Modern Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory firm launched in early 2023 of former United Capital and Goldman Sachs executives, has acquired Beltz Ianni & Associates, a $1.2 billion RIA, and created a corporate retirement planning division. The team has shed brokerage ties with LPL Financial to join the independent RIA, which now has $3 billion in total assets.
Rochester, NY-based Beltz Ianni represents Modern Wealth's sixth acquisition and was founded by David Ianni and Fred Beltz in 2001 with a focus on retirement planning and asset management. The pair retired from the practice about four years ago, appointing a new generation of partners as part of a succession plan and retaining the ownership stake that eventually emerged in the buyout deal.
Then, led by five partners, the 12-person team manages about $700 million in retirement plan assets for more than 100 small and medium-sized companies and oversees another $500 million for individual investors in New York western. Six of those team members have joined Modern Wealth as managing directors, including Michelle Cannan, who is leading a new “company retirement plan services” division.
Seven team members are focused solely on the corporate retirement plan business, including three who work as third-party plan administrators and are providing the foundation for the new line of business.
“We have a lot of synergy between both sides of the business, but we think specialization is really important,” Cannan said. WealthManagement.com. “To stay on top of industry trends and new legislation, it's important that members of our retirement plan services team focus on that part of the industry.”
The deal closed on March 1. The incoming team has adopted the Modern Wealth brand and is continuing to serve existing clients while a 6-month integration process is underway—as well as new clients. Cannan's team received its first internal referral on the second day, she noted.
After expanding its in-house tax capabilities in the fall, Modern Wealth is focused on building them alongside the firm's existing private wealth management and new 401(k) businesses.
“We will continue to build talent and capacity in financial planning and tax planning, management and compliance work—actually signing 1040s for clients—as well as working very closely with the Beltz Ianni team, especially Michelle, around the plan of corporate retirement,” said Modern Wealth President Jason Gordo. “So planners, CPAs and corporate retirement plan talent are what we're looking for. We are finding a huge amount of opportunities in the market. This is number six in a roughly 10-month stretch. We have a few more that we'll be announcing very soon, and I think you'll see talent in all of those areas.”
The firm is also looking to expand into key geographies, including Texas, Florida and California.
“We're definitely building a national firm,” Gordo said. “I think once we have 20-25 offices and we have offices in all the major population groups, then we'll start to feel like we have a national presence.”
With six acquisitions now under its belt, Modern Wealth spans 10 locations, including its national headquarters in the greater Kansas City area and a corporate headquarters in Monterey, California. The latest addition brings the firm to 77 employees and $3 billion in client assets.
According to Gordo, all acquisitions to date have exceeded 100% of assets under management when the deals were announced – except for one that decided not to invite all clients to move.