As readers will know, succession feels like an intractable issue that has been with our industry for years and, if projections are correct, will stay with us for years to come. Firms are looking for ways to solve the puzzle and some have had measures of success with various strategies. Today, we bring you three expert views on the succession crisis, and news of the successful succession at Diamond Consultants, which I also address in this week’s Deals & Recruiting Roundup.
In addition, we bring you our Investments Roundup, Wealthspire on special needs planning, Binah’s growth plans, Mercer closes 100 deals, TradingBlock launches an IPO service, and Pendulum Partners and Balefire launch.
Deals & Recruiting Roundup: This edition of the Deals & Recruiting Roundup covers Raymond James’ offer to buy minority stakes in advisors, Emigrant Partners’ investment in Elevation Point, VisionPoint and Navitas joining to form Balefire, Hub’s acquisition of Allegiant, Mercer’s 100 deal milestone, Americana’s recruitment of ex-Morgan Stanley advisors, breakaways from Ameriprise forming Pendulum Partners, Adon Vanwoerden’s launch of Macro Edge Advisory Group, Focus’ appointment of Zinovy Iosovich as Chief Growth Officer, Lisa Drake’s election as President of the National Association of Plan Advisors, Cetera naming John Lefferts as Head of Cetera Investors, and Diamond Consultants changing the guard.
Investments Roundup: This edition of the Investments Roundup features Simplify launching two barrier ETFs, CAIS starting a capital markets division, BlackRock projecting a $6 trillion bond ETF market by 2030, Advisors Asset Management naming Cliff Corso as CEO, Edward Jones adding alts for high net worth clients, Ballast Rock launching a private credit fund, CI Global launching a Solana crypto ETF, YCharts adding risk profiles, Venturi partnering with Opto on private investments, Janus Henderson presenting strategies for volatile markets, HFR’s April hedge fund data and new long volatility index and Pacer ETFs adding two Cash Cows funds.
Special needs planning: Wealthspire Advisors’ Advisor & Assistant Vice President, Stephanie Selbach, says that special needs financial planning requires ongoing estate planning and unique tools such as ABLE accounts and special needs trusts.
Persistent succession crisis: We hear from Josh Gerry, CEO of VestGen Wealth Partners; Michael Longley, Chief Growth Officer at Sanctuary Wealth; and Thomas Goodson, President at The AmeriFlex Group about the succession crisis, why it hasn’t been solved and what to do about it.
Growth plans: Ryan Marcus, Binah Capital’s new Chief Business Development and Engagement Officer, describes his approach to the firm’s broker-dealers, organic and inorganic growth plans, and how his experience at MarketCounsel prepared him for the role.
Next Gen in charge: Diamond Consultants promoted Louis Diamond to CEO from President, as his mother, Founder Mindy Diamond, steps down as CEO to become Board Chairman. Meanwhile, Louis’ brother, Jason Diamond, was promoted to President from Executive Vice President, Senior Consultant. Howard Diamond, their father, remains Chief Operating Officer.
The century mark: Mercer Advisors surpassed 100 M&A deals with the acquisitions of RIAs Tufton Capital Management in Maryland, with $810 million in client assets, and Lewis Wealth Management in Denver, with $75 million. Mercer’s CEO, Dave Welling, and Principal, M&A Partner Development, Martine Lellis, commented.
Dallas merger: VisionPoint Advisory Group and Navitas Wealth Advisors merged to form Balefire, a Dallas-based RIA whose combined AUM surpassed $3.7 billion as of Jan. 1. Leading Balefire are Co-Managing Partners Jason Hester, the former CEO of Navitas, and John Hoffman, the former CEO of VisionPoint.
Chicagoland launch: An Itasca, Illinois-based advisor team broke away from Ameriprise to start Pendulum Partners, an independent RIA with approximately $400 million in client assets. It is led by Co-Founders Matthew McWherter and Tom Parker.
IPO access: TradingBlock launched My IPO, an IPO and offering platform providing access at the offering price to all investors, including through U.S. retirement accounts, with immediate post-IPO trading available. Joel Vanderhoof, President of My IPO Investment Banking, provided comments.
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Larry Roth
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Wealth Solutions Report
