September 9, 2022
By Andrew Welsch
Two advisor teams that oversaw more than $1 billion at Merrill Lynch jumped to Sanctuary Wealth, an independent broker-dealer and registered investment advisor that has helped dozens of their wirehouse peers go indie.
The teams will form a single independent practice partnered with Sanctuary and operate from Denver and Orange County, Calif. They say they made the move because they wanted greater freedom in structuring their practice.
“We’ll have a full range of technology and software providers that are available in the marketplace,” advisor Michael Mittman tells Barron’s Advisor. “If the planning software isn’t the best of breed, we’ll just switch over. We don’t have to ask management.”
Mittman, who led a Colorado-based Merrill team, adds that they’ll also be able to advise clients on assets held elsewhere. His colleague Luke Mckelvy, who co-led a California-based team, notes they’ll also now control hiring decisions, something they could not do while employees at Merrill Lynch. “We can staff in the right size to give the clients the service that they really deserve,” Mckelvy says. “Our staff won’t be stretched too thin.”
