• Home: Leading Financial Advisor Recruiting Firm
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Testimonials
    • Case Studies
    • Representative Deals
  • Services
    • For Financial Advisors
    • For Independent Business Owners
  • FAQs
  • Articles
  • Podcast
    • Industry Update
    • Independence 101 Series
  • In the News
  • Tools & Resources
    • FAQs for Merrill Advisors
    • FAQs for UBS Advisors
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe for Updates

Questions? Call us: 908-879-1002

Contact us...
Diamond Consultants: Financial Advisor Recruiting FirmDiamond Consultants: Financial Advisor Recruiting Firm
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet the Team
      • Mindy Diamond
      • Louis Diamond
      • Howard Diamond
      • Jason Diamond
      • Barbara Herman
      • Deborah Aronson
      • Wendy Leung
      • Cathy Nichols
      • Debbie Wallen
      • Allison Brunwasser
      • Joshua Tomolak
      • Shelley Muzio
      • Caryl Felicetta
      • Donna Riopel
    • Testimonials
    • Case Studies
    • Representative Deals
  • Services
    • For Financial Advisors
    • For Independent Business Owners
      • Sell-Side M&A Advisory
      • Consulting
  • FAQs
  • Articles
    • Subscribe for Updates
  • Podcast
    • Industry Update
    • Independence 101 Series
    • Subscribe for Updates
  • In the News
    • Moves in the News
  • Tools & Resources
    • FAQs for UBS Advisors
    • FAQs for Merrill Advisors
    • Other Tools For Advisors
    • Subscribe to e-Newsletter

In the News

Exits from JPM and Morgan Stanley in pursuit of independence

Posted by Mindy Diamond

Mindy Diamond Quoted
By Jason Bisnoff

Exits this week from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley continue to show the move of advisers from major names to more independent avenues.

Andrew Graham, a former JPMorgan global multi-cap growth strategy manager, has left to launch his own registered investment advisory business under the moniker Jackson Square Capital, backed by Portland, Oregon-based back end platform and consultancy tru Independence.

Also this week, Diamond & Bottefield Private Wealth Management left Morgan Stanley for independent partnership Steward Partners Global Advisory, where Brett Diamond and Jason Bottenfield will help start up a new Dallas office, bringing over $285m in assets.

The movements are part of a bigger trend of advisers and advisory teams leaving larger entities in pursuit of greater independence.

“Those two deals are not one-offs, they are very much indicative of a very solid, constant and continuing trend we are seeing that is not new but increasing over time,” Diamond Consultants President and CEO Mindy Diamond said. “What is driving this is a change in advisor sentiment. Their motivation has changed over the last 10 years. What drives them today is a desire for freedom, flexibility and control and while they wanted that 10 years ago, they wouldn’t sacrifice the big signing bonus from the wirehouses.”

Diamond, who founded adviser recruitment firm Diamond Consultants in 1998, said that the smaller entities advisers are joining do also offer big deals, but the flexibility they provide is being valued over the big signing bonus at a wirehouse. “Where advisers are going has changed completely,” she added.

Among the impetus for more independent minded advisers is an easier path to attaining the flexibility they desire. tru Independence is one of several entities providing smaller firms with an easier transition when leaving corporate structures by offering back and middle office support.

“Ten years ago, if an adviser valued freedom and control, the outliers went independent but the majority put it off because of the risk,” Diamond added. “Today advisers are saying freedom, control and ownership are more important than anything and simultaneously the independent space has grown with more options that offer the opportunity to be independent and monetize the business. That is the biggest thing that changed, you can have sexy economics, freedom and control.”

Wealth management platform Focus Financial Partners has offered that  type of model to the tune of eight new partner firms and 17 mergers to existing partner firms last year. They are on pace to surpass that pace in 2019 with Connecticut-based MacGuire, Cheswick & Tuttle Investment Counsel, Atlanta-based Anthony Smith Advisors and Patton Albertson Miller Group, as well as Australian ultra-high net worth firm Escala Partners all coming on board this year following Focus going public last July.

RIA network HighTower Advisors brought on a new CEO earlier this year in Bob Oros, who told Fund Intelligence that they will continue to have an M&A focus in 2019, looking to expand from its current $60bn in assets and 92 adviser teams. Dynasty Financial Partners recently moved its headquarters, overseeing 47 RIAs and more than $30bn in assets on the platform, to Florida in a move indicative of continued expansion ahead. Indianapolis-based wealth management platform Sanctuary Partners saw similar expansion of late, prompting the addition of two new areas of focus in family offices and tax services.

With a different model that is more similar to a traditional RIA, Steward Partners has been able to pick off investors from several of the wirehouses, including adding several teams from Wells Fargo that are chasing independence.

“A cottage industry is set up to serve the breakaway system with access to capital turnkey solutions, access to compliance and everything and anything the adviser needs. It’s an ecosystem that has been born,” Diamond added.

As originally appeared in Fund Intelligence

You may also be interested in...

Share
0

About Mindy Diamond

CEO – By counseling advisors on how to ask the right questions and “dig deep”, she helps them look at all of the opportunities available to find the one that allows them to reach their full potential. That is, to best serve their clients and live a life that is in sync with their own beliefs and values. Learn more...

    Recent News & Articles

    • Should FAs Be Tested for Cognitive Decline?
    • The Path to Independence: 6 Key Elements to Consider Before Starting Your Journey
    • UBS Comp Changes Make It Harder to Battle Asset Outflows–Analysis
    • How Cresset Became a $27 Billion Wealth Manager in Under Five Years by Recruiting Top Private Bankers and Aggressive M&A
    • Edward Jones Opens Multi-FA Office in Seattle
    See. Here. Now.
    We're available to answer your questions. Contact us

    Connect with us

    Search

    © 2022 · Diamond Financial Consultants, LLC t/a Diamond Consultants. All rights reserved.*

    • Leading Financial Advisor Recruiting Firm:
    • About
    • Services
    • FAQs
    • Articles
    • Podcast
    • News/Media
    • Tools/Resources
    • Contact
    • Our Locations
    • Privacy Policy
    • Site Map