New RIA Platform Entrant Uptick Adds Second RIA to NetworkNew RIA Platform Entrant Uptick Adds Second RIA to Network
John Sidery, who managed $70 million in client assets at an Arkansas-based independent firm, has started Olympus Wealth Strategies with RIA platform Uptick Partners.
Uptick Partners, a registered investment advisor platform launched by former Edward Jones advisors last year, has brought on its second advisor outside its founding members with a Little Rock, Ark.-based breakaway and will be adding at least two more in the coming months, according to one of Uptick's founders.
John Sidery has joined Uptick’s platform from Legacy Capital, a $1.2 billion RIA where he managed over $70 million in client assets. He will now lead his own firm, Olympus Wealth Strategies, under the Uptick platform.
Sidery is Uptick’s second advisor to be added since its founding in the summer of 2024 by three financial advisors who broke away from Edward Jones in 2023. The firm’s model is to be a support platform to help other advisors from captive broker/dealers go independent.
Sidery made the move to Uptick as he sought to “provide clients with better technology, personalized service and the ability to align his practice with his core values, including independence and client-centric advice,” according to the announcement.
Olympus Wealth Strategies provides wealth and asset management, financial planning, estate planning and charitable giving, tax planning and business owner services, among other areas, according to its website.
Uptick was formed by Edward Jones advisors Steve Barber, his son Jason Barber and Taylor Pankratz. They left the brokerage to form Nacogdoches, Texas-based Holistic Planning and modeled the RIA platform after their own experiences.
Jason Barber said that the RIA platform provider, which is targeting about three to four partnerships a year, has two more advisors in the pipeline to join and will be recruiting for a final firm in the summer. One of the new advisors is based in Georgia and the other is in Arizona, Barber said, declining to provide further detail.
When Uptick was founded, leadership assumed it would attract advisors breaking away from b/ds such as Edward Jones, similar to their experiences, Barber said. But with Sidery, the firm found an advisor seeking to leave an independent RIA for more freedom and decision-making with clients.
“We realize now it may be a little more appropriate for us to change our mindset to advisors breaking away from captive situations where they are an employee of somebody else,” Barber said.
In November, Uptick announced that advisors who transition to the firm will receive a 100% payout until they return to 100% of their revenue at their previous employer. Once the advisors reach that threshold, they get 95% of their returns, with Uptick taking a 5% profit margin.
Barber said the guarantee has been a selling point for new advisors, including the first to join last year, Jonathan Dvorak, founder of Dvorak Financial Planning in Cullman, Ala. Dvorak had been with Edward Jones, managing $275 million in client assets.
Barber said Dvorak reached the 100% threshold in four months and anticipates that Sidery will be similar or even faster.
He also said that preparing an advisor to announce a breakaway is “mission critical” when Uptick is working with them. Barber pointed to a video Uptick helped Sidery create ahead of the move in which Sidery shares his story for clients and social media channels. Dvorak, Barber said, launched with a new app that clients could immediately download and sign up to use.
“You want to make it clear to your clients that this was your decision, that it was planned out and that you are showing clients that it will be better for them,” Barber said.
According to its most recent ADV Form filing, Uptick has $688 million in client assets under management.
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