Cetera Continues Aggressive Appeal to Commonwealth Advisers

Cetera Wealth Management is intensifying its recruitment drive of Commonwealth Financial Network advisers before they transition to LPL Financial. Todd Mackay, president of Cetera, told prospects in a second open letter that Cetera offers a way to circumvent potential challenges they might encounter by joining LPL.

The letter builds on an initial appeal Mackay issued in April. Mackay directly asserted:

Here’s what you should ask yourself:

• Will the back-office team you’ve come to rely on be consolidated?
• Will the Fidelity/NFS custody and clearing model you’ve optimized for be replaced?
• What happens if the tech stack that set you apart is sunset?
• Is your flexibility quietly narrowing – one decision at a time?

Synergies don’t just fall from the trees; they have to be harvested by making tough decisions and consolidating into existing, scaled, unified processes, and offerings.

The fact is that LPL cannot achieve the synergies it has touted without consolidating technologies, eliminating clearing and custody choices, and dramatically reducing headcount.

LPL announced its definitive purchase agreement to acquire Commonwealth – then, the largest independently owned wealth management firm in the United States – back in March. The $2.7 billion transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, with conversion completed in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Despite the acquisition, Commonwealth recently added Rochester, N.Y.-based Angelo Planning Group, or APG, to its network of independent advisers. Formerly with Osaic, the APG team reported advising on more than $1.5 billion in client assets, making it one of Commonwealth’s largest new affiliates to date.

Despite Cetera’s and other firms’ courtship of Commonwealth advisers, LPL’s leadership has expressed confidence in being able to retain 90% of Commonwealth financial advisers.

Still, Mackay hypothesized about the potential for scaling issues at LPL and emphasized Cetera’s model of autonomy, or “independence with infrastructure.” He offered transitioning advisers: up to 150 bps of transition assistance; custodial choice, staying on Fidelity/NFS or moving to Pershing or Cetera’s own integrated CIS; brand choice, keeping the original brand or amplifying with Cetera; white-glove onboarding through 80+ transition specialists; and personalized growth access that Mackay noted is 50% faster through Cetera’s “GrowthLine Growth Guarantee.”

In March, Cetera Investment Management – a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-registered investment adviser that provides market research, portfolio guidance and investment strategy to financial professionals affiliated with Cetera Financial Group – published its second quarter 2025 report, Steering Through Uncertainty, which advised investors to stay diversified amid a shifting, mixed macroeconomic picture.

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