LPL Adds Three Teams With $2.3B From Cetera, Cambridge, UBS
LPL Financial LLC added three adviser teams this week that reported a combined $2.3 billion in client assets, drawing practices from Cetera, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, and UBS, the firm said in announcements Nov. 9 through Nov. 12.
The largest move came Nov. 10, when FHT Advisors and Impel Wealth Management joined LPL’s broker-dealer and registered investment adviser platforms from Cetera. The two Ohio practices reported about $1.15 billion in combined client assets and will keep their separate business identities, LPL said.
Brian Toma leads FHT Advisors, which serves clients in 32 states and runs as an ensemble practice in which advisers work client cases together, according to LPL. The team includes advisers Sarah Stewart, Tom Drager, Tammy Hafner, Bruce Baker, Bear Rupert, Jonathan Goldston, and Seann Schaller, along with financial consultant Stephen Ehrhardt.
“We’ve intentionally built FHT as an ensemble because we believe clients benefit when multiple advisors are thinking about their financial lives,” Toma said.
Jesse Hurst built Impel Wealth Management around retirement planning for corporate executives in the Akron area before expanding into multigenerational wealth management. He works with advisers Nathan Ollish and Irene Zurowski. Hurst said the firm serves dozens of families across at least two generations and more than a dozen across three.
Toma and Hurst have worked alongside each other for 25 years while running their firms independently. The two practices cited LPL’s technology, planning capabilities, and growth resources in choosing the firm.
“LPL brings together technology, planning resources and services that can help us support complex client needs while giving us more opportunities to grow,” Hurst said.
“Their 25-year professional relationship and shared belief in exchanging ideas reflect the kind of community we strive to foster at LPL,” said LPL executive vice president of business development Ken Hullings, who also heads adviser recruiting.
The move extends a run of Cetera departures to LPL. On Oct. 22, AltsWire reported that Kacy Walker left Cetera to launch the $300 million Kinetic Wealth through LPL Independent Advisor Network.
On Nov. 9, Boise, Idaho-based Sound Foundation Wealth Advisors joined LPL’s broker-dealer and RIA platforms from Cambridge, reporting about $700 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets.
Nathan Downs and Cory Thomas founded the practice in 2018 and built shared operations as advisers joined from around the country. The team now includes wealth advisers Seth Church, Cameron Church, Caleb Whalen, Kason Wedel, Dustin Olson, and Cory McLeaf. It has particular experience working with professionals in technology, health care, and higher education, as well as business owners, according to LPL.
“We don’t believe in starting with a model and asking the client to fit into it,” Downs said. The advisers chose LPL for its investments in technology and systems and its willingness to keep developing its capabilities, according to LPL.
Sound Foundation is the second Cambridge practice to move to LPL since August, when AltsWire reported the arrival of the roughly $1.6 billion Conte Wealth Advisors of Camp Hill, Pa.
The smallest of the three, LegacyCoast Private Wealth, launched through LPL Strategic Wealth, LPL’s supported independence model, the company announced Nov. 12. Advisers Brett Mower and Timothy Gallagher left UBS to form the Haddonfield, N.J., practice and reported serving about $480 million in assets.
The firm serves individuals and families, including physicians, attorneys, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and multigenerational families. Mower entered the industry in 1995 in investment banking and international institutional sales before moving to private wealth management in 2003.
“Independence was always in the back of our minds, and we reached a point where we knew it was time to take control and build something of our own,” Gallagher said.
Under the Strategic Wealth model, LPL provides operations support after the transition, including a business strategist, marketing partner, chief financial officer, and administrative assistant, the company said.
LPL also said Nov. 11 that Nathan Hershman left Edward Jones to launch SteadRock Private Wealth in North Canton, Ohio, on LPL’s broker-dealer and RIA platforms. Hershman reported serving about $185 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets.
The additions follow a third quarter in which LPL reported $24.1 billion in recruited assets, down 26% from a year earlier, and a net gain of 122 advisers, AltsWire reported Oct. 28. LPL is scheduled to move Commonwealth Financial Network advisers onto its platform Nov. 14.
LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) supports more than 32,000 financial advisers and services and custodies approximately $2.6 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets, according to the company.
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