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Finding the Right Fit: What to Look for in a Partner

Articles & Interviews | Aug 26, 2020 | David Aaron

Partner David Aaron shares key considerations for finding the right partner for your business based on his personal experience.


Deciding to merge you RIA practice with another firm requires careful consideration–and perhaps more importantly, patience. After all, you don’t want to rush into an arrangement of this magnitude only to regret it later. When my former firm decided to transition the business, it took more than 12 months to find a partner who shared our vision, culture and culture.

So how do you know when you’ve found the right one? It starts by having a strategy that centers around these steps to help you identify and evaluate potential partners.

David Aaron

PARTNER

David is a Partner and Market Leader for the New York office with more than thirty years of experience investing across multiple asset classes, portfolio construction, manager selection, and risk measurement. He uses his vast knowledge of the investment world to help affluent families preserve and grow their wealth, with a focus and passion for multigenerational wealth transfer and intra-family succession planning. David is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Cerity Partners, David was the Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer of EMM Wealth, a fifty-year-old multi-family office. He built the firm’s investment office, risk management, and impact investing capabilities while serving large and complex families as a wealth advisor. David spent the previous twenty years trading currencies, global macro strategies and derivatives, including at Bankers Trust Company. He has also developed tools and software for assessing market risk that have been used by large banks around the world.

David received his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Brown University.