Adviser Investments, a $3.3 billion RIA based in Newton, Mass., is buying another local advisory firm, Braver Wealth Management, based in nearby Needham, Mass.
 
Braver has 18 employees and $1.1 billion in assets.
 
Adviser Investments, founded in 1994, has about 60 employees, said Dan Silver, president and co-founder of the firm. He expects the merger to close early next year, with the main office consolidating into his Newton location.
 
The two firms are still discussing potential branding changes.
 
The overall plan is to create scale, and have Braver build up the combined firm’s financial planning capabilities as well as adding tactical strategies to Adviser Investments’ buy-and-hold approach with mutual funds.
 
“They’re further up the [financial planning] curve,” Silver said.
 
Silver co-founded Adviser Investments in 1994 with Dan Wiener and David Thorne who at the time were, respectively, the editor and publisher of “The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors” newsletter. The firm was founded primarily as a money-management firm for newsletter readers who wanted advice.
 
The letter was sold a year later, allowing the firm to focus solely on the advisory business.
 
Wiener, now CEO of Adviser Investments, later brought in James Lowell, owner of the Fidelity Investor newsletter, who now serves as chief investment officer of the RIA.
 
Adviser Investments has since expanded beyond mutual funds into ETFs, Silver said, and now with Braver, will add a number of tactical strategies that Braver runs internally as well as through sub-advisory relationships with other RIAs and TAMPs.
 
“Some of their strategies have the ability to raise more cash than ours do,” Silver said.
 
It’s not surprising the two firms came together. Their main offices are within walking distance. David  D’Amico, Braver president, and Silver have known each other for some time.
 
“I’ve had lunch and drinks with Dave a number of times,” Silver said, and the two men routinely saw each other at meetings hosted by their shared custodian, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services.
 
Despite their proximity, the firms share few, if any, clients, Silver said.
 
Adviser Investments has built up a clientele nationwide, he said, while Braver’s clients are more localized.
 
“This helps us beef up our local presence,” Silver said.