Summit Financial, a registered investment adviser based in Parsippany, NJ, and its backer Merchant Investment Management, have acquired a majority stake in the wealth management arm of Meeder Investment Management. Over the past few years, the Summit has been in decline, non-controlling interests in RIAbut this marks her first full purchase.
Meeder Investment Management will remain independently owned.
Meeder's wealth management team, based in Dublin, Ohio, has been around for nearly 50 years and manages $400 million in assets under management. The firm specializes in government-insured deposit programs, retirement plans and corporate investments.
Meeder's branding and team will remain intact. This includes Jason Click, president, wealth management; Mike Saraullo, vice president, wealth management; Mike Miller, senior wealth advisor; Ryan Johnson, senior wealth advisor; Tricia McDermott, senior property coordinator; and Sara Story, property coordinator.
Summit Financial has built a turnkey platform for independent advisors, offering a range of services through five entities under the Summit umbrella. The firm currently oversees $14 billion in assets under advisement. Advisors joining the partnership must be under Summit ADV, although they remain independent contractors.
In addition to receiving RIA services, advisors also have access to Summit's financial planning company, with attorneys on staff who can handle trusts, estates, estate planning, business continuity planning, tax planning, and more. The firm's investment management arm takes care of everything needed to manage money for clients, including research, analysis, stress testing, portfolio generation, rebalancing and trading. Summit also has a general insurance agency through MassMutual, so it offers full insurance support.
The firm offers a technology stack through SummitVantage, an advisor dashboard that is fully integrated with single sign-on functionality and electronic signature capabilities powered by Salesforce, eMoney Advisor and Addepar.
Advisors also have access to Summit's human resources company, which manages all of their staffing needs, from insurance and health benefits to staffing and 401(k) services.