What if today’s RIA partnership models aren’t solving the right problems? In this episode of RIA+, Jim Dickson explains to Emigrant's Mark Bruno why he launched Elevation Point in 2024 and the structural gaps he believes exist across the advisory landscape. He outlines the specific challenges advisors face around growth, alignment, and support after they go independent —and why traditional aggregators and PE-backed models often fall short. Jim and Mark also touch on the exceptional growth Elevation Point has shared since partnering with Emigrant in May 2025, what success looks like for partner firms, and how leaders should think about capital, control, and scalability in a rapidly evolving wealth management environment.
Summary
- Founder's Journey: Jim Dickson spent 26 years at Merrill Lynch, rising to the executive committee, and after being passed over for a top role in 2016, he explored the independent space. He founded Sanctuary Wealth, growing it from zero to $35 billion in four years, then left due to misalignment with investors and launched Elevation Point about two years ago.
- Target Market: Elevation Point targets high-net-worth teams in the $5 million to $50 million client segment, serving large wirehouse breakaway teams and frustrated RIAs. The firm provides a toolbox of technology, talent, and infrastructure while allowing partners to build the firm they want, avoiding a cookie-cutter approach.
- Ideal Partner Profile: Dickson emphasizes that Elevation Point is an accelerator, not a retire-in-place program. The firm seeks partners with a growth mindset, a tech-forward approach, and a client-obsessed fiduciary mindset. Ideal firms are in the $300 million to $3 billion range, and those unwilling to use the platform's infrastructure are not a good fit.
- Thriving in Independence: The key to thriving in independence is moving from advisor to CEO, with a growth plan and a correlated toolbox for execution. Elevation Point focuses on helping partners scale into enterprises through family office services, bespoke alternatives, M&A strategy, and digital marketing, tailored to each firm's needs.
- Community as Secret Sauce: Dickson highlights the power of community and peer-to-peer collaboration among partner firms, which he calls the 'secret sauce.' By bringing best-in-class teams together, sharing ideas and experiences, growth gets turbocharged, and firms can avoid the isolation of going independent alone.
- Lesson Learned: A key lesson for Dickson was the importance of surrounding oneself with the right partners, such as Immigrant Partners and Goldman Sachs, to accelerate progress. He advises against doing it alone and stresses the value of being a good listener and building a network of smart people who challenge and improve the business.