Deals & People September 16, 2024

Advisory M&A News – 9/16/24

Savvy adds financial advisers Martino and Moore; Ty J. Young Wealth Management acquires Amatulli and Associates Financial Services; Carson Group partners with YCharts in enterprise agreement; $2 billion Connecticut team creates Centel Wealth Advisory; and more.

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Savvy Adds Financial Advisers Martino and Moore

Savvy Advisors Inc., a registered investment adviser affiliated with Savvy Wealth Inc., announced the hiring of Drew Martino and Daniel Moore, both financial advisers.

Martino joins Savvy from Corebridge Financial, where he specialized in retirement planning with a focus on 403(b) plan guidance for individuals employed by schools, hospitals, municipalities, government entities and other tax-exempt organizations. With more than 20 years of experience, the Los Angeles-based Martino is experienced in helping clients navigate tax-advantaged retirement savings plans. He has held positions at Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and other independent wealth managers.

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Moore joins Savvy from TIAA, where he managed approximately $800 million in client assets. Based in the Chicago area, Moore brings retirement planning experience from similar roles at Fidelity Investments, PNC and AXA Advisors. He specializes in serving higher education professionals and physicians, helping them optimize their after-tax returns and create personalized estate planning documents, in addition to traditional financial planning and investment management.

“With the recent close of our Series A funding and our continued success recruiting advisors that serve high-net-worth individuals and families, Savvy is at a transformative stage,” Ritik Malhotra, founder and CEO of Savvy Wealth, said in a statement. “I’m positive that both Drew and Daniel will make significant contributions by bringing fresh perspectives, honest feedback and the highest level of client care to Savvy.”

Ty J. Young Wealth Management Acquires Amatulli and Associates Financial Services

Ty J. Young Inc. Wealth Management has acquired Amatulli and Associates Financial Services. The acquisition of the St. John, Indiana-based firm expands Ty J. Young Wealth Management’s growing footprint in the Midwest.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to serve the clients of Amatulli and Associates Financial Services,” CEO Ty Young said in a statement. “We’re also thrilled to welcome their experienced staff to the Ty J. Young Wealth Management team.”

The transaction, which closed in July, will provide Amatulli clients access to Ty J. Young Wealth Management’s customer service and personalized services.

The acquisition is Ty J. Young Wealth Management’s 38th in the last six years, as the firm’s nationwide reach continues to rapidly grow.

Carson Group Partners with YCharts in Enterprise Agreement

Carson Group Inc., a financial services firm, and YCharts Inc., an investment research and proposal generation platform, announced a partnership that will provide Carson Group advisers with full access to YCharts’ suite of tools and analytics.

Enterprise-wide access to YCharts will be rolled out immediately, and Carson Group advisers will be onboarded to the platform in the coming weeks. This partnership is designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Carson Group’s investment research, portfolio analysis and model delivery processes across teams.

The new solution will streamline model delivery by keeping advisers updated on Carson’s strategies and simplifying proposal creation. It reduces time spent on decisionmaking and portfolio construction. By standardizing workflows and talking points, it ensures uniformity and scalability across teams. Additionally, the solution provides customizable reports and proposals, allowing advisors to generate reports from more than 30 templates.

“We are thrilled to partner with YCharts to provide our advisor network with the best investment research and proposal tools available,” Dani Fava, chief strategy officer at Carson Group, said in a statement.

$2B Connecticut Team Creates Centel Wealth Advisory

Centel Wealth Advisory announced its launch as an independent advisory firm headquartered in North Haven, Connecticut.

The firm is led by Founders and Managing Partners Stephen Fordyce and Robert Bowman, along with Founder and Managing Director Sam DeGennaro. The three founders previously worked together at Snowden Lane Partners, where they managed $2.2 billion in private and institutional assets.

“We created Centel Wealth Advisory to maintain our independence while allowing us the flexibility to add comprehensive services and solutions, advanced tools and technologies, and world-class partners and resources to enhance our business model,” Fordyce said in a statement.

Centel serves as a trusted adviser to both private and institutional clients. For individuals and families, Centel delivers tailored financial planning, customized portfolios and multi-generational wealth protection to help clients enjoy life today and shape a legacy for future generations. For foundations, endowments and corporations, the firm focuses on strategic and institutional solutions to fit specific needs and achieve specific goals.

Wealthspire Advisors Evolves Client Experience to Provide High-Touch Lifestyle Services

Wealthspire Holdings LLC, parent company of Wealthspire Advisors LLC, an NFP company and an independent registered investment adviser, announced the acquisition of Judith Heft & Associates, a women-owned firm that provides high-touch lifestyle and bill pay services to affluent clients and their families.

“Our clients’ expectations are evolving, and we want to expand our offering beyond traditional wealth management,” Mike LaMena, CEO of Wealthspire Advisors, said in a statement. “Wealthspire is committed to providing holistic and personalized services to our clients across the wealth spectrum. Judy and her team of professionals will go beyond bill pay services to streamline clients’ lifestyle needs.”

Through the firm’s bill pay and lifestyle services, clients and their families are better positioned to achieve their personal goals, according to Wealthspire.

“My team and I are excited to join Wealthspire. We share a common philosophy around client engagement—our mission is to develop personal and trusted relationships to help them achieve their life goals,” Heft said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to being part of the integrated Wealthspire team that helps solve the complexities of our clients’ financial lives.”

Data & Research September 16, 2024

It’s Time to Rethink Retirement, Says T. Rowe Price

According to a white paper from the firm, employers should customize benefits for a ‘transitioning to retirement’ workforce.

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The conventional image of retirement—in which workers stop working entirely at age 65 and exit the workforce for good—is no longer the reality for most Americans. Yet decisions about employment, benefits and savings often still assume this traditional path, according to T. Rowe Price’s latest white paper, “The Success of Defined Contribution Plans and the Road Ahead.”

Employers need to rethink how and when they shift full-time employees into a “transitioning to retirement” workforce, the paper suggested. Compensation and benefits must adapt to the shift. Some workers may prefer to have reduced hours while maintaining health coverage. Others might prefer forgoing benefits in exchange for more flexibility. Still others may want to switch roles and work in a more limited capacity. Employers must figure out how to accommodate these varying needs, T. Rowe Price stated, and should design a transitional workforce model and appropriate benefits.

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Sudipto Banerjee, director of retirement thought leadership at T. Rowe Price, says plan advisers and plan sponsors do not directly identify the “transitioning to retirement” group.

“Ultimately, it is on the employee to decide when they are ready to take the steps toward transitioning into retirement,” he says. “Employers can best support this transition by offering flexibility in their policies around hours, compensation and benefits. Flexibility is key to retaining talent who are considering retirement.”

In addition to transitioning workers, there is a growing need to prevent “leakages” from retirement accounts. When emergencies arise, many workers dip into their retirement savings, jeopardizing their long-term financial security. The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022—legislation aimed at boosting retirement savings—introduced some solutions, such as permitted hardship withdrawals and the creation of a new account type specifically for emergency savings, the pension-linked emergency savings account, or PLESA. However, the complexity of these options can make them difficult to implement and navigate.

The paper recommended an alternative approach, offering out-of-plan emergency savings accounts. These accounts allow workers to set aside money specifically for emergencies, reducing the need to tap into retirement funds prematurely. By nudging workers to contribute small portions of their salaries to these accounts, plan sponsors can help individuals build a financial cushion for unforeseen circumstances while preserving their retirement savings.

Retirement Income

Retirement income is also evolving, the paper explained, with new products emerging to help individuals manage their money in retirement. However, simply offering products like annuities or structured payouts is not enough; participants need help understanding how these products fit into their overall retirement strategy, the report’s authors argued. Deciding when to retire, when to claim Social Security and whether to downsize or relocate are all interconnected decisions.

Employers and plan advisers should focus not only on offering the right products, but also on providing education and guidance. Retirement planning needs to be comprehensive, showing participants how each decision impacts their long-term financial health, the report contended. By helping workers choose the right products for their individual needs, employers can empower them to make informed decisions that will secure their future.

As retiring becomes a more fluid and complex process, employers and policymakers must work together to develop new strategies for compensation, benefits and retirement planning, T. Rowe Price concluded. This will mean designing flexible workforce structures, addressing financial emergencies and offering personalized retirement income solutions.

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