A Kansas-based advisory trio has left Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network to join LPL Financial, bringing approximately $385 million in client assets and a practice built around retirement distribution planning.
Bill Wagner, CFP, RICP, Scott Sennett, and Andrew Kocukov of Horizon Wealth Management Group in Wichita, Kansas, have affiliated with LPL Financial's broker-dealer and registered investment advisor platforms, along with operations manager Julie Starns.
The team serves retirees and pre-retirees, with the bulk of its practice centered on helping clients manage income and assets once they leave the workforce. Their approach spans financial planning, retirement income strategy, estate planning guidance, and long-term care discussions.
"We believe successful retirement planning is about much more than managing money," said Wagner. "It's about helping people create a fulfilling life after they leave the workforce and ensuring they have a strategy in place to support the future they envision."
The Horizon team's arrival is the latest in a series of Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network departures that have landed at LPL.
In April 2026, Emerald Legacy Advisors, a Kansas City-based team managing approximately $140 million in client assets, made the same move from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network to LPL's broker-dealer and RIA platform. Summit Ridge Financial Advisors, a Sun Valley, Idaho-based advisor also left Wells Fargo for LPL in July 2026, bringing approximately $380 million in assets to LPL's platform.
Wagner said the firm's process starts with understanding what clients want their post-career lives to look like before any investment recommendation is made, a discipline the team calls understanding "the why behind the what."
The ensemble structure at Horizon allows the three advisors to collaborate across estate planning, income strategy, and client relationship management, rather than dividing responsibilities by client. That team-based model, Wagner said, translates to deeper client relationships and faster response times.
Technology and service infrastructure were among the primary reasons the team selected LPL. Wagner pointed specifically to LPL's financial planning tools and what he described as a dedicated service model - direct access to a consistent support team - as factors that distinguished the platform from other options the firm evaluated.
"We spent significant time researching potential partners and ultimately felt LPL was best positioned to support both our team and our clients," Wagner said. "The technology is exceptional, and the financial planning tools align closely with our approach."
The Horizon move is part of a broader recruitment push at LPL Financial, the nation's largest independent broker-dealer, which has been aggressively adding advisor teams across the country.
LPL Financial recorded 204 advisor hires in June 2026, its highest single-month total so far, with advisors joining from Edward Jones, Cetera Investment Advisers, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Raymond James, Merrill Lynch, and Ameriprise.
Marc Cohen, LPL's chief growth officer, said the firm sees Horizon's collaborative approach and client focus as a strong fit. "Bill, Scott, and Andrew bring distinct expertise to that work, operating as one team so clients benefit from the collective experience and dedication of the entire firm," Cohen said.
For advisors evaluating a move from a wirehouse to an independent platform, the Horizon team's transition reflects a recurring theme in the wealth management industry's ongoing advisor movement: larger books focused on specialized planning disciplines, particularly retirement income, are increasingly choosing independent or hybrid models that offer technology depth and flexibility without proprietary product constraints.
The LPL and Ameriprise platforms have each been recruiting teams out of wirehouses, with advisors frequently citing non-proprietary investment products and enhanced planning tools as reasons for the move.
LPL's ongoing expansion across the Midwest has added several teams in Kansas and surrounding states in recent years. The firm's introduction of LPL Private Wealth Management has also positioned it to compete for high-net-worth-focused practices that were previously harder to recruit.
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