Modern Wealth Management, a new registered investment advisory firm consolidator, picked a team with 23 financial advisors and $1.5 billion in client assets as the first anchor office hub in a nationwide expansion plan.
Lenexa, Kansas-based Barber Financial Group and two of the firm's advisory practices doing business under the names Osiwala Financial Group and Financial Security sold their assets for an undisclosed amount to Modern Wealth Management,
Led by advisors Dean Barber, Ken Osiwala and Bud Kasper, Barber has three offices in Kansas, Missouri and Michigan with 50 total employees, according to Barber, the founder and longtime host of "
Joining Modern as the firm's anchor in the Kansas City area has made the 35-year veteran planner "more excited about what we're building today than I've been for the last 15 years," Barber said in an interview.
"I had been approached multiple times over the years by other aggregators and large RIAs that were interested in acquiring my practice," he said. "I didn't want to become just a number. I wanted to build something that would live well beyond me, and I wanted to help as many people as I possibly could."
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After a deluge of M&A deals since 2016, the average size of an RIA has nearly doubled to $500 million from $228 million that year, consultant Marina Shtyrkov, the associate director of Cerulli Associates' wealth management practice,
"What we're seeing is that the bottom of the RIA market is either falling out, or it's graduating up into higher apertures," she said. "The RIA space isn't just growing in size, which is a lot of what we hear, right? It's expanding, it's becoming larger, but it's also growing up and getting more mature and more sophisticated in terms of the types of firms that are in the RIA channel."
Barber offers an example, as a firm that has largely seen its assets climb based on organic growth through leads generated by the radio show and its other business development efforts. As part of Modern, the firm will add expertise in M&A dealmaking and capital from the corporate office, Barber noted.
In addition to the Lenexa office, Barber has locations in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and Troy, Michigan. At least 10 of the RIA's advisors are brokers with Mutual Securities, an affiliation they'll retain after the merger with the long-term goal of converting fully to advisory business.
All employees have received offers for the same positions under Modern, with some identified for potential bigger roles after the merger, Modern Wealth President
"We wanted those hub locations to be of size, to have a great team and a great way of doing business," Gordo said, noting that he has known Barber for at least eight years. "As we were developing our business plans and our model, we were looking for firms like Barber Financial Group."
Barber's record on the
The firm has hired a former FINRA regional director to be its chief compliance officer, Gordo noted. Many planners "have marks on their record from a worldwide economic meltdown that advisors had little control over," Gordo said.
The Modern team has more deals in the works after completing its first one.
"We've been quite busy with inbound communication from advisors in the industry looking to learn a lot more," Gordo said.
