Another team is jumping from Osaic to the LPL; this time, it's a New Jersey-based group with 22 advisers and about $1 billion in assets under management.
Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Eatontown, NJ, Investment Advisors Financial Group is led by Thomas E. Musumeci, his daughter Annie Silvestro and James Flannery. In addition to counsel, the firm includes eight associates and administrative staff.
Musumeci remains president of the firm and his son Tom is also an advisor. The practice was originally at Royal Alliance before the broker/dealer network formerly known as Advisor Group renamed as Osaic in 2023 and began integrating all of its legacy brokers/dealers.
According to the team, they wanted more autonomy and technology resources, so they landed on LPL.
Musumeci has been in the industry for over 50 years. Silvestro said she had the “privilege” of growing up in the business and observing her father's dealings with customers.
“My father created a practice where anyone who wanted help creating and building wealth could get it, regardless of the size of their accounts, and we are proud to carry on his legacy today,” she said.
In addition to integrating its legacy b/ds, Osaic finalized its $115 billion acquisition of the Lincoln financial wealth business in May, planning to bring more than 1,400 advisers on board. In the wake of this acquisition (along with the change from Advisor Group to Osaic), a number of advisors have left Osaic for other firms, many of which have come down to LPL.
This includes Financial Pilot, a large network of 105 advisors with $4.6 billion in assets under management, which chose to transfer its business to LPL from Lincoln Financial shortly after the deal closed. The NC-based business was founded in 2001 and was affiliated with Lincoln until switching to LPL.
In February, LPL added the $520 million Wisconsin-based Equity Design Group, formerly associated with SagePoint (another legacy Advisory Group firm). North Carolina firm Bice Wealth Management also left Osaic earlier this year, citing an “unsustainable” situation and claiming the firm has prioritized scale at the expense of back-office support for advisers.
Ryan Rayburn also chose to move to LPL Financial after the Lincoln/Osaic deal was announced. Rayburn leads Strategic Wealth Partners, a Dallas-based team with approximately $860 million in assets under management, a staff of six and an additional office in Minden, La.
In an interview with WealthManagement.com, Rayburn said he was surprised to receive an email last year about the sale to Osaic. He began his due diligence on Osaic and its competitors and said he settled on LPL because it was unlikely to be bought.
“We're going to end up in the not-too-distant future with only a few different places to go,” he said. “You want to be with one of the biggest players and you want to be with someone who invests heavily in technology.”