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Kestra’s debt is soaring. How will that affect its advisor recruiting?

16:01 17 March in In the News by rafferty

March 16, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   Kestra Holdings nearly doubled its debt and interest payments on those liabilities after adding a new private equity investor last year, a new ratings agency report found. The company’s debt load jumped 87% over 14 months to around $850 million, and the service payments alone will soar by the same percentage in 2023 — compared to the 12 months that ended in the third quarter — to $84 million, according to a March 8 “credit opinion” report by Moody’s Investors Service. At the end of last September, the Austin, Texas-based independent wealth management company received a minority investment of undisclosed size from private equity firm Oak Hill Capital buying Stone Point Capital’s stake and joining majority Kestra owner Warburg Pincus. As part of a December issuance of debt notes, Kestra...

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IBD LaSalle St. Sells Equity to Affiliated Advisors

15:14 08 March in In the News by rafferty

March 8, 2023 By Diana Britton, WealthManagement.com The privately owned independent broker/dealer sold a “meaningful amount” of equity in the firm to affiliated advisors at the end of January. LaSalle St., a midsize independent broker/dealer with two registered investment advisor platforms, launched an equity ownership program for its affiliated advisors. At the end of January, the privately owned company sold a “meaningful amount” of stock in the firm to a number of its advisors, said Mark Contey, LaSalle's senior vice president and head of business development. “We think the program drives a tremendous amount of value, not only for the firm but for the advisors,” Contey said. “It reaffirms our commitment to our business, and to the industry that we’re not a firm that’s going to consolidate or sell or bring in private equity. We’re committed to...

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Independent Cetera team fighting Avantax ‘trade secret’ lawsuit

14:42 06 March in In the News by rafferty

March 2, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   A simmering legal feud between two of the largest tax-focused wealth management firms underscores the shifting challenges for independent financial advisors who switch brokerages  — and the industry’s scrutiny of LinkedIn posts. A previously-unreported lawsuit filed by the parent firm of Avantax Wealth Management cited a LinkedIn post by Brian Stern, the co-founder of Farpointe Wealth Partners, a branch that moved from Avantax to Cetera, as evidence of a “conspiracy” to recruit Avantax advisors to follow Stern to rival brokerage Cetera Financial Specialists. The complaint, filed in December 2021, alleges that Stern, three other Farpointe executives and Cetera wrongfully used “confidential/trade secret” information as part of the effort. Court papers in the case cite a photo on Stern’s LinkedIn page depicting about 20 former Avantax advisors at Farpointe’s conference in San...

Maybe the Workplace Needs Political Neutrality

14:21 27 February in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

February 23, 2023 By Jon Henschen, American Thinker As I perused a list of rules the British Royal Family must follow, one rule in particular jumped out at me.  The Royals cannot express any political opinions.  They cannot vote.  They can't even speak publicly about politics or run for political office of any kind. With companies around the country increasingly perpetuating political stances, I thought of how appropriate it would be for companies to take a similar stance to the Royals, by not taking political sides. A political side we see being heavily pushed at companies is neither Democrat nor Republican, but rather Marxist.  The teachings by Frankfurt School academics have evolved into Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, cultural appropriation, and a variety of other academic theories.  These theories are disseminated through what you may be more familiar with in...