The Alliance for RIAs (aRIA) Study Group: The 2013 IA 25 Extended Profile

"We're all in it to build long-term sustainable businesses," said Furey, a former director of strategic business development at Schwab Institutional. "As an industry, we don't talk enough about who's doing transactions and deals. Our group is doing deals, and then we're sharing our knowledge for free with the industry. We're walking our talk because transactions are happening, and we're proud of that."

One such deal involves Newport Beach, Calif.-based Beacon Pointe's recent addition of Independent Financial Advisors, a Riverside, Calif., RIA with $100 million of assets under management. Representing Beacon Pointe's fourth RIA rollup in just four months, the deal highlights a partnership model that places a premium on long-term growth and sustainability, Furey said.

Indie advisors face the hazards of fee compression, erosion of margins and recruitment challenges, along with low market valuation and limited liquidity, which is why aRIA's members took it upon themselves to write a series of white papers to tackle those topics. In just one year, the group has published four papers, starting with the first title, "Creating Value and Certainty Within Your Independent Advisory Firm."

Coming up next: more on the intellectual capital front, said Furey, noting that aRIA in the next year plans to offer case studies that show how advisors can boost their value.

"The definition of breakaway will be completely changed," he said when asked to identify the advisor industry's biggest trends going forward. "The future will be more advisors in transition, period. In the past, independents' growth has come at the expense of wirehouses. Now we believe that the competition will come from within the independent channel."