$430M Team Launches Own RIA With Wells Fargo’s First Clearing$430M Team Launches Own RIA With Wells Fargo’s First Clearing
A Kansas City-based team of four advisors has created Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors through Wells Fargo's RIA channel.
A team of four advisors managing about $430 million in client assets has launched their own registered investment advisor through Wells Fargo’s RIA channel. The advisors, who were previously affiliated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, the bank’s independent broker/dealer channel, has created Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors in Kansas City, Mo.
The firm will custody assets with First Clearing, Wells Fargo’s RIA clearing and custody service. They’ll also use TradePMR, which provides middle-office support to RIAs partnering with First Clearing.
The team includes Peter Vrooman, a managing partner, wealth advisor, senior portfolio manager and chief investment officer; Jonathan Sarver, managing partner, wealth advisor, senior portfolio manager and director of client education and experience; Thomas King, partner, wealth advisor, portfolio manager and director of alternative investments; and Ron Dietz, partner, wealth advisor, portfolio manager and director of risk management. They’re joined by Jessica Estes, chief operating officer and chief compliance officer; and Kat Aguilar, operations specialist.
Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors will drop their brokerage affiliation and operate as a fee-only firm. In a statement, the firm said the move would allow the advisors to create a customizable technology stack, access non-proprietary investment strategies and research and collaborate with external professionals, such as attorneys, accountants and mortgage advisors.
The RIA specializes in serving engineers, executives and entrepreneurs.
Wells Fargo Advisors rolled out its fee-only RIA channel in January 2019, under the leadership of John Peluso, former head of First Clearing. Like other firms, including independent broker/dealers such as LPL and Commonwealth, Wells Fargo recognized the trend away from a transactional brokerage business and toward fiduciary fee-based advice by both advisors and clients.
Peluso left his post in 2023 to join Thurston Springer Advisors, an Indianapolis-based RIA, as executive vice president and partner, according to published reports. Albert Caiazzo, who joined First Clearing in 2004, now serves as president of the clearing and custody firm.
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