Modern Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory backed by private equity launched last year of former United Capital executives, has acquired Philadelphia-based Wealth Management Solutions and Reston, Va.-based Autumn Wind Asset Management, bringing the firm's assets to more than $3.7 billion.
Wealth Management Solutions, which has more than $400 million in AUM and 350 clients, was founded in 2015 by Tanu Happonen.
Autumn Wind, a Washington, DC area RIA with more than $170 million in AUM, was founded in 2000 by Neal Falkenberry. The firm serves approximately 43 high net worth clients.
Jason Gordo, co-founder and president of Modern Wealth, said both firms were looking for tax and estate planning services they could add to their businesses. Modern Wealth has built specializations in financial planning, tax planning and preparation, personal banking and estate planning through its acquisitions.
Both firms were also looking to partner with a company that could accelerate their organic growth, executives said. In August, Modern Wealth built a lead-generating “growth center” in Kansas City. The firm hires professionals straight out of college to learn the business from the ground up and provide Modern's advisors with “warm” guidance.
They are not cold, the firm said. Instead, they use a radio program and podcast produced by the RIA's first acquisition, Barber Financial, which has been successful in attracting new business to the firm. They also use digital channels, organic search and other strategies to reach prospects. About a dozen people work at the center.
“We know that the key to driving organic growth is that you have to have a war chest, in other words, the ability to invest in channels,” Gordo said. “You have to be first for the opportunity. That's why we have this team. And then you need to have a real customer experience and delivery process that is consistent and repeatable across the firm so that we have the best chance of successful outcomes possible.”
Modern Wealth was founded a year ago by Gordo and co-CEOs Gary Roth and Mike Capelle, who worked together at United Capital, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2019. They hope to quickly build a national services firm complete, through both acquisitions and organic growth programs such as the center in Kansas City. Advisers are under an ADV, are W2 employees and share the Modern Wealth brand. The firm uses Charles Schwab and Fidelity for custody.
Crestview, a private equity firm, made a $200 million investment in Modern Wealth. Of the firm Barber Financial's first acquisition It gave Modern Wealth the infrastructure, technology and talent it needed to get off the ground, executives said. Barber consists of Barber Financial Group, an RIA led by CEO and founder Dean Barber; Osiwala Financial Group, a subsidiary headed by President Ken Osiwala; and Financial Assurance, an acquired practice led by President Bud Kasper.
Gordo says the firm will buy somewhere around 30 to 40 offices in total over the next few years. The firm's first eight acquisitions have been primarily in the Midwest and East Coast, but they expect to announce some West Coast deals soon.