🔒Wealth management firms are growing as they navigate client expectations

When F.L.Putnam Investment Management Co. acquired New York-based Atrato Advisors LLC in 2021, it was the next logical step in a growth strategy that also included new hires, the launch of a new research platform, additional acquisitions and an infusion of capital.

“The growth reflects interest and demand for our services,” says Tom Manning, president and CEO of F.L.Putnam. “As we’ve had the ability to grow, we’ve looked to expand our capabilities.”

Wealth management firms are undergoing transformations, new hires and promotions, acquisitions, moves to larger quarters or expansions in other ways.

Factors driving growth include evolving client expectations in a volatile economy. There’s a shift in the wealth management field toward a comprehensive approach to all aspects of a client’s financial management needs and expanding opportunities across all asset classes.

“It’s hard for people to work with three or four service providers,” says Manning. “If they can work with one firm that can help them think through their retirement plan, think through their estate plan, think about education or long-term care planning — there’s real demand for that.”

Alternative investments

The acquisition of Atrato illustrates F.L.Putnam’s expansion into the alternative investment space, as clients demand opportunities for investments away from the volatile public markets and into alternatives such as private equity, real estate, infrastructure and precious metals.

“Alternatives provide diversification,” says Manning.

Now called Atrato Consulting, the practice also introduced a platform to allow registered investment advisors to access investment manager research, market strategy content, and execute direct investments in alternatives through a technology partnership with +SUBSCRIBE, an alternative investment order management system for non-traditional product transactions.

As registered investment advisors grow and scale, “the need for sophisticated investment advice, tools and capabilities increases exponentially,” says Manning.

Other acquisitions in recent years include Wolfeboro, N.H., financial planning firm Financial Focus and Woburn, Mass., independent registered investment advisor Salem Capital Management.

In December, New York-based Emigrant Partners, specialist capital and advice partner wholly owned by Emigrant Bank, made a capital investment in F.L.Putnam. The investment will help add staff, expand capabilities and acquire other firms, says Manning.

Recent hires include wealth management professional Jill Hibyan in Portland.

Since 2019, the firm has grown from 47 employees and $2.1 billion in assets under management to 84 employees and $4.4 billion in assets under management for over 1,400 clients. Headquartered in Wellesley, Mass., its largest office is Portland, with 19 employees.

“We’re in conversations with a number of individuals in Maine who could potentially become part of our company in the coming months,” Manning adds.

And future acquisitions are envisioned. “We’re looking at new geographies and new opportunities,” he says.

Conscious capitalism

Just three years since it debuted, Portland independent wealth management firm Great Diamond Partners has ambitious plans for growing the number of employees, clients and assets under management.

A 10-year strategic plan completed last November includes a mix of hiring, promotion, talent optimization and a commitment to “conscious capitalism.”

“When it comes to growth, we want to have an even greater impact on our key stakeholders — our clients, employees, owners, strategic partners and the community,” says Steven Tenney, the firm’s CEO.

In 2019, four former UBS Financial Services bankers led by Tenney launched Great Diamond Partners.

In 2022, the firm promoted founding team member and CFO Helen Andreoli to president to oversee day-day-day operations at the firm.

Andreoli’s promotion leans into personnel strengths, says Tenney, a founding partner.

“We’re leaning on our strengths in terms of where Helen and I focus,” Tenney says. “She’s dealing with day-to-day operations and I’m focused more on strategic direction.”

The firm is working on hiring other advisors.

“These are advisors at the associate level — newer, younger — or the well-established level, people coming with one or two decades of experience, who can support the team and move the whole firm forward,” says Tenney.

In order to have great impact, the company needs to grow, he says. In 2022, it had more than $670 million in assets under management.

The vision is to grow. “We want to be substantially larger,” he says.

He adds, “We expect to double in size and will do it in a prudent way by attracting ideal clients and colleagues. Staying true to our values is not negotiable, even if it means going a bit slower.”

Then there’s the qualitative side. The firm seeks to optimize employee talent by allowing them to focus on one or two areas of responsibilities. Most advisors at other firms, he says, handle multiple responsibilities. The focused approach is designed to create a team ecosystem that works well for clients and fosters job satisfaction, flexibility and opportunity for employees.

“We want everybody to work at their unique ability,” says Tenney. “Instead of handling five different, big responsibilities, we want people to handle one or two responsibilities for the firm.”

With a mission of “conscious capitalism,” the firm provides support to nonprofits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine and the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. It’s developed a relationship with Portland nonprofit Conscious Revolution, a consulting practice that works with CEOs and founders to build conscious businesses. Conscious capitalism, Tenney says, permeates the company’s culture.

“It all goes together,” Tenney says of the various growth goals. “You can’t have a massive impact to more employees without having the assets to generate the revenue. You can’t offer more and better services for clients without having more people to provide those talents.”

New hires, larger quarters

Spinnaker Trust, a Portland-based wealth management firm with more than $2.5 billion in funds under management, said in December it hired two new assistant portfolio managers, growing the staff to 40 employees amid a bullish outlook for business in 2023. The firm said 2023 would be a year to focus on developing and mentoring hires who joined since the start of the pandemic.

Portland-based financial advisor HM Payson announced internal promotions of two long-standing members of the research team. In January, Saco-based financial firm S&B Financial Services said it added three new employees to the team, including a senior advisor.

In Hallowell, J.M. Arbour, a private wealth management firm with an additional office in Arizona, is planning a move to larger headquarters in Gardiner to accommodate its growing team.

The firm’s founder and CEO, Jac Arbour, has eight people on his private wealth team but expects that to grow this year. Arbour attributed the growth to a fee-based model that provides comprehensive in-house services and works with outside vendors through all aspects of a client’s financial management needs.

Work is underway to prepare the new headquarters, in an 8,000-square-foot office building dating to 1875. That includes new floors, walls, carpeting, lighting, and plumbing and heating systems.

Beefing up services

Bangor-based Means Wealth Management’s overall growth strategy has been to ensure its business model keeps clients and their needs at the forefront at all times, providing them full-scale planning in a fiduciary capacity, says CEO Erin Barry.

“This has been achieved largely by some of the strategic hires we’ve made in the past year — seven employees, five in client-facing roles and two support — but also because we are passionate about changing the industry,” Barry says. “We believe the ‘broker’ is the way of the past, and that investors should be looking for advisors that are true fiduciaries, operating in a fee-only capacity.”

In 2021, the firm promoted Barry from CFO to CEO after Zachary Means, the firm’s third-generation leader, moved from CEO to president. Barry is the first non-family member to serve as CEO.

Founded in 1935, the family-owned has offices in Bangor, Presque Isle and Greenville and Greenwood, S.C.

It has $766 million in assets under management; $676 million was in Maine. The figures represent a doubling of assets under management in the past five years.

Barry says she believes the activity is due in large part to Means Wealth’s service model. Barry says clients are “tired of poor service levels and the lack of quality advice they are receiving from others in the industry. They want advisors who are accessible and transparent. They also want full-scale planning, which is why we have been beefing up our services to ensure that it’s not just investments — it’s retirement planning, tax advice and estate protection, among many other things.”

Additional growth activity includes recently moving their Greenville, S.C., location to a newly renovated building in the heart of downtown Greenville.

‘Business of life’

Over the past couple of years, Portland-based wealth management firm R.M. Davis Inc. added a dozen or so employees, today employing about 60 people and managing approximately $6 billion in assets for clients in 45 states and several foreign countries.

In recent months, the firm has named five new managing directors and added new hires to its Portsmouth, N.H., office. Plans also include growing their research department.

“We’ve grown in a deliberate and meaningful way,” says CEO Geoffrey Alexander.

It also has undergone substantive strategic planning over the last few years that touches technology, operations and — most importantly, Alexander says — human capital. One goal is for more opportunities for professional development and promotions with an eye toward supporting a culture of collaboration.

Decades ago, says Alexander, the industry focused largely on investment management.

Today, he says, “Our responsibility is to look beyond the portfolios and provide insight and direction that caters to all financial aspects of life.”

He describes a conversation with a client who needed budget guidance.

“That has little to do with investments,” he says. “We’ve been involved in real estate and business transactions. We do comprehensive insurance analysis and help with Medicare Part D or help people figure out private pay insurance — and yet we don’t sell insurance. It really does cover a spectrum.”

Alexander characterizes the industry’s shift as “helping people with the business of life.”

“That dovetails back to organization’s structure and business plan – do we have the talent and the resources to help people with the issues they face?” he says.

He adds, “These are the reasons that we are looking to the future to continue to provide dynamic services as financial needs shift while also expanding on a regional and national level.”