Barton Spector Wealth Strategies has joined LPL Financial's broker-dealer platform and aligned with Stratos Wealth Partners, an independent advisory firm on LPL's hybrid RIA platform, according to an announcement.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based Barton Spector Wealth Strategies includes two advisors, Sharon Barton and Jay Spector. The firm reported that, based on prior business, its advisors served approximately $311 million of client brokerage and advisory assets, as of July 28. The pair were previously affiliated with Merrill Lynch.
Barton Spector Wealth Strategies focuses on retirement income planning. According to Barton, the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule led the firm to join LPL.
"Continued business and culture changes were limiting our ability to support our clients," Barton, a 31-year veteran of Merrill, said in a statement. "The implementation of the Department of Labor rule ultimately became the impetus for us to make the move to the independent model so we could have what we needed to operate our business successfully and in the best interest of our clients. LPL's scope and breadth of support, platforms and product access, technology and practice management resources made it the best choice for us to be able to continue to serve our clients with the service level they have come to expect."
Steve Pirigyi, LPL executive vice president of business development, has seen the effect the changing regulatory environment is having on firms like Barton Spector Wealth Strategies.
