Berger Financial Group spent 18 years with Cambridge Investment Research but now has launched its own RIA.

Jumping from the employee channel to build an independent advisory practice is increasingly easy—except when it comes to health insurance.

The move is the culmination of an 18-month courtship.

While some firms slowed growth during the pandemic, RBC's head of recruitment, Kristen Kimmell, landed billions in assets with a net gain in advisors this year that topped rivals.

Hightower continues its acquisition streak, taking a stake in Waltham, Mass.-based Argent Wealth Management, an RIA with $1.7 billion.

Michigan-based Baldwin Capital Management and Langdon Capital Management join LPL from Voya Financial, while Chicago-based Nestlehut Financial Services moves to Cetera Advisors from Securities Service Network.

Advisors Paul Castro and Erik Steudle recently joined Good Life, an LPL Financial large enterprise, from UnionBanc Investment Services and Ameriprise, respectively.

Focus attributes the growth to three RIA acquisitions as well as 15 subacquisitions it made on behalf of its partner firms over the past year.  

LPL believes the new model addresses some of the pain points that exist among employee advisors, such as surety of their payout, owning the client relationship, the actual payout grid and the tax treatment of the sale of a practice.

M&T Bank, which will shift its brokerage and advisory business from its own subsidiary to LPL in 2021, is the largest financial institution to join LPL.