In this episode of Growth Leaders of Wealth Management, we sit down with Brent Brodeski of Savant Wealth Management, a firm with a goal most would call audacious: 10x the business, transform 1 million lives, and create 2,500 millionaire employees by 2028.
Key Takeaways:
What happens when you actually write your strategy down? People follow it. Savant's "10 Guiding Principles" and "11 Differentiators" aren't just wall art. They're operating documents that keep the entire firm aligned.
How did Savant find PE partners without giving up control? By being extremely specific about what they wanted. Brodeski's team created a list of 10 non-negotiables before talking to anyone. Employees still own 100% of the voting stock and control a supermajority of the board, while PE investors are minority partners.
Are ultra-high-net-worth clients really Googling for advisors? Turns out, yes. Savant is spending $10 million a year on digital marketing after discovering that even UHNW investors use search engines to find an advisor.
CEO of Savant Wealth, Brent Brodeski, sees four types of businesses in the financial industry:
Founder-led
Family-owned
PE-backed
Publicly traded
Savant is founder-led, but Brodeski studies all four models, takes what works, and leaves what doesn't. He admires the long-term investment mindset of family-owned firms, but steers clear of the dysfunction that can come with them.
Related: Are You Willing to Go to Extremes for Growth?
When he first started Savant, he didn’t want anything to do with PE partners. Now Savant has two: The Cynosure Group and Kelso & Co. But he’s not looking to work with just anybody. Brodeski and his team developed a list of 10 key factors that must be present for Savant to partner with someone. Bill Frayer, Managing Director of Kelso, talks about how Brodeski’s list of requirements for PE partners was exactly the kind of thing that attracted them to him in the first place.
And he'll tell you exactly why the relationship works: because he set the terms first.
This episode digs into how Savant balances organic and inorganic growth, and the short answer is: they don't treat them as separate things. Brand-building, M&A, partnerships, embedded optimization teams with new partner firms; it all feeds the same engine, and their capital structure is designed to support that. With majority employee ownership, minority PE partners, and 100% of voting power inside Savant, it's a model built to grow aggressively without sacrificing what makes the firm worth joining in the first place.
The conversation covers a lot of ground, from digital transformation to talent acquisition to Brodeski's own evolution as a leader. But the throughline is consistent: make the biggest pie.
Translation? Build something that creates real wealth for employees, delivers real outcomes for clients, and raises the bar for the industry.
Big ambitions need a strategy to match. FiComm Partners helps RIAs turn bold growth goals into marketing strategies that deliver real, measurable results. Book a consultation to start building yours.
Ficomm Partners is the embedded growth partner for results-driven RIAs, and wealth management platforms. With a track record of helping over 250 clients achieve their growth goals, Ficomm understands that while industry patterns may repeat, each firm's growth challenges are unique. Ficomm prioritizes strategy and finds the most impactful ways to move you toward your goals. We align all your marketing activities with your business objectives, acting as your dedicated growth partner with our human-first approach, strategy-first methodology, and unrivaled team of industry marketing experts.
Last updated April 2026