Indivisible Partners selects DPL to arm advisors for insurance business

DPL is reinforcing its leadership as a fee-based annuity and insurance platform for RIAs with a new firm partnership.

On Wednesday, DPL Financial Partners revealed it is now the insurance platform provider for Indivisible Partners, a recently launched RIA founded by former Merrill Lynch head John Thiel.

The move gives Indivisible’s advisor teams access to a broad lineup of commission-free insurance products aimed at deepening client relationships and expanding fee-based planning capabilities.

The agreement brings DPL’s commission-free annuity marketplace – which currently features more than 75 products from top-tier insurance carriers – onto the Indivisible platform. DPL will also provide digital tools designed to help advisors integrate insurance strategies into holistic wealth management.

“We want to equip advisors to do more for their clients than they could anywhere else,” John Thiel, executive chairman at Indivisible Partners, said in a statement revealing the news. “That means leveraging innovative solutions to create a comprehensive wealth management experience that helps clients make better decisions.”

DPL’s Breakaway Accelerator Program, which facilitates the conversion of commissioned annuities to fee-based versions, will also be available to Indivisible advisors transitioning from traditional broker-dealer models.

Amid the ongoing years-long movement away from commission-based annuities, DPL has been positioning itself as a distributor of choice, growing its network to include partnerships with Orion and Envestnet in 2024.

Its services could also be valuable for RIA firms' client retention efforts, with new research from Nationwide suggesting most financial professionals who sell annuities have stickier client relationships.

David Lau, founder and CEO of DPL, cited Indivisible’s leadership team and mission-driven focus as key factors in their newly forged collaboration.

“Considering the pedigree of its founders and their uncompromising commitment to creating the optimal environment for advisor and client success, we’re gratified Indivisible Partners chose DPL to help deliver on that promise,” he said.

Since its announced launch in November, Indivisible has gained much-deserved attention across the advisory space with Thiel at the helm. A Merrill Lynch veteran who started as a financial advisor in 1989, Thiel served as head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management from 2011 to 2016, and later as vice chair of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America before leaving in 2018.

It was in January when Indivisible announced the addition of its first advisor team, Woodring/LeRoy Capital Advisors. The New York-based practice manages $640 million in assets.