Aspiriant, a Los Angeles-based wealth management firm that oversees more than $14 billion in assets, said Wednesday that it has acquired HearthStone Private Wealth Management, a San Diego-based firm with $350 million in assets.
Hearthstone has seven employees and 150 clients, including affluent families and professional fiduciaries.
“While we know that PE firms are paying top dollar for advisory firms in the current environment, we feel strongly that independent ownership is synonymous with putting the needs of clients and employees first,” Paul Hynes, founder and CEO of Hearthstone, said in a statement. “Because of our mutual unwavering dedication to our clients and employees, it became clear that Aspiriant was the best choice for us.”
Rob Francais, CEO at Aspiriant, noted in the statement that “succession planning is top of mind for many advisors and their clients.
“We are here to offer an alternative path to selling to the big banks and private equity for firms that wish to remain employee-owned and independent of financial conflicts,” Francais said.
Insiders say the Wall Street giant is looking to let clients count certain crypto holdings as collateral or, in some cases, assets in their overall net worth.
The two wealth tech firms are bolstering their leadership as they take differing paths towards growth and improved advisor services.
“We think this happened because of Anderson’s age and that he was possibly leaving,” said the advisor’s attorney.
The newly appointed leader will be responsible for overseeing fiduciary governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management at Cetera's trust services company.
Certain foreign banking agreements could force borrowers to absorb Section 899's potential impact, putting some lending relationships at risk.
How intelliflo aims to solve advisors' top tech headaches—without sacrificing the personal touch clients crave
From direct lending to asset-based finance to commercial real estate debt.
