Summary List PlacementAfter a record year for wealth management combinations, with acquirers scooping up more small wealth managers than in any year past, more deals are expected to take shape in 2021. Registered investment advisors, or RIAs, operate as independent shops managing wealthy clients' money and financial lives. They have multiplied in recent years, luring financial advisors away from the largest bank-owned US wealth managers with offers of more flexibility and control over their clients. The universe has now grown steadily in recent years, and now is larger than it has ever been.