The newly created Diversify Wealth Management today announced its acquisition of three Utah-based advisory firms with a combined total of $2.1 billion in assets.
The three firms are Caliber Wealth Management, FirstPurpose Wealth and Diversify Inc, and they become Diversify Wealth Management's first acquisitions.
“With the launch of Diversify Wealth Management and the acquisition of these three great practices, we’ve wasted no time executing our strategy of developing a multi-platform affiliation model—and there are more coming,” said Ryan Smith, co-founder and CEO of Diversify Advisor Network, in a statement.
“We are focused on giving advisors choice and flexibility, in a boutique environment with institutional-quality resources. We strive to be the forever home for highly successful advisors, whether they want to retain their independence or monetize their practices through a more aligned channel,” he added. The affiliation model for the Diversify Wealth Management firms is called a “partnership model.”
Caliber Wealth Management, which was founded in 2013 by David Gardner and Todd Nuttal, is an RIA that focuses on entrepreneurs and business owners. It currently oversees $443 million in assets and focuses on management of 401(k) plans that are growing.
FirstPurpose Wealth, founded in 2007 and led by Tim Whipple and Ken Bown, is an RIA that currently oversees $928 million in assets. FirstPurpose concentrates on advanced tax strategies and has an in-house team of tax professionals.
Diversify Inc. was founded in 2004 by DFPG founders Ryan Smith and Dan Luke. Their team of advisors currently oversees $750 million in assets and provides wealth management strategies, and includes an insurance and risk management division.
Nuttal, Whipple and Luke will serve on the board of directors for the Diversify Advisor Network.
The three acquisitions “were very strategic. They each bring a unique expertise that will allow us to provide expanded services in a single framework. While Diversify Wealth Management advisors are technically W-2 employees, they aren't assets to us in some roll-up strategy. They are partners with significant equity stakes who are truly aligned and carefully selected,” Stuart Matheson, chief strategy officer of the Diversify Advisor Network, said in a statement.
Diversify Wealth Management was recently created by Diversify Advisor Services to be an acquiring company. Diversify Wealth Management is a W-2 employee-affiliation-model RIA for advisors who want to sell their firms to the Diversify group.
Diversify Advisor Services, meanwhile, is an independent RIA platform that provides support services for those advisors who want to remain independent investment advisors.
DFPG Investments is the independent broker-dealer that serves the firms that are part of Diversify Advisor Services and Diversify Wealth Management. The family of companies is based in Sandy, Utah, and oversees more than $7 billion in assets.