LPL Adds Health Care, Benefits Programs for Advisors

By Janet Levaux

News October 08, 2020 at 11:26 AM

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Andy Kalbaugh, head of National Sales and Consulting

LPL Financial has struck a deal with Paychex to offer its affiliated independent advisors access to health care and other employee-related services.

With Paychex joining LPL's Vendor Affinity Program, advisors can outsource payroll and a variety of benefits services with no minimum employee requirements, the independent broker-dealer said Thursday. Plus, they can roll out these benefits to their staff during the 2021 enrollment period, it added.

Advisors coming on board LPL's Strategic Wealth Services platform, which was launched two months ago to support wirehouse and other employee advisors as they become independent business owners, also can tap into these human resources and benefits management services.

"Our advisors have told us they need a cost-effective healthcare solution, and they want to reduce the risk and administrative burdens of healthcare, payroll and HR. We have listened," said Andy Kalbaugh, head of National Sales and Consulting, in a statement.

"And we know that advisors can be more effective in their key role as financial advisors by having a trusted partner to outsource aspects of business management, giving them more time to focus on their client relationships," Kalbaugh said.

As of June 30, LPL had 16,973 advisors, up 812 — or about 5% — from the year-ago quarter, and up 251 — or about 1% — from the prior period.

LPL's advisors had average yearly fees and commissions of $226,000 and average assets of $45 million in the second quarter. The firm's total assets stand at $762 billion, with overall net new assets in Q2 hitting $13 billion.