Bridgeworth Financial of Birmingham, Ala., formed its own RIA on Thursday and is now affiliated with the LPL Financial (LPLA) hybrid-RIA platform. The group, which now includes 16 financial advisors and manages about $1 billion in client assets, was part of Lincoln Financial Advisors since 1994.
PinOak Advisors, an independent financial advisory practice previously with Ameriprise Financial (AMP), recently became part of Bridgeworth, as did two other advisors in the greater Birmingham area.
"We saw that forming our own RIA was best for our future growth, and we chose LPL for many reasons," said DeLynn Zell, managing principal of Bridgeworth Financial, in an interview with AdvisorOne. "We decided the hybrid model is best for us, as we still need a broker-dealer affiliation, and having multiple custodians was not quite as attractive."
Forming a custodial relationship with LPL, Zell says, should create "tremendous efficiencies for our advisors and clients."
"We are really excited about Bridgeworth Financial joining us, as they are a very special group of advisors," said Bill Morrissey (left), LPL Financial's executive vice president of business development, in an interview.
"With close to $1 billion in assets, the group serves high-profile, high-net-worth clients and has a good mix of fee-based and brokerage business," Morrissey said. "This is a terrific strategic partnership."
According to the LPL executive, the catalyst for Bridgeworth's "aspirational move" was the "desire to grow and evolve."
"What stood out for them was how our integrated hybrid platform could boost efficiency," he said, "how our practice-management support could help them grow organically, and how their expansion in the Southeast can be supported by this partnership."
In Zell's words, "The transition to LPL was simply [part of] an evolving business model that made this a better fit for our firm."
