A Lubbock, Texas-based team with approximately $140 million in assets under management will join LPL Financial from Lincoln Financial.
The move comes as Osaic prepares to complete its acquisition of Lincoln National's wealth management business.
David Miller, president and managing director of RFS Financial Securities, said WealthManagement.com that while the impending acquisition was not the only reason for the move, it influenced the firm's decision.
After hearing months ago of the pending sale of Lincoln National's b/ds, Miller and his business partner Mike Ivey began evaluating their options.
“Essentially, the decision came down to the fact that we would be taking most of the pain of a broker/dealer change by selling to Osaic,” he said. “So why not take control of our own destiny, find the broker/dealer that fits our business model and is willing to provide significant support for such a massive undertaking?”
RFS Financial Services began by specializing in life insurance before expanding into the wealth management business. Miller has more than 30 years of industry experience and joined Lincoln Financial in 2004, according to his BrokerCheck profile. Ivey has nearly two decades of experience in the industry, joining Lincoln a year after Miller.
After the directors at RFS decided to break away from Lincoln, they eventually focused on LPL, attracted by what they considered to be “significant investments” in their technology offerings.
“Our customers will appreciate online tools that will give them access to their account information from any device, whenever they need it,” said Miller.
Late last year, Osaic revealed a deal for him to acquire Lincoln National's $108 billion wealth management business for $700 million, which consisted of two b/ds, each with a separate corporate RIA. Osaic is expected to close the deal in the first half of this year.
This purchase comes as Osaic (which was renamed by Advisor Group in 2023) is transitioning its other b/ds subsidiary to the Osaic brand. These legacy b/ds and Lincoln Financial's wealth business are expected to fully transition to Osaic by the second quarter of 2025.
But while these acquisitions have been completed (or close to being completed), several teams have left the Osaic in recent months, and some have been relegated to the LPL. Among them is Wisconsin-based Equity Design Group, which joined LPL from SagePoint Financial (one of Advisor Group/Osaic's b/ds).
Equity Design Group co-founder Jason Hohenstein cited consolidation as a factor in the decision to move, saying the acquisitions added a “significant layer of confusion” for clients. He also decried the changes in ownership, noting that it had gone through several different private equity owners since joining SagePoint in 2011.
By the end, Hohenstein was tired of “shuffling like cattle” and said the firm had “no idea” about Osaic's ultimate direction.
Cubby Bice, founder of the $130 million NC-based firm Bice Wealth Management, echoed Hohenstein's complaints in explaining his firm's move to LPL. Bice called the situation at Osaic “unsustainable” and accused Osaic of prioritizing the b/ds combination to boost revenue before going public while neglecting back-office support for advisers.
In a previous interview with Asset management, Osaic CEO Jamie Price acknowledged that more PE firms were showing interest in the firm. But he countered that any move to go public was inevitable, citing the fact that they hadn't even managed to consolidate all b/d.