United Capital adds $300M+ RIA to roster

United Capital Financial Advisers, one of the industry's largest aggregators, has expanded its footprint in the Middle Atlantic States.

United Capital has acquired the assets of HFI Wealth Management, an RIA based in Shepherdstown, W. Va., and Winchester, Va.

Founded in 2002 by CEO Rob Hoxton, HFI, also known as Hoxton Financial, reported assets under management of $375 million on its Form ADV in March, before being bought by United later in the month.
Hoxton will become a managing director at United Capital along with his colleague, Julia Connell. HFI's eight additional advisors will also join United.

United now has approximately $15 billion in assets under management and 82 offices nationwide, up from 61 offices nationwide and $13 billion in AUM in April 2015. The firm now has 179 advisers.

United Capital lobby

'FINLIFE' POSITIONING

Over the past year United Capital CEO Joe Duran has been positioning the company as a "financial life management" firm, stressing the importance of helping clients with life decisions, as well as financial ones.

Read More: United Capital Places 'Finlife' Approach in Digital Platform

United has also begun to lease out FinLife Partners, the white label version of its proprietary wealth management model that incorporates the financial life management concept.

In February, the firm bolstered its platform with the acquisition of FlexScore, financial planning software that provides clients with a financial rating, seen through the lens of their daily lives. It then gamifies the advice process.

United "embraces everything we believe," Hoxton said in a statement. "Not only does United Capital provide a way to address the technological and regulatory changes that our industry is about to experience, but the firm allows us to better our practice through aligning with a group of like-minded advisors."

The HFI acquisition "supports the notion that we will continue to execute on parallel growth strategies through acquisitions and leasing our solutions via FinLife Partners,” Matt Brinker, United's head of national partner development, said in a statement.

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