In the run-up to naming the winners of the inaugural RIA Intel Awards on September 14, 2022, RIA Intel will publish short features highlighting the accomplishments of this year’s nominees and Rising Stars.
Arynton Hardy, 28, left Merrill to start his own RIA firm in 2019. “I was always a weird kid,” he told us from his Los Angeles home office. “I was buying Apple stock, but I also built my own fruit stand on the side of the road.” Hardy Capital Investments now has approximately $25 million in assets under management and, with a new hire, is in expansion mode. Below is our recent discussion, edited for length and clarity.
What kind of clients do you primarily work with?
We work with a lot of people who are doing things differently. Entrepreneurs, athletes, influencers, an ex-hedge fund manager, and others. When I transitioned out of Merrill and started my own RIA, I wanted to make sure I was addressing needs that other RIAs weren’t. So we attracted people who weren’t getting the services or attention they needed from their advisor. Everything since then has been 100 percent referral based.
What’s something you do for clients that other RIAs don’t?
We have clients who are startups, and we do complete custom organization for them. We track all their seed presentations, collect their subscription documents, handle wires and capital calls, valuation numbers, everything. And we keep everything organized so that if something happens to them, God forbid, their wife or husband knows what to do.
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What was the toughest business decision you had to make in the past year?
Closing my office down a month ago. I had maintained an office since 2019, throughout the pandemic, but when no one was coming back, I realized I had to reconsider. So I completely revamped my home office, and I’ve been working much more efficiently since then. And my clients have actually been happy about it—it’s given me more time to either meet with them virtually or in person.
What’s something that most people don’t know about you?
I’m a huge basketball fan. I’ve been playing in an adult men’s league for 10 years. It makes me super competitive, but it also makes me very communicative with my teammates and helps create a “let’s win together” mentality. I think a lot of financial advisors get trapped into thinking they have to do everything solo, but you need help from other people to be successful.
The inaugural RIA Intel Awards is a celebration of financial advisors, wealth management firms, and industry leaders. Winners will be on announced on RIAIntel.com September 14, 2022 and will be honored in-person at upcoming RIA Institute Forums.
If you have questions about the awards, please contact your relationship manager at II or RIA Intel.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that the winners would be announced at a dinner and ceremony at the Metropolitan Club of New York on September 14, 2022.
However, due to an unanticipated scheduling conflict with the venue, we regret that Institutional Investor’s inaugural RIA Intel Awards Dinner & Gala on September 14 in New York will not take place. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The Awards themselves remain unchanged. Winners will still be on announced on RIAIntel.com on September 14, and will be honored in-person at upcoming RIA Institute Forums.
Each winner will also be the subject of a feature story on RIAIntel.com.
Ron Geraci is a Senior Writer at Institutional Investor Thought Leadership Studio and based in New York City.
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