Office address: 4707 Executive Drive, San Diego, CA 92121
Website: lpl.com
Year established: 1989
Company type: financial services
Employees: 9,000+
Expertise: wealth management, investment advisory, retirement planning, brokerage services, portfolio management, research, compliance support, technology solutions, institutional services, succession planning
Parent company: LPL Financial Holdings
Key people: Rich Steinmeier (CEO), Matt Audette (CFO), Marc Cohen (chief growth officer), Greg Gates (chief technology and information officer), Emily Field (chief people officer), Matthew Enyedi (chief client officer), Aneri Jambusaria (chief wealth officer)
Financing status: corporation
LPL Financial is a San Diego-based independent wealth management company. The firm has additional offices in Fort Mill, Austin, and Boston. It supports over 28,000 financial advisors and offers investment products, technology, and research tools. The company is known for its flexible business models and broad, non-proprietary investment options.
LPL Financial came to life in 1989 when Linsco and Private Ledger merged to form a new kind of firm. The founders wanted to give independent advisors more support, better technology, and a wide set of investment choices. Their goal was to help advisors serve clients with more freedom and better tools.
The company quickly grew by focusing on advisor independence and client choice. In 2010, LPL formed a political action committee to represent advisors and clients in Washington. This move showed the firm’s commitment to keeping financial advice objective and accessible.
LPL made big moves in the industry by acquiring several firms. In 2017, it bought National Planning Holdings, which added four broker-dealers to its network.
The company also acquired AdvisoryWorld in 2018, bringing new technology for portfolio analytics and modeling. In 2020, LPL expanded further by purchasing E.K. Riley Investments, Lucia Securities, and Blaze Portfolio, adding more advisors and new trading technology.
The company completed its acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network in 2025. This added around 3,000 advisors and $305 billion in assets. This move brings Commonwealth’s award-winning service culture and improves LPL’s market position.
LPL also welcomed Tennant Financial, a team with $1.3 billion in assets, to its platform in 2025. The group joined from Northwestern Mutual and brought years of experience in serving high-net-worth clients. This move showed LPL’s commitment to holistic planning and advanced technology.
LPL Financial provides many investment and banking solutions for independent advisors and their clients:
LPL Financial is also recognized for its strong research, advisor training, and customizable business models. Advisors benefit from a national network, consultative support, and 24/7 client account access.
According to the company, staff are encouraged to think ahead and focus on customer needs by finding new ways to solve challenges. LPL Financial also highlights a range of benefits for employees:
LPL Financial reports that it values a workplace where different perspectives are respected and welcomed. The firm created a dedicated role to support women advisors and attract more women to its network. It states that diversity and inclusion help strengthen the financial advice profession and its community.
Rich Steinmeier began serving as CEO of the firm since 2024 and previously held leadership roles at the company. Before joining LPL, Steinmeier worked in senior positions at UBS and Merrill Lynch. He earned degrees from Stanford Graduate School of Business and The Wharton School.
The leadership team at LPL Financial brings a range of experience and skills to support the firm’s mission:
These key people at LPL Financial aim to help clients succeed and simplify the advisor experience. Their goal is to let advisors focus on serving clients, not on business complexity.
To help advisors plan for the future and protect their businesses, LPL Financial has launched its Liquidity and Succession program in 2025. The company offers creative solutions like partial book sales and business exit planning, which let advisors focus on clients while optimizing their practice. This approach supports long-term growth for both LPL and its advisors, which makes it more adaptable as the industry changes.
After the company completed its $2.7 billion acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network, it aimed to keep 90 percent of Commonwealth’s advisors. Although about 5 percent of these advisors left for competitors, LPL continues to focus on retaining top talent. This effort helps provide stability for clients and strengthens the firm’s position in a competitive market.
A more upbeat Federal Reserve reassured investors that they've been making the right bets.
New, higher assessments by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. are causing ”sticker shock” at several broker-dealers, particularly independent-contractor firms.
Financial advisers tempted to reward star employees with raises should think twice and instead offer them one-time bonuses, according to practice-management experts.
A broker booted from Next Financial is under investigation by the police in San Antonio for his role in an alleged theft of about $1.5 million from an elderly couple.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has slapped Wells Fargo Investments LLC and four other investment firms with $1.65 million in fines for supervisory failures in mutual fund and variable annuity transactions.
Financial advisers who have cut back on the work hours of their support staff to economize are reordering their service priorities to make sure clients aren't neglected.
If the market decline of the past year or so has taught the investing public anything, it's that professional investment advice — whether from top Wall Street gurus, mutual fund managers or financial advisers — doesn't ensure success.
The chief driver of satisfaction, according to the study, is the financial adviser, comprising 30% of the total — an increase from 22% in 2008. In contrast, investment performance declined in importance — accounting for only 15% of overall satisfaction, compared with 24% in 2008.
Rather than chiefly representing the variable annuities industry, the Washington-based institute will reach out to advisers and their clients through the group's distributor members, acting as a source of information via webcasts, consumer brochures and research.
In a major retrenchment, LPL Investment Holdings Inc. of Boston is pulling the plug on the Pershing LLC clearing platform used by about 1,700 advisers on three broker-dealers it acquired in 2007, and moving those reps onto LPL's clearing platform.
Investors should prepare for a roller-coaster ride for the rest of the year as equity markets struggle to make headway.
Even though independence is losing its stigma as a sign of failure among wirehouse brokers, they continue to move at only a moderate pace to independent broker-dealers and registered investment advisory firms, a panel of experts said last week.
Tensions have been building for months among financial advisers affiliated with Mutual Service Corp., a subsidiary broker-dealer of LPL Investment Holdings Inc., as they wonder about the future of their firm.
Record levels of stock issuance by public companies over the past several weeks could come back to haunt the market and hurt investors, at least in the near term.
As new annuity rules continue to develop, chief compliance officers at broker-dealers say that they still face some challenges in implementing compliance procedures with their financial advisers.
