Highline Wealth Management has added two more advisors to the firm, one from the wirehouse environment and one joining from another RIA.
The two "tuck ins" as they are termed within the advisory community, were what the firm labels a perfect fit with regard to cultural alignment, investment philosophy synergy, and client profile. The latest deals represent numbers four and five, with more to follow soon in 2014.
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Aviva Pinto, with over 25 years of experience as a financial advisor, joins Highline from OpenArc, a NY based RIA, while Michael Moriarty brings over 20 years of experience as a financial advisor, most recently with Morgan Stanley.
Neal Simon, CEO of Highline Wealth Management said: "Highline is a firm for advisors who value the leverage created by corporate resources and who very simply put client service above anything else. This is one firm, delivering a consistent client experience — if I’m on a plane sitting next to a Highline client, I want to know exactly what that actually means."
The two joining firms’ average client account size is US$2M in managed assets. Both newly minted Highlineadvisors are excited to join, for some similar but also slightly different reasons.
Moriarty said: "Having spent my career in the wirehouse world, this was a big move for me. At first, my clients did not understand what becoming an RIA entails, but once it was explained that we were fee-only and could provide truly independent advice they were extremely happy."
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By GlobalDataPinto said: "Coming in as an RIA, my clients were already accustomed to conflict-free advice. But for me it was the absolute service focus and strength of team that made this choice easy."
Both advisors point out that the team concept at a large RIA so focused on a service culture above a sales culture was a key driver in the decision making process. Growth was also a key consideration as Highline’s model allows advisors to so keenly focus on what makes them great in the first place — exceptional service — which leads to accelerated, organic growth.
Aisling Carroll, director of Corporate Development, Highline, said: "Some firms in the RIA universe are aggregating or consolidating assets and keeping them in silos, seemingly for the sake of getting bigger, perhaps with the objective being to have a capital event for advisor joiners — as RIAs we believe we should be striving to create cohesive service driven entities that clients in today’s financial climate truly deserve."
In addition to tuck in deals, Highline will seek up to 2 – 3 regional US$100M AUM+ advisory firm partners per year and will only entertain those firms that operate in the Northeast corridor, from the Boston area down to Virginia.
Simon added: "We all enjoy being in close proximity to our clients and to each other. We welcome current wirehouse reps and RIAs in this region that value what we do and think that they would make a good partner to give us a ring."
