New model blends public and private markets as demand for alternatives among wealthy clients accelerates.
Raymond James is building out its private wealth platform with a new model portfolio product that blends traditional and alternative investments, the latest move in the firm’s push to capture a larger share of the high-net-worth advisory market.
This week, the firm announced the launch of Private Wealth Guided Portfolios, a risk-based model framework that combines equity and fixed income allocations with a dedicated alternatives sleeve covering private markets and hedged strategies. The offering is designed to give advisors a structured, research-backed way to bring alternative investments to clients with significant wealth – a segment where demand has outpaced many firms’ ability to deliver scalable solutions.
“At Raymond James, we’re committed to being a destination for private wealth advisors and the clients they serve,” said Tash Elwyn, president of the firm’s Private Client Group. “Individuals and families with significant wealth require truly personal advice, backed by the right resources, to navigate their financial opportunities and complexities. Private Wealth Guided Portfolios are a meaningful addition to those resources, providing advisors with another way to help clients access alternative investments thoughtfully and in alignment with their goals.”
A platform built for the advice relationship
The models are constructed by Raymond James’ Asset Management Services division, which works in collaboration with the firm’s Private Markets and Alternatives team to handle due diligence and ongoing monitoring.
Rather than displacing the advisor, the framework is built to sit behind them, providing research and consultation support while preserving the advisor’s role as the primary point of contact for each client.
Doug Brigman, president of Asset Management Services, framed the launch as a resource expansion rather than a product push. “Our focus is on empowering financial advisors with the breadth of resources and expert support needed to serve high-net-worth clients with greater choice and confidence,” he said. “We work collaboratively by providing consultation, rigorous due diligence and ongoing guidance that maintains advisors at the center of every client relationship.”
The launch comes as advisor interest in private markets access has intensified. According to a 2026 survey by Hamilton Lane, a global private markets firm, approximately 86% of private wealth professionals planned to increase allocations to private market investments this year, based on responses from 390 advisors worldwide.
Separately, a 2026 FTSE Russell Wealth Pulse survey of 600 U.S.-based private investors with at least $500,000 in investable assets found that 77% said they invest in private markets through a financial advisor — underlining both the opportunity and the role that advisors play in channeling that demand.
Ken Novak, head of Private Markets Strategy and co-head of the firm’s Alternatives Group, said the new offering addresses a structural gap in how most advisors have been able to serve clients who want exposure beyond public markets.
“Access to private markets can provide clients with broader diversification and exposure to corners of the market that are not available through public markets alone,” Novak said. “Advisors are increasingly incorporating these strategies in their portfolio construction to support clients’ long-term objectives.”
Designation program crosses 450 advisors
The new product offering is part of a broader multi-year buildout of Raymond James’ private wealth infrastructure.
That effort includes estate and charitable planning capabilities, lending and cash management solutions, risk management services, and intergenerational wealth strategies, all positioned as tools that advisors can draw on when serving households with complex financial profiles.
Underpinning the platform is the firm’s Raymond James Private Wealth Advisor designation program, launched in September 2022, which provides training, coaching, and a peer network for advisors who specialize in high-net-worth clients – generally defined as those with at least $5 million in investable assets. As of September 2026, nearly 450 advisors have earned the designation, according to Raymond James. The program has been a key recruitment and retention signal for the firm as it competes for advisors who build practices around affluent households.
Those efforts intersect with Raymond James’ broader investment in its managed portfolio infrastructure. As InvestmentNews reported in January 2026, the firm agreed to acquire Clark Capital Management Group, a Philadelphia-based asset manager with more than $46 billion under management, known for advisor-centric model portfolios and a dedicated high-net-worth service team. That transaction closed in May 2026 and added Clark Capital as an independent boutique within Raymond James Investment Management’s multi-boutique structure.
Conference signals more to come
Executives have been telegraphing the expanded push all year. At the firm’s annual conference in Las Vegas in May 2026, both Chief Executive Officer Paul Shoukry and Elwyn said the advisor, not the home office, is the client – and framed every platform enhancement as a function of that philosophy.
Shoukry has emphasized the firm’s strategy of building its advisory ranks through individualized recruitment rather than large-scale acquisitions, noting that the firm evaluates each prospective advisor on a one-on-one basis.
The firm also launched a suite of proprietary active exchange-traded funds in October 2025 and is piloting an AI-powered advisor assistant called Raimond, which Shoukry has said was trained on approximately one million recorded calls between advisors and the firm’s service center.