A Los Angeles-based retail investment advisory firm with approximately $500 million in client brokerage, advisory and retirement plan assets will join LPL Financial, the latest in what has been a busy summer of new partnership announcements for the nation’s largest independent broker/dealer.
According to Edward Charton, the principal of the newly formed Charton Financial Group, LPL’s “commitment to technology and marketing” was one reason for the shift. Charton said he hoped that they could increase client services without boosting costs.
“We bring a unique set of skills to our new firm, in addition to a strong sense of teamwork,” he said. “That teamwork combined with LPL’s scale and deep well of resources will allow our clients to benefit from objective and comprehensive advice, helping them work toward their long-term financial goals.”
Charton will be joining LPL from FMS Financial Partners, an affiliate of Kestra Financial Partners. He began his career in the financial services industry in insurance before transitioning into investment management, risk management, retirement and estate planning, and employee and executive benefits for business owners, executives and corporate clients, amassing four decades of experience. Charton’s son Chad, who will also join LPL, has more than 15 years of experience specializing in insurance.
The past several weeks have been a busy period for LPL Financial; in late June, Salter Financial Group, a Texas-based firm with $100 million in assets under management (AUM), joined LPL after five years with Cetera Financial Group. The group had been with LPL from 2006 to 2014 and said they returned because they saw a “turnaround” and a change of culture at the firm.
The following week, PacNorth Retirement Group left Raymond James to join LPL (the Spokane Valley, Wash.-based firm managed about $1.1 billion of brokerage, advisory and retirement plan assets). In the two weeks after the PacNorth announcement, a New York-based firm with $110 million in AUM and a group of Texas-based advisors managing $125 million in assets also joined LPL. The firm had $684 billion in advisory and brokerage assets and 16,189 advisors as of March 31.