The Oregon-based Lindsey Group and the Los Angeles team of Trost Financial have combined forces within the $38 billion employee-owned Steward Partners. The two firms will merge to create the Lindsey-Trost Group of Steward Partners.
The addition of Trost and his staff will bring an additional $180 million in assets under management under Steward; when combined with the Lindsey Group’s $532 million AUM total, the newly created firm will manage $712 million in combined client assets.
The melding of the two firms is based on a relationship between the principals that spans four decades, back to when Greg Trost attended college at the University of Oregon and met Doug Lindsey.
In an interview with WealthManagement.com, Trost and Lindsey discussed their partnership and the benefits of merging their businesses.
Over the decades, Trost and Lindsey independently grew their books of business, with Lindsey joining Steward Partners in 2021. But in the past several years, the duo began discussing the benefits of combining forces to create a firm that spans the length of the country’s west coast, from Trost in Century City, Calif., to Lindsey in Lake Oswego, outside of Portland, Ore.
“I think the whole is going to be greater than the sum of its parts when it’s all done,” Lindsey said.
According to Trost, one premier benefit was joining a family-focused firm like Lindsey’s operation, which includes Douglas’ sons Justin and Collin as partners and wealth managers. While Trost stressed that neither he nor Lindsey had immediate plans to retire, he felt buoyed by the knowledge that his firm’s and clientele’s future were in sturdy hands.
The new firm will also include Trost alum Michael Mora as a partner and wealth manager, Melissa Kiser as a partner and senior registered client administrative manager, and Katie Scott, who will take on the roles of partner, vice president and client administrative manager.
Trost and Lindsey have clients throughout California and the Pacific Northwest. Lindsey said it would make it easier for both firms to meet in person with some clients they’d typically converse with remotely.
Trost said the two firms’ differing strengths will complement each other. Trost tends to focus on fee-based planning, while Lindsey’s firm develops investment portfolio strategies for its clients. Other specialties are now in-house, with Trost pointing out that he’d previously needed to schedule regular consultations with CFAs. With Justin Lindsey’s help, he can keep that business requirement within the firm’s walls.
“That’s really powerful,” he said. “And clients want to refer (to us). They want more people to get what they’re getting.”
Eric Field, Steward Partners’ divisional president for the west, said the firm hoped to continue building its presence in the region, including in San Francisco and Arizona, among other locales. Lindsey found the fact that everyone from the partners to their assistants benefitted from equity in Steward to be a premier selling point.
“It’s a great structure and really well put together,” he said. “It’s interesting how things come together.”
Last month, Steward acquired Mainstay Wealth Management, a N.J.-based team of four advisors with over $850 million in managed assets who joined from Ameriprise.
