Peter Mallouk’s Creative Planning, an independent registered investment advisor in Kansas City, Kan., has acquired another RIA—one that has more of a personal significance for Mallouk. Creative Planning bought Dashboard Wealth Advisors, an Oak Brook, Ill. firm with more than $890 million in assets under management.
Dashboard was founded in 2013 by Scott Schuster, who grew up with Mallouk in Kansas City.
“I have known Scott since grade school,” Mallouk said in a statement. “When his family moved to Chicago during our high school years, we stayed in touch. Eventually, we both found our way into wealth management. We studied for the CFP exam together many years ago and have shared best practices over the years.”
“I’ve known Peter personally for over 40 years and have shared best practices with him and his firm Creative Planning since my firm’s inception,” Schuster said in a statement.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
This deal comes on the heels of Creative Planning’s acquisition of the retirement plan business of Lockton, an independent insurance brokerage, adding $110 billion to the RIA’s assets, once the deal closes. As part of the deal, Lockton will take an equity stake in Creative Planning.
Creative Planning has been growing significantly over the past year, passing the $100 billion AUM mark recently, double what it was a year ago. It has added assets from a number of multi-billion-dollar firms in the past year, at the same time allowing its employees to take equity in the firm.
In 2020, Creative Planning took a minority investment from private equity firm General Atlantic and acquired eight more firms, making it a top-three acquirer with Hightower and CI Financial.