As I expressed in a recent letter, I am thankful to you, our audience and community, for making our five-year anniversary possible. It’s exciting to see how far we have come, and how we have grown while keeping service at the forefront of all we do. We enjoyed serving you this past half decade and look forward to many more years of bringing you expert analysis, news that matters and awards for industry excellence.
Down Memory Lane: Top 5 Stories For WSR’s First Half Decade
This week, we take a trip down memory lane to the stories that resonated the most with you during each year of our first half decade.
The articles cover a range of topics, from breakaway advisors to Pathfinder Awards in recognition of Women’s History Month. Advisor recruiting, always a perennial topic, features in two of them. And the oldest one brings back memories of the booming mortgage market of 2021.
The Marketing Playbook That Helps RIAs Command Premium Valuations
Emily Blue of Hue Partners and Robert Sofia of Snappy Kraken make the case that firms can attract high valuations if they leverage AI for communications, document growth engine metrics, develop niches and plan for unified communication systems.
This article accompanies a video interview between Blue and Sofia in the Hue Partners: M&A Confidential video series.
Insurance Firms Are Leaning Into Wealth Management With Impressive Results
Jeff Nash of Bridgemark Strategies examines the current state of insurance firms in wealth management with Pat Hynes of Prudential Advisors, PJ McDaniel of Socium Advisors, Zachary Schear of Farmers Financial Solutions and Joe Mallee of MassMutual Financial Advisors.
The experts analyze the drivers behind the increase in insurance company activity in the wealth management space.
Investments Roundup
This month’s roundup covers AssetMark’s upgrades; iCapital’s partnership with Aladdin Wealth; HFR and Canoe reports on hedge funds; State Street on ETF flows; Harbor Group’s partnership with CAIS; acquisitions by InspereX, Janus Henderson and Goldman; and more.
HFR noted that 2025 showed the strongest pace of launching hedge funds in four years.
Deals & Recruiting Roundup
This week’s roundup features minority stakes by Emigrant; acquisitions by Hightower, Wealthspire, Soltis, Corient and Merit; Evertern Wealth launching; recruiting by Prudential, Sanctuary and RFG; and Perigon appointing in the C-suite.
Last week’s high volume of M&A activity continued this week.
Modern Wealth Enters Florida Market With Purchase Of $1.2 Billion Ex-LPL Affiliate
Modern Wealth Management announced that it entered the Florida market with its acquisition of Legacy Wealth Management, which was an affiliate of LPL Financial, managing about $1.2 billion in client assets.
Legacy marks Modern Wealth’s 20th acquisition since its founding in April 2023.
BetaNXT Launches InsightX AI Platform And Creates Innovation Lab
BetaNXT announced the launch of InsightX, its enterprise AI platform, and the creation of a BetaNXT AI Innovation Lab that it said was developed to provide new AI solutions to advisory firms.
The firm is continuing its previously announced efforts to innovate AI tools for data aggregation, workflow automation, business intelligence and predictive analytics.
Prudential Onboards Two Advisors Totaling Over $300 Million
Prudential Advisors announced the recruitment of two advisors with total client assets over $300 million: Keith Loegering, formerly of UBS, and Brian Montalbano, formerly of Synovus.
Each of them joined through existing teams and will open new offices, Loegering in California and Montalbano in Florida.
Hightower Signature Wealth Acquires $3.2 Billion Massachusetts Firm
Hightower announced it agreed to acquire Lexington Wealth Management, which joined Hightower Signature Wealth (HTSW), the firm’s national direct-to-consumer advisory practice.
The Lexington, Massachusetts, firm had about $3.2 billion in AUM as of Dec. 31, bringing HTSW to over $29 billion in AUM with more than 25 locations.
Sanctuary Onboards $260 Million Breakaway From Merrill
Sanctuary Wealth announced that it recruited Kyle Vasel and his new firm, OPT Wealth Management. He is based in the Chicago area and oversaw $260 million in client assets at Merrill Lynch.
Vasel primarily serves high net worth clients.
RIA Soltis Acquires Bellevue, Washington, CPA Firm
RIA Soltis Investment Advisors acquired CPA firm GDM Private Financial Solutions. GDM provides tax preparation, accounting and tax planning services to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses, as well as their owners.
Soltis said the purchase enables it to serve clients with coordinated wealth and tax advice.
WealthReach Acquires IP Of Advisor Services Firm Model FA
WealthReach acquired the intellectual property (IP) assets of Model FA, a provider of coaching, marketing and development services for financial advisors.
WealthReach said it will combine its AI-based prospecting tools with Model FA’s resources to launch a consultancy to help advisory firms build an organic growth strategy and use AI to scale it.
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Larry Roth
CEO
Wealth Solutions Report
