Cetera Financial Group added financial advisors Jim Tucker and Patrick Bria, along with their Tucker Bria Wealth Strategies team, which oversees about $420 million in assets under administration, the San Diego-based firm announced. The Durham, North Carolina-based team joined through Cetera's Summit Financial Networks after more than a decade at Commonwealth Financial Network, which is owned by LPL Financial.
Tucker said the team was deliberate about choosing its next partner. "We wanted a partner strong enough to provide the compliance, technology and back-office support we didn't want to build ourselves, but flexible enough to let us keep running our business exactly the way we always have," he said in a statement.
Tucker and Bria have been friends since their teenage years in Pittsburgh and were teammates on Duke University's varsity swim team. They co-founded their practice in 2013. The firm provides financial planning and wealth management to individuals and families, including wealth creation, preservation, inheritance and business sales.
The move to Cetera allowed the firm to maintain its existing custodian, Fidelity's National Financial Services, and continue using third-party technology already part of its client service model. The win is part of a concerted effort started by Cetera after LPL's acquisition last year to lure Commonwealth advisors to one of its broker-dealer affiliations.
LPL executives said during the firm's most recent earnings call that it has retained Commonwealth assets in the mid-80 percent range and expects to reach its target of 90 percent client asset retention. CEO Rich Steinmeier said that as LPL nears the final conversion of Commonwealth advisors to the platform, it has greater capacity for recruiting efforts. Cetera, which is owned by Genstar Capital, manages about $630 billion in assets under administration and $296 billion in assets under management.
Elsewhere in the wealth management recruiting landscape, Chicago-based RIA aggregator Hightower Advisors announced that Valley Financial Group, an Ambler, Pennsylvania-based wealth management practice with about $275 million in assets under management, will join its Hightower Signature Wealth. The transaction marks the second external acquisition by Hightower Signature Wealth this year. Valley provides financial planning and investment management services to individuals, families and businesses throughout Greater Philadelphia, including business owners, corporate employees and first responders.
Managing Partner Kevin McGarry said the firm wanted a partner that shared its client-first philosophy and could provide the resources to continue elevating client service. Upon closing of the deal later this summer, Valley's employees will join Hightower Signature Wealth and continue to support clients from the Ambler office. McGarry and Managing Partner Ed Woehlcke owned the firm, according to its most recent Form ADV. Following the addition, Hightower Signature Wealth will have approximately $40 billion in assets under management, more than 160 advisors and more than 35 locations nationwide.
Independent Financial Partners added two former Commonwealth firms, Van Horn Financial Services and Severn Financial Advisors, representing more than $400 million in client assets. The Tampa, Florida-based hybrid broker-dealer and RIA platform said the additions mark four former Commonwealth advisor teams to join IFP following LPL's acquisition, bringing the total to 10 advisors representing about $1.2 billion in client assets. IFP CEO Chris Hamm said advisors want flexibility, transparency and a partner that supports their long-term success while allowing them to continue serving clients their way.
Van Horn Financial Services, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is led by advisor Graham Van Horn. Severn Financial Advisors, based in Annapolis, Maryland, is led by advisors Stephen James and Carly James. IFP has grown from about $5 billion to more than $21 billion in assets under advisement over the past seven years and includes 288 advisors across 37 states.