An advisory duo based in The Woodlands, Texas, is joining LPL Strategic Wealth Services (SWS) and forming a new independent practice, the independent broker/dealer announced Monday.
Richard DeYoung and Jessica Boehm are joining LPL from Wells Fargo Advisors, where they managed about $280 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets, and the new practice will be called Highland Wealth Partners.
DeYoung and Boehm met four years ago, and work with individuals and families, trusts, business and nonprofits. They’ll be joined in the new firm by support staff Debbie Gregori and Cindy Binn, and will allow the team to remove investment minimum requirements for clients. According to Boehm, the LPL partnership offered the duo the right mix of autonomy with clients and back-office assistance.
“With Strategic Wealth Services, everything is already built in and we’re not on our own,” she said. “This way, we can focus on what we do best and enjoy being advisors.”
The partnership with Highland Wealth Partners is the 22nd practice to join LPL's Strategic Wealth Services since its launch in April 2020; the model is designed to target wirehouse and regional advisors looking to create an independent business while still getting the back-office support typical in the employee model. Earlier this year, SWS attracted a Lincoln, Neb.–based financial advisor with about $750 million in managed assets to leave D.A. Davidson; the partnership became SWS’ first in the Midwest since its inception.
LPL’s also attracted a number of advisors from Wells Fargo in recent months, including a $1 billion AUM trio based out of Salt Lake City who joined LPL’s Stratos Wealth Partners from Wells Fargo in late February. Earlier this year, another Texas-based duo with about $275 million in managed assets joined SWS from Wells Fargo, while last September a team with $305 million out of New Jersey also joined SWS after leaving Wells Fargo (Larry Boggs, a Maryland-based advisor with $1.3 billion AUM, was SWS’ largest addition and joined from Wells Fargo last year).
Additionally, LPL announced last month that Bozeman, Mont.–based financial advisor John “Mark” Ross, who managed about $100 million in assets, had affiliated with Linsco by LPL, the firm’s employee advisor model, also joining from Wells Fargo Advisors. Last week, First Hope Wealth Management, an Andover, N.J.–based team with about $195 million in managed assets from the investment program at First Hope Bank, joined LPL’s Institution Services platform. The team had previously been affiliated with Raymond James.
LPL also recently announced the results of its fourth quarter, having recruited $17 billion in assets in Q4 2021 and $89 billion for the year, which was double its 2020 total. Rich Steinmeier, a managing director and divisional president for LPL, speculated that advisor head count would grow above 20,000 by the end of this year’s first quarter.