A $140B Wealth Manager Put 12% in iShares S&P 500 — Creative Planning's ETF-First Architecture

Creative Planning — one of the largest independent wealth management firms in the U.S. — filed Q4 2025 with $139.71 billion. The top holding: iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) at 11.94%. Followed by bonds (BND) and international stocks (VEA).

This is what a $140B financial planning firm looks like in 13F data: ETFs as building blocks, not individual stock picks.

The filing

Metric	Value
13F AUM	$139.71B
#1 holding	IVV (iShares S&P 500) at 11.94%
Other top holdings	BND (bonds), VEA (international)
Top-5 concentration	32.71%
New positions	38
Filer type	Independent RIA / wealth management

The ETF-first wealth management model

Creative Planning's top holdings tell you exactly what kind of manager this is:

The portfolio architecture

U.S. Equities:    IVV (S&P 500) — 11.94%
Fixed Income:     BND (Total Bond) — significant weight
International:    VEA (Developed Markets) — significant weight
Remaining:        Mix of sector ETFs + individual stocks

This is a classic three-fund portfolio approach scaled to $140B:

1. U.S. stocks (IVV) for growth
2. Bonds (BND) for income and stability
3. International (VEA) for geographic diversification

Why this matters

Creative Planning manages money for tens of thousands of individual clients. The 13F reflects aggregated model portfolios across all these client accounts. The ETF-heavy top holdings mean:

• Most clients are in standardized allocation models
• Individual stock selection is secondary to asset allocation
• The firm's value proposition is financial planning, not stock picking

IVV at 12% vs. CalPERS' VOO at 12%

Interesting comparison — two very different institutions, nearly identical top holding:

Filer	Type	AUM	Top ETF	Weight
CalPERS	Public pension	$175B	VOO	11.89%
Creative Planning	Wealth manager	$140B	IVV	11.94%

Both converged on ~12% in an S&P 500 ETF as their core allocation. Despite completely different mandates (pension vs. wealth management), the optimal equity core weight landed at the same place.

This convergence suggests ~12% in a broad U.S. equity ETF is the institutional consensus for a balanced portfolio's equity anchor.

38 new positions: model portfolio refresh

38 new positions in Q4 suggests Creative Planning updated its model portfolios:

• Possible additions: Thematic ETFs (AI, clean energy), sector rotations, new international exposure
• Possible replacements: Swapping one ETF provider for another (e.g., Vanguard to iShares on cost)
• Client-driven: Ultra-HNW clients requesting specific positions outside the standard models

Top-5 at 32.71%: well-diversified

32.71% in top 5 positions is moderate for a wealth management firm:

• Not too concentrated (client risk management)
• Not too diluted (positions are meaningful enough to matter)
• Consistent with a disciplined allocation framework

The wealth management 13F landscape

Wealth manager	AUM	Top holding	Approach
Creative Planning	$140B	IVV (11.94%)	ETF-first allocation
BofA/Merrill	$1.37T	VTV/VUG	Vanguard ETF fortress
Ameriprise	$443B	NVDA/MSFT	Stock + ETF hybrid
Raymond James	$321B	AAPL/MSFT	Individual stock heavy

Creative Planning's approach is the most purely ETF-driven among large wealth managers — closest to what a financial planner's model portfolio should theoretically look like.

What to watch

1. IVV weight trend: Is the S&P 500 core growing or shrinking?
2. BND weight: Bond allocation changes reflect the firm's rate/macro view
3. VEA weight: International allocation shifts reveal geographic conviction
4. Individual stock additions: Any individual stocks breaking into the top 10 would signal a departure from the ETF-first model

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Originally published at 13F Insight