Osaic loses multi-billion dollar asset firm Priority Financial Group to United Planners' Financial Services of America

Osaic has lost a large part of another significant team of financial advisors who control billions in client assets. Priority Financial Group, based in Phoenix, Ariz., and with a registered investment advisor with $3.1 billion in assets, at the end of last week and the start of this week is moving its broker-dealer operations to United Planners’ Financial Services of America, an advisor-owned broker-dealer.

Priority Financial Group’s assets are likely higher than the tally at its RIA, PFG Advisors, because it does not include clients’ brokerage accounts or assets held at other firms such as turnkey asset management programs.

According to a 2024 press release, Priority Financial Group worked with more than 90 financial advisors and $5 billion in total client assets. Its founder, Michael Prior, opened the firm 20 years ago. He was registered with Securities America, a predecessor firm to Osaic Wealth, starting in 2017, according to his BrokerCheck profile.

According to Priority Financial Group’s updated Form ADV with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), PFG Advisors received a forgivable loan from United Planners' as part of moving its brokerage business to the firm.

Such loans are common when an advisor leaves one firm for another. Details of the loan, including the amount for how many years, were not disclosed.

Prior did not return a call Wednesday morning to comment.

An Osaic executive on Wednesday morning said in an email the firm expects to hang onto a good chunk of Priority Financial Group’s assets, or “63% of the client assets affiliated with Mr. Prior’s group that clear through Osaic’s custodial partners,” noted Erinn Ford, co-head of the Osaic Independent Channel.

Osaic has been gaining and losing financial advisors throughout the year in a highly competitive market but, since it is not a public company, there is no public reporting about its net inflows or outflows of financial advisors and clients’ assets.

In June, Osaic did lose another major RIA office to a direct competitor, when Cambridge Investment Research signed up a formerly affiliated Osaic office, Ameriflex Group, with $11.9 billion in customer assets and 129 advisors.

Major independent broker-dealers such as Osaic continue to fight over RIA assets, which are much more profitable due to the annual fees they generate, rather than one-time commissions. RIAs also enjoy higher valuations than simple broker-dealer models.

Osaic is a giant, with close to 11,000 financial advisors across its platform. United Planners' in 2022 had 560 registered reps and 350 offices, according to FINRA. United Planners' president and CEO Michael Baker did not return a call Wednesday morning to comment.

“Mr. Prior’s decade-long affiliation with Osaic is his longest relationship with a broker-dealer during his nearly 30-year career,” Ford wrote. “We appreciate his many contributions during that time and wish him continued success.”