Merrill Lynch team with $435M joins Sanctuary

Wall Street Bloomberg
Bloomberg News

Sanctuary Wealth notched its first hire of the year, a team overseeing $435 million in client assets.

Led by founder Lars Olson, the group goes by the name Alluvial Private Wealth and is based in Marion, Ohio.

Olson had worked at Merrill Lynch since 1994, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Sanctuary Wealth CEO Jim Dickson, a former Merrill alum, highlighted that connection in a statement.

“We’re excited to welcome Lars Olson, who I’ve known for some time, and his partners at Alluvial Private Wealth, who are the first of many teams we expect to join Sanctuary this year,” Dickson said in a statement.

The firm has picked up a number of advisors since launching in 2018, many of whom came from wirehouses. With the addition of Olson’s team, Sanctuary Wealth now has a presence in 18 states and 42 partner firms, according to the company.

“Despite the pandemic, we had significant growth last year and 2021 looks even stronger with a robust recruiting pipeline. We expect to expand our footprint to 25 states this quarter alone,” Dickson said.

Olson said his team made the move in part to have greater flexibility in selecting money managers and investment strategies.

“As an independent firm, we’ll have access to cutting edge financial planning tools and be able to shop around various lenders to help clients who need liquidity at a potentially lower cost,” he said in a statement.

Moving with Olson are wealth advisor partners Manoj Sharma and Lisa Bush, as well as wealth associates Brooke Olson, Julie Webster and David Olson, who is Lars Olson’s father, according to the firm.

A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman declined to comment.

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