Aspiriant Partners Rise as Next-Gen Advisors

The financial services industry is going through a significant transition as many wealth advisors plan to retire. Because succession planning is a big part of what we do for our clients as well as for our firm, Aspiriant is committed to fostering the next generation of wealth management leaders.

So we’re proud to see two of our partners, Ryan Benson and Ryan Nelson, climb the ranks in Forbes’ Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors list for 2021. Nelson, a director in investment advisory who operates from our Austin office, jumped from 54 to 45. And Benson, a director in wealth management who serves our Exclusive Family Office clients from our Los Angeles headquarters, catapulted from 144th place last year to 28th this year!

While both are among the younger set of Aspiriant’s team of wealth managers, they are certainly not novices, and they serve important roles on their client service teams. Benson joined Aspiriant in 2014 and is a manager and mentor for a number of Aspiriant’s associate wealth managers.

To newer advisors who are serious about their career and advancing quickly, Benson advises, “Work harder than anyone around you, put in the reps, over-communicate and do anything you can to earn the confidence and trust of the senior advisors you support. When you get the chance to work directly with or lead a client relationship, embrace the challenges, overdeliver and leave them in awe.”

He adds, “You need to be a relentless advocate for clients. And you can’t be a relentless advocate if you don’t work hard.”

Nelson has been with Aspiriant since 2012 and currently serves 35 clients around the country. To the next generation of advisors, he says, “You have to be forward thinking, always. The RIA and family office industry is rapidly evolving before our eyes as competition stiffens, consolidation increases, and technology evolves.”

Since 2017, Forbes has spotlighted the top 500 up-and-coming wealth advisors under age 40. Nelson and Benson were ranked from among nearly 34,000 nominations based upon factors including telephone and in-person interviews, client retention, industry experience, credentials, compliance records, firm nominations, assets under management and revenue generated for their firm.

Disclosure: SHOOK considered advisors with a minimum four years as an advisor. Advisors have built their own practices and lead their teams; joined teams and are viewed as future leadership; or a combination of both. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC, which does not receive compensation from the advisors or their firms in exchange for placement on a ranking, and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Neither Aspiriant nor its employees paid a fee in exchange for inclusion in the Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors ranking. For more information see SHOOKresearch.com.