RIAs: Shopping for M&A deals? Better get your house in order first.

Summary: No, that's not a premise for a TV sitcom – it actually describes my family's life-changing leap from city to country six years ago. The implications of that transition (which, I assure you, persist) often come to mind as I see the unprecedented number of RIAs taking their own major leaps into transformational mergers and acquisitions (M&A).