Legacy Financial Group, headquartered in Albuquerque, N.M., has joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer and RIA, the company said.

Led by Cris Giron and Eddie Fernandez, who founded the practice in1995, Legacy was formerly with Voya Financial Advisors, where the team managed about $225 million in client assets.

Giron started her financial planning career by cold-calling potential clients, primarily educators in underserved markets, and offering to help them save money in a 403(b) tax-advantaged retirement plan available for public education organizations, as well as some non-profit employers, co-operative hospital service organizations, and self-employed ministers. 

Legacy partner Eddie Fernandez, who formerly worked for a local CPA firm, joined Giron in founding the practice. He said in a news release that he found helping clients plan for their future financial needs more rewarding than accounting work. 

The Legacy team also includes advisors Mario Torres, Antavius Greathouse and Bill Niemeier, as well as a six-member office support staff. Giron, Fernandez said they pursue a goal of empowering and educating clients about money and investments in order to help them improve their financial lives and leave a legacy. Toward that end, the Legacy team applies a “Live Your Dash” approach to helping clients with comprehensive, goals-based wealth management and financial planning, Giron said.

“The dash on a tombstone represents the day you were born and the day you leave this earth and everything you do—how you live, who you love, what you accomplished, and the legacy of memories,” she said in the news release. “Our mission is to create a plan that empowers each client to truly live a fulfilled life, one that is about more than money.”

That mission required a new partner to help Giron and Fernandez achieve it, according to Fernandez.

“As a financial planner, it was important for us to align ourselves with a company that focuses on fiduciary status in how they operate, while maintaining our independence,” he said in the news release, adding that the entire Legacy team believes that their alignment with LPL Financial will help them scale their business throughout New Mexico.

Headquartered in Fort Mill, S.C., San Diego and Boston, LPL Financial supports more than 21,000 financial advisors nationwide.