As the competition for financial advisor talent plays out in practices across the country, a billion-dollar team found its fit by going independent with LPL Financial and a hybrid RIA.
Financial advisors Jason Howard, Shane Kunz and Chad Horne launched Salt Lake City-based Outcome Private Wealth after dropping Wells Fargo Advisors for LPL as their brokerage and Stratos Wealth Partners as their RIA, the firms
With industry asset and advisor counts
In the case of Outcome, the practice selected Stratos after an 18-month search due to the firm’s use of multiple custodians and lenders, among other attributes, Howard said in an interview. He and the other two advisors, as well as the practice’s four other staff members, set out for new relationships after evaluating their tools, resources and management at Wells Fargo, he said.
“When all three of them have problems, you pretty much have to take a look out there on the street,” Howard said. “The ability to have positive competition behind the scenes for your clients just satisfies more of that fiduciary mindset that we have.”
Shea Leordeanu, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said in an email that the firm had nothing to say about the practice’s departure. Notable recruiting wins at Wells Fargo’s Private Client Group and bank branch-based practices this month include four teams with a combined seven advisors, $930 million in client assets and $6.5 million in trailing 12-month production, Leordeanu noted. The firm’s headcount of registered representatives
Recruiting has always loomed large for wealth managers ranging from the biggest wirehouses to fully independent RIAs. However, the pandemic has prompted more advisors to consider making moves as they work remotely, according to Pepper Anderson, the CEO of Stamford, Connecticut-based Chilton Trust Company, an RIA with 60 advisors and employees managing about $6.5 billion in client assets on behalf of 200 client households.
“You disconnect a little bit, so I think it’s made people more receptive to overtures for recruiting,” Anderson said, noting
Stratos Wealth, an RIA owned by a parent in Stratos Wealth Holdings spanning more than 350 advisors and $18.3 billion in client assets, has consistently added between 25 and 30 planners with about $1.5 billion to $2 billion in assets to its network each year over the past five, according to Chief Development Officer Charles Shapiro. The company seeks out growth-minded advisors seeking to expand from sizes typically between $300,000 to $5 million in annual revenue.
“The realization for bank and wirehouse advisors that the fancy offices and tremendous management overhead they typically pay 60 cents of every revenue dollar for isn’t worth it,” Shapiro said in an email. “What has not changed is the desire for most advisors to want the support of a larger firm and the culture built on sharing and caring that they all found when they originally got into this business.”
The move by Outcome to Stratos and LPL represents the fourth-largest in terms of assets announced so far in 2022 in the independent channel, according to Financial Planning’s tracking of company recruiting moves. With a mega move
Outcome took the innovative step of posting a “frequently asked questions” section about its move to LPL on its
Asked for advice for other practices considering an independent move, Howard said advisors should “do it, but be prepared” for challenges along the way. The 22-year veteran notes he has never once wished the practice hadn’t followed through on the switch in firms. He predicts that the industry’s consolidation will divide the marketplace into “boutiques” like Stratos and “bank conglomerates” like the wirehouses.
“You can do the big institution, or you can have the family experience. Which do you want?” Howard said. “They can give us the power that we had at Wells with the customization of a family.”
