LPL flexes affiliation options in $2B recruiting sweep

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A so-called reverse breakaway team coming back to the broker-dealer world on different terms has launched a channel for advisors leaving the wirehouses.

As advisors eye multiple kinds of affiliation, an expanding LPL Financial hybrid RIA — Integrated Partners — has attracted more than $2 billion in recruited client assets this year. Its incoming family office practice is providing another option for ex-wirehouse teams.

The enterprise has recruited 51 advisors to grow to a total of 148 with $6 billion since it affiliated with LPL in 2016, the firm said on Nov. 13. Barry Rhonemus, Mahes Prasad, Jack Barker and Brad Haines of Juncture Wealth Strategies aligned with Integrated in the previous month.

Another $200 million in brokerage and advisory assets came to Integrated as LPL also made large gains. The No. 1 IBD has added at least $30 billion in recruited client assets on a 12-month basis in each quarter of the year. Since early September alone, LPL has recruited at least 26 advisors with $1.85 billion in client assets.

The ten other recruiting moves fueled LPL’s corporate RIA, but Integrated uses Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity as its RIA custodians in addition to LPL. Rhonemus — who dropped his BD registration in 2017 — and his team are moving Juncture to Integrated’s RIA.

Prasad, the practice’s vice president for business development, is also joining the group at Integrated led by Head of Advisor Recruiting Rob Sandrew in order to pitch wirehouse prospects. He notes the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Juncture has a CPA and two CFAs.

“We know advisors would want to be part of this,” says Prasad. “And then as we started our 30 or 60 days in, we said, ‘You know what? The faster way to do it, though, is to find an organization that might be five years or 10 years ahead of us.’”

Rhonemus and Prasad first met during the Juncture founder’s tenure with Wells Fargo Advisors, where Rhonemus spent a dozen years before going independent in 2010, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. Juncture is retaining Schwab and TD Ameritrade as its custodians.

The practice serves high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth clients ranging between $2 million to $25 million in assets. CPA referrals, family office resources, advanced portfolio management and other Integrated services made it stand out from 20 other suitors, Rhonemus says.

Juncture aims to help support wirehouse and private bank advisors accustomed to robust in-house resources, he added. "They can pick up a phone, they can walk down the hall and be able to tap into some of these resources — How do you take them with confidence to independence?” he says. “And we really felt there was a gap there.”

In addition to Juncture, Homer Smith and Dave Stuehling of Seattle-based Konvergent Wealth Partners aligned with Integrated on Nov. 8, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. The practice manages $200 million in client assets. It joins the LPL hybrid RIA from Ameriprise.

The approach of Integrated founder Paul Saganey and his team represents an example of “what you see resonating in the marketplace,” Rich Steinmeier, LPL’s head of business development, said in an interview last month.

“Advisors who are looking for a choice of affiliation are going to challenge into what's the value that we're going to exchange?” Steinmeier says. “Integrated steps forward and says, 'You have complex cases, we'll help you win them. You won't be on your own.’”

The ten other recruiting moves brought nearly 30 more advisors to LPL’s corporate RIA platform and other offices of supervisory jurisdiction that use it. LPL unveiled the move in a barrage of recruiting announcements over the past month and a half, adding two teams from newly rebranded Avantax Wealth Management and four from the Advisor Group IBD network.

Railroad Investment Group

Location: Opelika, Alabama

Financial advisors: Blake Henry and Laurel Jackson Callaway

Total client assets: $100 million

Date of move: Nov. 13

Prior BD: Raymond James Financial Services

Remark: Henry and Callaway merged their practices together last year, operating out of an office near their town’s railroad tracks.

RD’s Financial Strategies

Location: San Jose, California

Financial advisors: Robert Duitz, Lena Ortega-Duitz and Jason Marino

Total client assets: $200 million

Date of move: Oct. 29

Prior BD: Avantax Wealth Management (HD Vest)

Remark: The family-owned firm had been affiliated with the newly rebranded HD Vest for 21 years before aligning with The Financial Services Network enterprise and LPL’s corporate RIA.

Independent Advisor Alliance

Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Financial advisors: Cris Arnold, David McIllwain, Charlotte Martin and Brenda Speer

Total client assets: $240 million

Date of move: Nov. 1

Prior BD: FSC Securities (Advisor Group)

Remark: Two practices with two advisors each plan to merge into one next year — following their alignment with the Independent Advisor Alliance enterprise and LPL’s corporate RIA.

Hege Financial Group

Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Financial advisors: Ed Hege, Will Hege, Bill Gribble, Perry Hudspeth and Steven Rubin

Total client assets: $275 million

Date of move: Oct. 21

Prior BD: Lincoln Financial Securities

Remark: The founder of the multi-generational practice had spent nearly two decades affiliated with the insurance company-owned BD before the move.

Sweeney Wealth Advisors

Location: Toledo, Ohio

Financial advisors: Christopher Sweeney

Total client assets: $125 million

Date of move: Sept. 27

Prior BD: Ameriprise

Remark: Sweeney launched his independent practice under the move, which also aligned him with LPL’s corporate RIA platform.

Pacific Pension & Benefit Services

Location: Antioch, California

Financial advisors: Michael Kennedy and Christopher Bott

Total client assets: $200 million

Date of move: Sept. 23

Prior BD: Royal Alliance Associates (Advisor Group)

Remark: The practice is using LPL’s corporate RIA platform while affiliating with the Financial Services Network OSJ enterprise.

Petricic & Phillips Financial Group

Location: Bellevue, Washington

Financial advisors: Don Petricic and Tom Phillips

Total client assets: $120 million

Date of move: Sept. 30

Prior BD: Woodbury Financial Services (Advisor Group)

Remark: The advisors had spent a combined 30 years affiliated with Woodbury before aligning with LPL and its corporate RIA.

Maxwell Financial Management

Location: New Albany, Ohio

Financial advisors: Richard Maxwell, Adam Hill and Katy Ufferman

Total client assets: $240 million

Date of move: Oct. 1

Prior BD: FSC Securities (Advisor Group)

Remark: The 38-year-old practice includes father-daughter advisors and support staff, but Maxwell is also leveraging LPL’s new outsourced Admin Solutions team.

Financial Associates

Location: South Bend, Indiana

Financial advisors: Thomas Varga Jr. and Chris Varga

Total client assets: $150 million

Date of move: Sept. 26

Prior BD: Cadaret, Grant (Atria Wealth Solutions)

Remark: The father-son team had spent more than two decades with Cadaret, Grant before aligning with LPL and its corporate RIA.

I.M. Wealth Care

Location: Greenwood Village and Colorado Springs, Colorado

Financial advisors: Parker Inabnet and Kate Redden

Total client assets: $200 million

Date of move: Sept. 3

Prior BD: Avantax Wealth Management (1st Global)

Remark: The practice has three CPAs on its staff in addition to the two advisors, and it has affiliated with the Merit Financial Group enterprise.
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