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Advisors on the Move: Billion-Dollar Breakaways Form RIA, B-Ds Swap Teams

Focus Financial Partners has assisted in a series of high-profile moves, Convergent pulled a director from Evercore and LPL and Commonwealth swapped firms. Here’s a roundup of some of the most recent advisor moves in the independent channel.

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FSC Snags $300M Morgan Stanley Team

Feb. 10, 2014


Independent broker-dealer FSC Securities Corporation, a member of Advisor Group, has landed a $300 million breakaway advisory group from Morgan Stanley, Cherrington Brotsky Conscious Capital.


Cherrington Brotsky, led by Libby Cherrington and based in Bluffton, S.C., works with the retiree market and frequently conducts financial planning seminars.

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Bridgewater Adds Advisors With $200M AUM

Feb. 5, 2014


Bridgewater Wealth & Financial Management, an RIA and partner firm with Focus Financial Partners, has added a former Maryland Capital Management president with $200 million in client assets.


Stephen Schuler will join Bridgewater as principal and chief investment officer. Schuler’s addition to the Bethesda, Maryland-based firm brings Bridgewater’s total assets under management to approximately $500 million.


Image: Stephen Schuler

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Commonwealth, LPL Swap Firms

Feb. 4, 2014


Commonwealth Financial Network and LPL Financial both announced that they have lured a firm over from the other’s network.


Commonwealth scored the Iowa firm UICCU Wealth Management with $500 million AUM. The 14-advisor firm, which is affiliated with the University of Iowa Community Credit Union, focuses on fee-based investment management services and brokerage services in its planning offering.


LPL, on the other hand, brought on the Minnesota-based 360 Financial, a hybrid firm with $270 million AUM. The move to LPL appears aimed at helping the firm gear up to bring on new advisor tuck-ins.

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Stratos Adds Advisors in 2 Markets

Jan. 30, 2014


Solon, Ohio-based Stratos Wealth Partners, a dually registered RIA, has added two advisors to its California and North Carolina markets.


Lee Jones and Joe Fowler join Stratos in the firm's Irvine, Calif., and Asheboro, N.C., offices, respectively. The pair brings a combined total of roughly $85 million in brokerage and advisory assets under management.


Jones, who was formerly a senior financial advisor at Union Bank, brings 13 years of financial services experience specializing in asset management with a focus on retirement and income planning. Fowler, who arrives at Stratos from Edward Jones, has more than seven years of investment and financial planning experience and specializes in retirement income and retirement planning, while also managing 401(k) and IRA plans.


With offices in 20 states, Stratos has more than $1.05 billion in client assets under management from advisory accounts and an additional $6.1 billion in brokerage assets held in accounts with broker-dealer LPL Financial.

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Billion Dollar Breakaway Team Launches RIA

Jan. 28, 2014


Two advisors with a combined $1 billion in assets under management have left UBS to form IFM Capital Advisors, an independent RIA.


Founding partners Timothy Kneen and Clayton Hartman launched their Colorado-based venture with the assistance of Focus Financial's Focus Connections program, which helps wirehouse advisor teams transition their business


Kneen and Hartman, along with their team of 17 former UBS employees, will maintain three separate offices in Denver, Fort Collins, Colo., and Sioux Falls, S.D.


Image: Timothy Kneen and Clayton Hartman

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Convergent Adds Managing Director From Evercore

Jan. 14, 2013


Convergent Wealth Advisors has added Nicole M. Cost to the firm's Manhattan office as a managing director.


In her new role, Cost will be responsible for client service and business development, as well as engaging with strategic custodial relationships in the New York City metropolitan area. Cost arrives at Convergent from Evercore Wealth Management where she was also a managing director who managed several hundred million dollars in client assets for approximately 62 high-net-worth relationships.


Convergent advises on more than $11 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2013 and has offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York and Portland, Ore.


Image: Nicole M. Cost

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Atlas Adds Veteran Advisors

Jan. 14, 2014


Atlas Private Wealth Management, a Williamstown, Mass.-based partner firm of Focus Financial Partners, has added two veteran advisors.


Joining Atlas are Michael Hickey and Donald Carman, who both arrive from Albany Financial Planners where they have been sole shareholders for the past 30 years.


Atlas manages roughly $1 billion in client assets and offers a comprehensive suite of wealth management, financial planning, investment management, and tax services to a national client base.


Image: Michael Hickey and Donald Carman

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Kanaly Trust Names New President

Jan. 14, 2014


Drew Kanaly, the son of Deane Kanaly, who founded the Houston-based wealth management firm in 1975, has been named president of Kanaly Trust. He will oversee client services and business development activities firm-wide.


Kanaly will continue to serve as a primary contact for many long-standing client relationships and as chairman of the firm’s board.


Image: Drew Kanaly

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Schechter Wealth Expands With 2 Advisors

Jan. 13, 2014


As part of the expansion of Schechter Wealth Strategies, the company announced the addition of advisors Bernie Kent and John Stein to Schechter Investment Advisors.


The two have spent a combined 45 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers where they led the Midwest Regions’ Personal Finance Services department.


Image: Schechter Wealth Strategies team

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