Louis Diamond Quoted – By Andrew Foerch, Citywire – Dynasty Financial Partners will begin making minority equity investments in its partner RIAs, entering the mergers and acquisitions market for the first time. Through a new initiative dubbed the Minority Investment Capital Program, Dynasty will use cash from its balance sheet to buy stakes of less than 50% in RIAs on its platform. Louis Diamond, president of advisor recruiting and consulting firm Diamond Consultants, said the move was a ‘natural evolution’ of Dynasty’s model.
“Advisors that are wanting to sell not only because of the robust market but because they think it’s the right time to find that strategic partner want to lock in this year’s capital gains rate,” says Carolyn Armitage, a managing director of Echelon Partners, an investment bank in Manhattan Beach, California, that is focused on financial advisory firms. “Everyone is expressing an interest in closing by year-end.”
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Lynnley Browning, FinancialPlaning – The acquisition frenzy for independent advisory firms may be about to get even hotter. That’s the thinking of some industry dealmakers, who predict that President Biden’s proposal for tax increases on the wealthy will pour fuel onto the already-hot market of deals to acquire RIAs.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Dina Hampton, FinancialPlanning – Greg Clifford, founder and CEO of the Clifford Group in Newton, Massachusetts, says he “grew up” at Merrill Lynch, gaining nods as a Forbes Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisor in 2018 and Best-in-State Next Generation Wealth Advisor in 2019. But as Clifford passed the decade mark at Merrill, the idea of breaking away planted itself in his mind and stayed there.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Jeff Martin, AdvisorHub – UBS Wealth Management USA has hired a six-person team that had been managing $5 billion in client assets at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, as well as an Ohio team from the same firm, according to separate announcements on Wednesday. Those lengthen a list of recent private bank recruits joining the wirehouse.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Peter Rawlings, Financial Advisor IQ – The remote work environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted more wirehouse advisors to consider independence, according to two recruiters. Working remotely during the pandemic has been a “lightbulb moment for many advisors to say, ‘I actually am pretty comfortable working from home,’ or ‘I don’t need the resources of a big firm as much,’” says Louis Diamond, president of recruiting firm Diamond Consultants.
Josh Tomolak Quoted – By Gary Stern, RIA Intel – Advisors who switch firms or strike out on their own regularly trumpet their successes, breathlessly saying they wish they left sooner. However, a new study by Cerulli Associates examines the often unspoken downside — client attrition and loss of client assets.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Miriam Rozen and Mason Braswell, AdvisorHub – A senior Merrill Lynch executive on Thursday underscored that the firm plans to selectively hire veteran brokers in some key markets in the coming months, a sign headhunters read as a thaw in the brokerage’s three-year retrenchment from veteran broker recruiting.
By Asia Martin, WealthManagement.com – LPL Financial recruited four advisors from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where the team managed $650 million in assets under management.
Louis Diamond Mentioned – By Andrew Foerch, Citywire – NorthEnd Private Wealth is the first wirehouse breakaway group to join LPL Financial’s Strategic Wealth Services platform in 2021. Josh Brown, Scott Thompson, Joel Gray and James Cluverius Jr. formed the independent practice after leaving Merrill Lynch, where they report managing a combined $650m in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets. An LPL representative said they are the sixth group to join LPL’s advisor affiliation model, which launched last year.
