about $45 billion a quarter since late 2025, and that money pays for the hiring war and AI spending at firms like Balyasny and Bridgewater. Ask a leader what they would keep building if the inflows stopped.
Total hedge fund capital worldwide (gaps: no HFR figure published or found)
Total capital invested in hedge funds worldwide at each quarter end, as first published in the quarterly Global Hedge Fund Industry Report from HFR (Hedge Fund Research). Older releases link to archived copies. Gaps mark quarters with no published total; nothing is estimated. Hover for each quarter; click or tap for details.Show as a table
Index funds held a majority of US fund assets by 2024, while fees on active equity funds fell 33% from 2010
So what: An active equity fund earns about a third less on each dollar than it did in 2010, and index funds now hold most of the money. Capital Group and Wellington are moving into private markets, where fees are higher, and Dimensional is moving its funds into ETFs. Ask a leader which of their products earns a fee an index fund can't undercut.
Fees on equity mutual funds (% of assets a year)
ActiveIndex
Index funds’ share of US fund assets
Index mutual funds and index ETFs
Asset-weighted average expense ratios of actively managed and index equity mutual funds, from the Investment Company Institute's (ICI) Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds, 2025 data file. Index share is index mutual funds plus index ETFs as a percent of US long-term mutual fund and ETF assets at year-end, as printed in ICI's annual Fact Book editions; years ICI doesn't state show as n/a, and earlier years come from older editions. Morningstar, counting differently, found passive funds passed active ones at the end of 2023.Show as a table
Rising markets drive most of the growth. More than 80% of asset managers' revenue growth came from rising markets rather than new money, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG). BCG
Money is moving into new wrappers. Active ETFs took 34% of US ETF inflows in the first half of 2026, Capital Group says, Capital Group and private-market evergreen funds held about $607 billion in March 2026. Dakota
Semi-liquid funds had their first test. After two lender bankruptcies, Blue Owl ended redemptions at a $1.6 billion fund and investors asked for more of their money back than many private credit funds allow. CNBC
What is changing
Firms are changing how the work gets done in five ways
The biggest shift is who, or what, does the research. Two-thirds of asset managers name AI as their top investment priority, KPMG found. KPMG The firms furthest ahead build their own agents, test them against their own work, and redesign the jobs around them.
From 2023 to 2026, the firms changing most are doing one or more of five things. The first three match the three groups of leaders on our list; each cuts across asset managers, hedge funds, wealth managers, and advisers.
1. Building their own AI
Hedge funds and advisers are building their own AI platforms and testing models against their own work. Balyasny runs research through BAMAgent, which links models and agents across more than 80 internal databases. Google Cloud Bridgewater's AIA Labs started a fund in July 2024 that uses machine learning as the primary basis for its decisions. Hedgeweek Chatham Financial rebuilds each workflow from the outcome back, a method it calls Process Zero. Chatham
On our list: Nir Bar Dea, Dmitry Balyasny, Matt Henry.
2. Taking private markets to everyday investors
Firms built on stocks and bonds are partnering with private-markets firms to sell blended funds to individuals, and 401(k) plans could be next. Capital Group and KKR launched an equity interval fund with no accreditation requirement in March 2026. Capital Group Wellington, Vanguard, and Blackstone launched two public-private funds in July 2026. InvestmentNews
On our list: Mike Gitlin, Jean Hynes.
3. Buying the services clients used to get elsewhere
Firms are buying the tax, consulting, distribution, and capital-raising work their clients bought from someone else. Creative Planning bought BerganKDV, a 600-person accounting firm, in 2023 WealthManagement.com and agreed to buy RVK, an institutional consultant, in September 2026. Creative Planning Wellington agreed to buy Hartford Funds, whose funds it already ran. Morningstar Chatham agreed to buy Hodes Weill, a capital raiser. CRE Herald
On our list: Peter Mallouk; Jean Hynes and Matt Henry have made similar moves.
4. Selling minority stakes without giving up control
Owners raise money while keeping control. Millennium sold about 15% of the firm, Hedgeweek Chatham took minority investments from GIC, Atairos, and Vikram Pandit while its employees keep majority ownership, Pulse 2.0 and Bridgewater plans for more than half its staff to become owners. Hedgeweek
5. Moving active management into new wrappers
Passive funds passed active funds in US assets at the end of 2023. Cerulli Active managers are answering with active ETFs and ETF share classes: US ETFs took a record $1.54 trillion through September 2026. InvestmentNews
The innovators
Six leaders on our list are rebuilding how their firms invest, advise, and sell
Six leaders in these businesses are among The Originals. Each has made a dated, costly change to how the work is done. The highest scorers are Nir Bar Dea of Bridgewater Associates (8), Jean Hynes of Wellington Management (6.4), and Peter Mallouk of Creative Planning (6.4).
18 of these 19 dated moves came in 2023 or later
So what: Most of these leaders made their costliest moves in 2023 or later, while rising markets hid how fast fees were falling. Asking which move they'd still make in a bad market is a natural way to open a conversation.
Building their own AITaking private markets to everyday investorsBuying the services clients used to get elsewhere
Each dot is one costly change to how the work is done. Click a dot for a short summary and a link to the story.Show as a table
Year
Leader
Move
Source
2018
Dmitry Balyasny
Cuts 125 jobs after 'Adapt or Die' year, rebuilds around five strategies
CEO, Bridgewater Associates · Westport, Connecticut; macro hedge fund founded in 1975, now controlled by its employees
Nir has run Bridgewater alone since 2023 and spent the founder handover rebuilding it. He cut staff twice, about 7% in January 2025 after a strong year, and his AIA Labs unit launched a fund in July 2024 that uses machine learning as the primary basis for its decisions. After Ray Dalio sold his last shares in 2025, Nir told staff that more than half of them would become owners.
“good manifestation of us taking the flag and putting it at the top of the mountain” source
Ask aboutWhen more than half the firm owns it and a model makes the calls in one fund, what an investor at Bridgewater does all day, and which judgments stay human.
Founder and Managing Partner, Balyasny Asset Management · Chicago; multistrategy hedge fund with more than 2,700 people in 24 offices
Dmitry set up an applied AI team in late 2022 that built BAMAgent, which links specialized models and agents across more than 80 internal databases. In October 2026 the firm added Google's Gemini. Balyasny runs an annual AI hackathon and publishes how it tests each new model against its own work. In 2025 it also backed Longaeva Partners, a new equities unit with up to $15 billion.
“We're trying to disintermediate ourselves and use AI as much as possible, use quantitative and systematic resources and strategies because that's where the world is going,” source
Ask aboutAs BAMAgent takes more of what a junior analyst did, how the pod, the career path, and the portfolio manager's job change, and what the hackathon taught him that a top-down rollout wouldn't have.
CEO, Chatham Financial · Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; employee-owned adviser on hedging, debt, and capital raising, which says it has 700+ employees and 3,500 clients
Matt has rebuilt Chatham's workflows from the outcome back, a method the firm calls Process Zero, and sells the same redesign to clients. Chatham says it cut trade validation from 30 minutes to under 4. OpenAI In April 2026 he agreed to buy Hodes Weill, a capital raiser for real estate funds, and in August he took minority investments from GIC, Atairos, and Vikram Pandit while employees keep majority ownership.
“The more I experience AI, the less I believe the widespread adoption of LLMs is mainly a technology story. It is a work redesign story. A management story. And, pretty quickly, a human story.” source
Ask aboutWho decides where human judgment is essential in a Process Zero workflow, and what the people whose steps disappeared do now.
President and CEO, Capital Group · Los Angeles; privately owned manager of the American Funds, founded in 1931, with 9,300+ associates
Mike took a firm built on stocks and bonds into private markets through a partnership with KKR: two credit interval funds in April 2025, target-date and model portfolios in December 2025, and an equity fund open to any investor in March 2026. In 2026 he also agreed to buy the firm's Los Angeles headquarters tower and plans a hub in Charlotte.
“I think of these public-private solutions as the best of both worlds,” source
Ask aboutWhat partnering instead of building has changed in how a consensus-driven firm makes decisions, and what advisers ask about the private half of the funds.
CEO and Managing Partner, Wellington Management · Boston; private partnership that has run money for other firms' fund brands for decades
Jean is turning Wellington from a manager behind other firms' brands into one with its own retail business. In 2025 it launched an evergreen venture and growth platform and its first tokenized fund. In June 2026 she agreed to buy Hartford Funds, whose funds Wellington already ran, and in July the first public-private funds built with Vanguard and Blackstone went on sale through Merrill.
“And it's all made possible by a private ownership model that enables us to remain relentlessly focused on long-term success for our clients.” source
Ask aboutWhat has to change inside Wellington to own the adviser relationship directly, and what she's choosing to keep the same.
President and CEO, Creative Planning · Overland Park, Kansas; wealth manager with $780 billion+ in combined assets, majority owned by Mallouk with minority stakes held by General Atlantic and TPG
Peter has built a wealth manager that does its clients' tax, legal, and business work in-house. In 2023 he bought BerganKDV, a 600-person accounting and business-services firm, and in September 2026 he agreed to buy RVK, an institutional investment consultant. He says his deals cut no jobs.
“There are zero synergies in the sense of personnel reduction or cost savings,” source
Ask aboutIf AI takes over most of a wealth manager's back-office work, what a firm built around accountants, lawyers, and consultants looks like in five years.
A leader outside the list is making a similar move
Gerard O'Reilly isn't on the list, but Dimensional's move into ETF share classes is worth asking about.
Gerard O'Reilly
Co-CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Dimensional Fund Advisors · Austin, Texas; privately owned manager with more than $1 trillion in assets
Gerard's firm won the first SEC approval to add ETF share classes to its mutual funds in 2025 and launched the first active one in 2026. In June 2026 Dimensional said it would fold eight ETFs into share classes of its mutual funds, about $250 billion in all, and cut fees on them.
“We have long championed broader availability of ETF share classes, recognizing the potential tax efficiency, cost savings, and economies of scale this structure can offer investors.” source
Ask aboutWhat merging the ETFs and mutual funds changed for the people who run and trade them.
The wider field
Public giants and AI vendors set the pace the private firms react to
A few of the largest firms and fastest-growing vendors shape what the leaders above can do. They set the going price for fees, talent, and software.
Large firms
BlackRock The largest manager; bought its way into private markets with Global Infrastructure Partners, Preqin, and HPS.
Millennium and Citadel The biggest multistrategy hedge funds; Millennium sold about 15% of the firm at a $14 billion valuation.
Nuveen TIAA's manager completed its purchase of Schroders on October 1, 2026, creating a firm with about $2.6 trillion in assets.
Edelman Financial Engines A large wealth manager controlled by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman since 2015.
Companies selling the tools
Anthropic and Google Model makers whose models Balyasny tests and runs inside BAMAgent; Anthropic launched Claude for Financial Services in July 2025.
Hebbia and AlphaSense AI research platforms for investment teams; Hebbia says firms with $30 trillion in assets use it.
Jump and Zocks AI meeting assistants that take notes and update records for wealth advisers.
How clients find the firms
Brokers, custodians, consultants, and lead sellers stand between these firms and their clients
Notable change
The SEC fines a wealth-adviser matching service over hidden conflicts
On September 28, 2026, the SEC fined Zoe Financial $450,000 for failing to disclose that it benefited when the clients it referred used its own services. InvestmentNews
A month earlier, Schwab said it would raise the minimum for clients referred through its adviser network to $5 million from January 2027, up from $500,000 before 2026. ThinkAdvisor
So what: The paid referral channels smaller wealth managers grew on are getting pricier and more scrutinized at the same time. Ask a leader how much of their growth comes from their own clients' referrals, and what they've built to need the middlemen less.
Each business pays a different middleman. Fund managers pay brokerage firms for shelf space. Wealth managers pay custodians and lead sellers a share of fees for referred clients. Hedge funds pay marketers a share of their fees. Pension consultants and prime brokers' introduction desks cost the manager nothing, because the investor or the trading relationship pays for them.
Up to 25 bpsa year that LPL charges fund managers on mutual fund assets in revenue sharingsource
$326.8Mpaid to Edward Jones in revenue sharing in 2025, $132.2M of it by Capital Group's American Fundssource
54.2%of wealth advisers' new clients come from existing clients' referralssource
About 25%of the advisory fee that a wealth manager pays Schwab for each referred clientsource
These firms pay four of the seven channels that bring them clients
So what: Fund managers pay brokerage firms for shelf space, wealth managers pay custodians and lead sellers a share of every referred client's fees, and hedge funds pay marketers a share of their fees. Pension consultants, prime brokers' introductions, and accountants' referrals cost the firm no fee. Ask a leader what share of new money comes through channels they pay, and what they have built to win clients directly.
The firm pays the channelThe firm pays no fee
ClientA household, a 401(k) saver, a pension fund or endowment, or a company that needs to hedge or raise money
→
Brokerage shelf spaceFirm pays
Edward Jones, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley, Merrill
Fund managers pay revenue sharing to get on the brokerage firm's product list and reach its advisers.
From 3.5 to 13 basis points a year at Edward Jones and up to 25 at LPL on mutual fund assets. Financial Planning
Pensions and endowments pay a consultant to shortlist managers, or hand it the portfolio to run.
No fee from the manager; 85% of North American institutions use a consultant. Benefits Canada
Prime broker capital introductionNo fee from the firm
The prime brokerage desks of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan
Banks that lend to and trade for hedge funds introduce them to investors at events and meetings.
Free to the fund; paid for through the prime brokerage relationship. Euromoney
Accountants, lawyers, and existing clientsNo fee from the firm
Clients' accountants and estate attorneys, and satisfied clients
Professionals and clients refer friends and clients; paid referrers must be disclosed under the SEC's Marketing Rule.
Usually no fee; 54.2% of advisers' new clients come from client referrals. Cerulli Associates
→
FirmThe asset manager, hedge fund, wealth manager, or capital-markets adviser that does the work
Fee levels come from firm disclosures, trade press, and vendors' published terms; several channels don't publish their fees. Each links to its source.Show as a table
Channel
Examples
Does the firm pay?
What it costs the firm
Source
Brokerage shelf space
Edward Jones, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley, Merrill
Yes
From 3.5 to 13 basis points a year at Edward Jones and up to 25 at LPL on mutual fund assets
Mercer (now Marsh) The largest outsourced manager of pension and endowment portfolios.
SmartAsset The best-known seller of leads to wealth advisers, valued above $1 billion in 2021.
What it means for the firms
Fund managers pay a toll for shelf space. Capital Group pays Edward Jones a lower rate than most fund families but the largest total. Yahoo Finance Wellington's purchase of Hartford Funds gives it its own route to advisers. Morningstar
Wealth managers' cheapest clients come from other clients. Kitces Research found client referrals cost 34 cents per dollar of new revenue, against $4.88 for social media. Financial Planning Lead sellers charged $90-190 per lead in 2021, won or not. WealthManagement.com
Pension money moves through consultants. 85% of North American institutional investors use a consultant. Benefits Canada A hedge fund that hires a third-party marketer typically gives up about 20% of its fees on the money raised. Hedge Fund Law Blog
Rules for the middlemen are changing
When
Who
What it does
Jun 2020
SEC
Regulation Best Interest takes effect: brokers must act in retail clients' best interest and disclose conflicts such as revenue sharing. Duane Morris
Nov 2022
SEC
The Marketing Rule's compliance date: paid referrers and testimonials allowed with disclosure. PLANADVISER
Jan 2025
SEC
Wells Fargo and Merrill pay $60 million over cash sweep programs. WealthManagement.com
Nov 2025
Department of Labor
Drops its defense of the 2024 fiduciary rule on retirement advice, which never took effect. Journal of Accountancy
2026
SEC
Closes its cash sweep inquiry into Morgan Stanley without action. The Wealth Advisor
Mar 2026
Department of Labor
Proposes a safe harbor for 401(k) sponsors choosing investments, including private assets; not final. Morrison Foerster
Sep 2026
SEC
Fines Zoe Financial $450,000 over undisclosed referral conflicts. InvestmentNews
Four leaders run the main channels
Rick Wurster runs the largest custodian and Rich Steinmeier the largest independent broker-dealer. Michael Carvin runs the best-known lead seller, and Pat Tomlinson runs the largest outsourced investment business.
Rick Wurster
President and CEO, Charles Schwab · Westlake, Texas; the largest custodian for independent wealth managers; CEO since January 2025
Rick runs the firm that holds most independent wealth managers' client accounts and also refers wealthy households to them through the Schwab Advisor Network. In August 2026 Schwab said it would raise the network's minimum to $5 million for referrals from January 2027.
“Thirty-one percent of Schwab clients said they are willing to pay for advice. Our opportunity to close this gap is a win-win for clients and Schwab.” source
Ask aboutHow Schwab decides which clients it advises itself and which it refers to independent firms.
Rich Steinmeier
CEO, LPL Financial · San Diego; the largest independent broker-dealer, with $2.6 trillion in client assets; CEO since October 2024
Rich runs one of the platforms fund managers pay to reach advisers: LPL takes up to 25 basis points a year on mutual fund assets in revenue sharing. In 2025 it closed its purchase of Commonwealth Financial Network.
“It didn't turn from a crisis event to a company in crisis,” source
Ask aboutHow LPL shows its advisers that a fund's place on the shelf isn't for sale.
Michael Carvin
CEO and Co-founder, SmartAsset · New York; venture-backed personal finance site that sells leads to wealth advisers
Michael built SmartAdvisor, which matches consumers with advisers who pay for each lead; it helped lift SmartAsset to a valuation above $1 billion in 2021. After the SEC fined a rival matching service, Zoe Financial, in September 2026, the whole channel faces questions about disclosure.
“We are not sharing specifics, but SmartAdvisor has been the key driver behind revenue growth.” source
Ask aboutWhat SmartAsset tells consumers about how advisers are ranked and how many get each lead.
Pat runs the consultant that pension funds and endowments pay to pick managers, and which also runs portfolios itself. Mercer took the Marsh name on September 1, 2026.
“In a world that's changing faster than ever, our clients need the breadth of capabilities, insights and scale that they can access through Marsh.” source
Ask aboutHow a pension client can tell whether a manager was hired on merit when the consultant also sells its own portfolios.
Trade-offs
Six trade-offs divide the leaders you'll meet
Most leaders on our list have picked a side on several of these. In our reading, asking which side they picked, and why, gets to their strategy faster than asking about trends.
1Build your own AI or buy it
Balyasny built BAMAgent and tests each new model against its own work. Anthropic
Most wealth managers buy AI meeting assistants such as Jump and Zocks. Jump
AskWhich AI tool would you never rent from a vendor, because it's how you beat your rivals?
2Stay owned by your people or sell a stake
Jean Hynes credits Wellington's private ownership for its long-term focus. Wellington
Millennium sold about 15% at a $14 billion valuation. Hedgeweek
AskWhat would an outside investor have to accept for you to sell them a stake?
3Partner for private markets or build them
Mike Gitlin says it would take Capital Group 50 years to build KKR's track record. WealthManagement.com
BlackRock bought HPS and Global Infrastructure Partners instead. Wikipedia
AskWhat does your partner know that you couldn't learn in five years?
4Pay for distribution or own it
American Funds paid Edward Jones $132.2 million in revenue sharing in 2025. Yahoo Finance
Wellington agreed to buy Hartford Funds to own its route to advisers. Morningstar
AskWho owns the relationship with the person who picks your fund?
5Cut staff in a good year or hold them
Bridgewater cut about 7% of its staff in January 2025 after a strong year. Hedgeweek
Peter Mallouk says his acquisitions cut no jobs. RIABiz
AskWhen AI takes the routine work, do you keep the people and change the job, or keep the job and change the people?
6Pass costs to investors or charge a fixed fee
Multistrategy funds pass their costs, mostly pay, through to investors. Hedgeweek
A coalition led by the Texas teachers' pension fund wants performance fees paid only above a cash hurdle. Hedgeweek
AskHow do you keep the war for portfolio managers from becoming a bidding war your investors pay for?
Before a first conversation
Leaders want to talk about AI, private markets, fees, and who owns the firm next
In late 2026 these leaders are talking about four things: what AI does to the research and advice jobs, how to sell private markets to individuals after the first redemption scare, how to keep margins while fees fall, and how to raise capital or hand over the firm without losing control. Two-thirds of asset managers name AI their top investment priority, KPMG found, KPMG and Deloitte expects interval funds and collective trusts to bring private assets into 401(k) plans. Mutual Fund Directors Forum
Seven mistakes mark an outsider
Treating assets under management as revenue. The firm earns a fee on the money, often well under 1% a year. ICI
Calling a wealth manager a broker. A registered investment adviser owes clients a fiduciary duty; a broker works under Regulation Best Interest. Duane Morris
Confusing a hedge fund with private equity. Hedge funds mostly trade public securities; private equity funds buy companies and lock money up for years.
Saying passive killed active. About 25% of active funds beat their passive rivals over ten years, and far more in some categories. InvestmentNews
Assuming "2 and 20" is what hedge funds charge. The big multistrategy firms pass through their costs instead. Hedgeweek
Asking when a private partnership will go public. For these firms private ownership is a choice about time horizon.
Opening with "AI will replace your analysts." Wealth managers that disclosed AI use grew headcount 15% in a year, against 8% for the rest. WealthManagement.com
Eleven questions get these leaders talking about the work
Your firm is owned by its people. What does that let you invest in, in AI or new funds, that a listed rival watching quarterly margins can't?
Which piece of work in your firm has been rebuilt end to end in the last 18 months, rather than handed a new tool?
When an analyst has an agent doing first-draft research, what does the job become, and how do you train people who never did the grunt work?
KPMG says data readiness is the top barrier to AI agents. Where did your data problem turn out to be?
What did building the operations for a semi-liquid fund teach you that you didn't expect?
This year's private credit redemptions were the first test of semi-liquid funds. What did you learn about how investors behave?
If the Labor Department finalizes its 401(k) rule, what has to be true for a plan sponsor to put private assets in a target-date fund?
(Asset managers) Are ETF share classes a product decision or a distribution decision for you, and who argued against them?
(Wealth managers) With private equity-backed buyers doing most deals, how do you protect advice quality while you integrate acquisitions?
(Hedge funds) How do you keep a platform of portfolio managers from becoming a pay auction, and where does AI change the economics of a seat?
What does your firm do today that you expect clients to stop paying for in five years?
Where they gather
Twelve events bring these leaders together before June 2027
Schwab IMPACT and Future Proof draw wealth managers, the ICI meetings draw fund executives, and the Managed Funds Association (MFA) and Sohn draw hedge fund leaders. T3 draws the people buying adviser technology.
