Commonwealth Financial Network is attracting two Long Island-based firms totaling more than $495 million in managed assets from Osaic.
Both Full Spectrum Financial Solutions and NXT Phase Financial Services were affiliated with Securities America before that firm was integrated into Osaic, the network of broker/dealers formerly known as Advisor Group. The two firms are based in Jericho, N.Y.
Becca Hajjar, a managing principal and chief business development officer at Commonwealth, said it was a “special honor” for the firms to choose Commonwealth.
“This is a great example of how we can make the process easy for two firms transitioning side by side,” Hajjar said in a statement.
Both firms were founded in the early 1990s, and though they operate as separate enterprises, the two teams share office space. Full Spectrum’s advisees include Pat Lanotte, Christopher Jones and Paul Michaluk, who advise on $329 million in assets and focus on working with clients nearing or at their retirement. NXT Phase manages about $166 million and includes advisors John Carbonara and Michael Murray, who specialize in working with educators on various issues, including retirement plan advice.
According to Commonwealth, the two firms decided to move jointly and made an on-site visit to Commonwealth’s Waltham, Mass., headquarters. Lanotte said in a statement that the visit helped seal the deal by witnessing how Commonealth’s advanced planning, estate planning, marketing and other teams “connect the dots” for its advisors.
Commonwealth Financial Network is an independent broker/dealer with more than $296 million in assets; in September, the firm announced it had partnered with Vestwell to launch a new pooled employer plan, expanding on its existing partnership with Vestwell and making the new plan available through the firm’s 2,000+ advisors.
Commonwealth’s attracted several other teams from Osaic throughout the year, including Terramar Wealth, a Calif.-based team with more than $300 million in managed assets. Terramar became an office of supervisory jurisdiction (OSJ) for Commonwealth after filling the same role for SagePoint Financial (now Osaic) for over two decades. In September, Commonwealth also attracted the Tempe, Ariz.-based $630 million Krueger Financial Services from Osaic.
These moves are the latest of many departures from Osaic since the firm rebranded last year and began merging its eight legacy broker/dealers (including Securities America and SagePoint) into one entity.
Osaic also closed a deal to acquire Lincoln Financial’s $115 billion wealth management business, intending to onboard about 1,400 advisors. But after these changes, some advisors have left Osaic for other firms, including Commonwealth and LPL Financial.
In a WealthManagement.com interview this fall, Osaic CEO Jamie Price said Osaic’s attrition rate after rebranding was “right on” with its annual projections and disputed claims from some former Osaic advisors who said the firm’s consolidation and private equity backing spurred them to leave (Reverence Capital Partners owns the firm).
Price said the idea that Reverence would dictate the firm’s plans for integrating its legacy b/ds was a “misnomer” and that it wouldn’t make sense for Reverence to squeeze business costs when so many of them are variable.
“You would never create a very good wealth management business if that was the thing you did,” Price said.
