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Independent wealth advisers in the US are finally basking in the glow of attention. Players across the financial services spectrum are rushing to shower these smaller shops with new options for investments, technology, services, and financing.

Why the red carpet treatment for small-timers that have long toiled in the shadow of the Wall Street titans? Well, for now, they stand as one of the few slices of the wealth adviser market not tainted in the past year by fallout from the stock market slide and the hundreds of billions of dollars in bad bets on sub-prime mortgages, unlucky hedge funds, thorny debt vehicles, and other exotic investments.

Indie advisers – known shorthand as RIAs, for registered investment advisers – have also been growing at a good clip. Charles Schwab, the largest domestic asset custodian and supplier of services and investments to the RIAs, happily trumpets a telling statistic for the first quarter of 2008. The roughly 5500 RIA firms that it services hauled in $19.9bn (£10.2bn) in net new client assets during that period, which outpaces the collective net new asset growth of $17.5bn in the quarter by four of the five largest US brokerages. That would be Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and UBS – and their 48,000 financial advisers.

RIAs are also growing nicely in the lucrative corner of assets managed for annuitised fees, a generally more profitable business than the commission-based brokerage model that once dominated the US wealth market. According to Cerulli Associates, a Boston research firm, these “fee-based” assets at RIAs swelled to $1.4trn in 2007 from $950bn in 2005.

And demographics may also be playing in favour of the indies. Schwab reported in its recent biannual survey of 1000 advisers that fully half of the respondents say their average client is under 60 years of age – right at the industry sweet spot of babyboomer investors set to retire and lean heavily on professional money management advice.

These healthy prospects for RIAs haven’t gone unnoticed by outsourcers and providers of all stripes. And as a result, RIAs no longer need envy their Wall Street cousins who are well-stocked with products, services, bells, whistles, and wood-panelled offices.

So indie adviser, do you need financing for expansion or an acquisition? A pack of speciality firms are ready to buy independent RIAs outright or obtain ownership stakes or cash flows. Financiers such as WealthTrust, Boston Private, Focus Financial Partners, Fiduciary Network, Asset Management Finance, United Capital Financial Partners, and Signature Financial Management bought stakes in dozens of RIA firms just last year.

Is it a broader investment selection you crave? Try a taste of new unified managed accounts, the eclectic mix of investment vehicles such as separately managed accounts and mutual funds within one custodial account. It’s no longer the purview of larger outfits that can manage the complex technology and operations – firms such as Fortigent, Parametric, Lockwood, Concord, Envestnet, Bellatore, and Fundquest will happily deliver a made-to-scale version. If you’re hungry only for separately managed accounts – those higher-end vehicles that allow investors to directly own securities in professionally managed portfolios – firms such as Clearbrook Financial, F-Squared Investments, Schwab, and others are using technology innovations and interesting partnerships to stock the shelves with product.

And there’s no shortage of options for the well-heeled brokerage financial adviser who wants to “break away” into the indie world. Schwab, Fidelity, LPL Financial, and others offer packages of investment and custodial services. And some will even help you set up an office, hire staff, build a marketing plan, acquire back-office systems, or tap into reporting tools.

Yes, indie advisers are having their moment in the sun, and should enjoy it while it lasts.

Tom Stabile is senior reporter with FundFire, an FT online daily publication covering wealth management and institutional asset management