by Concurrent Investment Advisors hit growth goals in its first year as a newly structured hybrid RIA and started 2024 with a couple of new additions, the firm reported this week, while Carson Group announced additions to both RIA platforms, Realta Wealth tapped a former Cetera SVP to serve as CFO and Savant Wealth Management named DeLynn Zell and Spenser Segal to its board of managers.
In earlier reported news, Savvy added a second custodian and three advisors, Merit Financial Advisors bought a firm in the Pacific Northwest managing $542 million, Baird Private Wealth Management added a UBS team with $680 million in Wisconsin, Nepsis launched an in-house corporate retirement division with talent from Northwestern Mutual and Diversify Advisory Network debuted an expanded, fee-only asset management platform for its growing ecosystem of 1099 and W-2 advisors.
In related news, Hightower CEO Bob Oros sat down with WealthManagement.com last week to chat about his five-year anniversary and leading the firm through structural and strategic changes as assets grew by more than $80 billion.
After Hitting $17B in ‘23, Concurrent Scores Advisors from Wells Fargo, Raymond James
Concurrent Investment Advisors, a Tampa-based hybrid RIA that was formerly an office of supervisory jurisdiction under Raymond James, has attracted two more advisors from its previous affiliate a little more than a year after cutting ties and subsequently transitioning more than 60 advisor teams and $17 billion in advisory and retirement assets to the new structure.
A third addition, from Wells Fargo, joined Concurrent in December. Collectively, the trio brings approximately $365 million in managed assets to the growing advisor services platform, which reports a total of $7.5 billion in regulatory AUM.
From Raymond James Financial Services, Denver-based Sean O’Neill joined Concurrent partner firm Legacy Wealth in January. According to an announcement, he made the move for more independence and access to a broader range of investments and marketing support.
In Jacksonville, Fla., Glenn Holmes made the move from Raymond James in February to launch T7 Legacy, which is focused on providing financial planning for business owners and corporate executives.
Former Wells Fargo advisor Ramin Abrams, in New York City, launched his new practice under the Concurrent Advisors brand to offer portfolio management, as well as financial and multi-generational planning.
Backed by Merchant Investment Management, Concurrent has taken a minority non-controlling stake in all but two of its partner firms, and equity is offered to all affiliates. The firm hasn’t done any full acquisitions, prefers equity swap transactions, and there is no W-2 option.
Full acquisitions aren’t off the table, CEO Nate Lenz has said, but it would have to be in a situation where the advisor isn’t planning an immediate exit because Concurrent has no desire to compete with its advisors and wasn’t created to absorb orphaned clients.
“But our teams are,” he pointed out.
Concurrent expects to reach $10 billion in assets under management by the end of the year, in addition to an existing $10 billion in retirement assets, according to a firm spokesperson.
Carson Wealth Adds 13th Office with Local Acquisition, Scoops Colorado Advisor
Carson Wealth, the W-2 division of Carson Group, has acquired a team of three managing $163 million for clients in Elkhorn, Neb., a 7-minute drive from Carson’s headquarters in Omaha.
Joining Carson Wealth as managing directors, David Carroll and Jon Springer were partners and senior advisors co-leading the Omaha branch for Denver-based Elk River Wealth Management, which offers financial planning and leverages partnerships to provide a range of family office services. Client Services Manager Jessica Fricke joined them in the move, while an Omaha-based operations manager appears to have departed.
“We were drawn to the unparalleled resources and support the firm offers,” Springer said in a statement, citing more investment options and in-house expertise.
Carson Partners, Carson Group’s 1099 platform, also announced that it added a Colorado advisor formerly affiliated with Continuum Advisory and Triad Advisors.
A CFP since 1999, Jody J. Roth has represented Wealth Management Associates in Colorado for about eight years. Joining Carson as a partner, he spent more than 17 years with Transamerica Financial Advisors and then moved his practice to Signator Investors for about a year before joining Continuum and Triad in 2016.
Founded in 1983 by CEO Ron Carson, Carson Group manages some $34 billion in assets and serves more than 49,000 families across an advisory network of more than 150 partner offices, 401(k) business Northwestern Capital and more than 50 Carson Wealth locations. Securities are offered through Cetera Advisors’ broker/dealer.
Former Cetera SVP Tim Bowman Becomes New Realta Wealth CFO
After kicking off the year with a new brand and chief operating officer, hybrid RIA Realta Wealth (formerly CoastalOne) has tapped Tim Bowman of Prime Trust to replace CPA Michael O’Connor as chief financial officer.
Bowman, a certified accountant with Series 4, 7, 24, 27, and 63 FINRA licenses, reports to CEO Kevin Keefe. He is responsible for all financial operations, including accounting, financial planning and analysis, commissions and financial reporting, according to Realta, and will play a key role in shaping strategy.
“Tim has a stellar track record of helping financial services firms achieve outsized growth and doing so with fiscally sound approaches,” Keefe said in a statement.
Bowman was with Prime Trust for less than a year. Prior to that, he spent more than five years with Cetera, where he served as senior vice president of finance. With a career spanning more than 30 years, Bowman has held multiple accounting, financial analysis and financial officer roles at firms such as Smith Barney, Credit Suisse, the Bank of New York Securities Group and Arxis Capital, among others.
“I’m excited to bring my experience to Realta as the firm embarks on its next phase with new leadership, brand, and value proposition,” Bowman added. “Realta has the energy and drive of a start-up, with the foundational stability and executive suite of a well-established firm.”
Based in Wilmington, Del., Realta Wealth comprises broker/dealer Realta Equities and the Realta Investment Advisors RIA.
Realta recently reported overseeing $3.3 billion in client assets. That includes more than $780 million in managed assets on a Form ADV filed in early January, which reported more than 3,600 individuals and 150 institutional clients.
Savant Wealth Adds DeLynn Zell and Spenser Segal to Board
Savant Wealth Management, an Illinois-based RIA overseeing more than $25 billion in assets, has named a pair of industry personalities to its board of managers.
DeLynn Zell is co-founder of Bridgeworth Wealth Management, an Alabama RIA acquired by Savant late last year. Zell joined the national advisory board at Charles Schwab in 2023, has served on the Forbes Financial Council and is actively committed to supporting women in the financial services industry.
Spenser Segal is CEO of ActiFi, a fintech firm offering advisor coaching and engagement tools he founded more than two decades ago. He was also a founder of BigCharts, an online financial information service acquired by CBS MarketWatch in 1999. Early in his career, he was a portfolio manager for Barrington Capital Management and spent about three years with American Express Financial Advisors (now Ameriprise).
Segal is a familiar face at industry conferences, offering his thoughts on topics such as advisor engagement, technology optimization and integration, workflow enhancement and organic growth strategies.
Savant Wealth Management provides portfolio management, financial planning, retirement plan and family office services to wealthy individuals and institutions, as well as corporate accounting, tax preparation, payroll and consulting through its affiliate, Savant Tax & Consulting, and estate planning document preparation and other legal services through an affiliated law firm, Savant Legal.
