LPL in the News: Growth Trends, Supported Independence, Joins

Growth Beyond Traditional Independence Model

LPL Financial has long been considered the nation’s leading independent broker-dealer¹ for financial advisors pursuing traditional independence. The firm’s advisor-centric value proposition, robust selection of affiliation models, and innovative solutions have led to astronomical advisor growth in recent years. And now, LPL’s competitive recruiting edge is expanding beyond their flagship model into their RIA platform and super OSJs (Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction). In December 2022 alone, the following seasoned firms joined LPL.

• Financial House, located in Centreville, Delaware, joined from Lincoln Financial. The team services around $650 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets.* In a statement to Financial Advisor IQ, Robert Griesemer, one of the team’s partner financial advisors, said, “At the end of the day, we recognized LPL would provide us with more independence and flexibility to grow our practice as we see fit. LPL brings more resources to the table for ultimate succession planning, recruiting, and transition assistance.”
• Perennial Financial Services, a Los Angeles-based RIA affiliated with LPL Financial, acquired Ford Financial Group, also an LPL-affiliate based in Fresno, California. As reported in The DI Wire, the firms have a combined $1.9 billion in client advisory and brokerage assets and nearly 30 advisors throughout California, Idaho, and Arizona.
• Financial advisors David Rimkus, Donald Sharko, and Thomas Phelan rebranded their Orland Park, Illinois-based practice as Harbor Lighthouse Wealth Management under their move to one of LPL’s biggest branches, Financial Resources Group Investment Services. As reported in Financial Planning,  the team at Harbor Lighthouse services about $285 million in client advisory and brokerage assets, and will use LPL as their brokerage, registered investment advisor, and custodian while aligning with Financial Resources.*
• Wealth Management reported that Parsons, Kansas–based Strategic Partners joined LPL OSJ National Financial Alliance. Comprised of 18 advisors, Strategic Partners services approximately $830 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets, as well as $600 million in fixed life insurance and annuity assets.

The Evolution of the Supported Independence Business Model

As reported in Wealth Management.com, the demand for supported independence surged in 2022. It seems financial advisors are drawn to the appeal of owning their own business without having to build it from scratch.

AdvisorHub’s CEO, Tony Sirianni CEO, Tony Sirianni, recently spoke with LPL Executive Vice Presidents Marc Cohen and Gary Carrai about this trend toward supported independence. Here are some key takeaways from that conversation.

• Traditional independence is evolving with financial advisors’ shifting needs and expectations.
• Advisors are seeking ways to “quiet the noise” of business operations, refocus their time and energy on serving their clients, and reduce expenses.
• LPL is answering this call through the development of supported independence models.
  • Linsco by LPL Financial empowers advisors to be independent and own their client relationships and service models, while outsourcing back-office responsibilities that go along with being a business owner.
  • LPL Strategic Wealth Services helps entrepreneurial-minded financial advisors stand up and run a thriving business with turnkey support and a built-in management team.
• Supported independence is still independence. As Marc Cohen stated, “And so any of these models that we’re delivering, whether you’re an employee of ours and outsourcing those capabilities, or you’re running your own RIA and simply using LPL as a custodian, you’ve got that key tenant of independence flowing through every one of those different approaches. And that’s what’s most important.”

In a separate article, AdvisorHub reported that the Linsco model has already attracted 25 teams in the three years since its launch. LPL’s CEO, Dan Arnold, shared that he expects that growth to continue. “We’re really optimistic that we’ve got a differentiated solution that checks all the boxes of someone that’s looking for an employee type of model that does it with the attributes of the independent model.”

Fueling Organic Advisor Growth in 2023

Financial Advisor IQ reported that LPL is looking to fuel organic growth in 2023 by investing in financial technology. The firm expects to spend $260 million on technology this year, up from $210 million in 2021.

LPL’s Business Solutions group is also planning to expand their suite of offerings in 2023. They’ve rolled out nine “human-led, tech-enabled” solutions since the 2018 launch, including client administration, bookkeeping, financial planning, marketing, and leveraging digital tools and data.

Looking for more updates, insights, and perspectives? Read more News and Insights or visit LPL Newsroom.