Should an RIA build or buy AI

Most RIAs should neither build nor buy AI — they should install it. Building from scratch is too expensive and slow; buying off-the-shelf SaaS gives you something that doesn't know your firm. The third option is a residency-installed brain that is custom-built inside your firm in one week and then operated for you, giving you the ownership of build and the speed of buy.

Build

Pros: total control, fully custom, every prompt is yours.

Cons: $250K-$1M to do it well, 6-12 months to ship, requires a real engineering team to maintain.

Verdict: only makes sense for firms with $5B+ AUM and an in-house tech function.

Buy (SaaS)

Pros: ships immediately, low monthly cost.

Cons: doesn't know your firm, doesn't sound like you, you're locked into someone else's roadmap, and the moment you cancel, your data and your prompts are gone.

Verdict: good for narrow use cases (a meeting note-taker, a CRM AI add-on), bad as a firm-wide strategy.

Install (residency model)

Pros: custom-built inside your firm in five days, trained on your voice and your data, you own the prompts and the model config, operated by a partner on a flat monthly.

Cons: has to be done in person, requires the principal in the room.

Verdict: the right move for $50M-$2B firms that want the leverage of a built system without the cost of building one.

How to choose

If you have an engineering team and $500K to burn, build. If you only need a meeting note-taker, buy. For everything in between — and that's most advisory firms — install.