Former Commonwealth advisors reunite as Summit Wealth buys $470M Premier Private Wealth

Summit Wealth Group, an RIA with roots from Commonwealth Financial Network, has made its first acquisition in a move for Tennessee-based Premier Private Wealth, a $470 million firm that was also previously affiliated with Commonwealth.

The Constellation Wealth Capital-backed Summit is also launching a new family office services unit that will be led by Michael Comstock, who founded Premier Private Wealth in 1999. Randy Morris, whose team broke away from Commonwealth last year to launch Summit Wealth Group, tells InvestmentNews that he and Comstock served on the Commonwealth advisory counsel during their two decade overlap under the broker-dealer before it was sold to LPL in April 2025.

“We really envisioned the opportunities out as we launched the RIA that we would have many opportunities to grow through mergers and acquisitions,” said Morris. “When the LPL news hit last year, our conversations with Michael [Comstock] became more serious about an opportunity of merging his practice with us.”

Summit Wealth managed $2.1 billion in assets around its exit from Commonwealth, and now manages $3.1 billion following its acquisition of Premier Private Wealth, which gives Summit its third office in Tennessee and 11th overall across Colorado, Mississippi, Arizona, and South Dakota. Comstock’s team helps form Summit’s family office unit that will offer alternative investing, advanced tax and estate planning, philanthropy, legacy planning, and wealth transfer services to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

“What ultimately sealed the deal was vision and alignment. We explored other opportunities, but we didn’t want to become just another number or a bolt-on acquisition. Summit represented a true partnership, and a perfect marriage of vision, culture, and ambition,” said Comstock. “Summit gives me the platform to bring my expertise to the table in a meaningful way, and not to plug into an existing system, but to help shape what comes next.”

Constellation Wealth Capital made a minority investment in Summit in June 2025, adding to its RIA portfolio that includes stakes in Bogart Wealth, Merit and AlTi Tiedemann Global. Constellation, which was founded in 2023 by former Emigrant Partners CEO Karl Heckenberg, closed its debut $1 billion fund for investing in RIAs in late-2024.

“The consulting side of what they [Constellation] provide to us and the opportunity for us to tap into their other portfolio companies [...] we're able to go to those other companies and get feedback and advice. We did not have that before, so now having that has been a big plus for us,” said Morris, who aims for Summit to eventually hit $10 billion in assets.

Comstock and his team are not the first Commonwealth defectors to be recruited by Summit Wealth, as the firm also recently hired longtime Commonwealth executive Scott Wilkinson to be its new chief compliance officer. Firms sized around $400 million will be in Summit’s M&A “sweet spot,” with Morris mentioning Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, Naples, Florida, Philadelphia, and Raleigh, North Carolina as targeted areas for Summit to expand into.

“We see no reason why we can't get to $5 billion in a couple of years, and $10 billion in assets in perhaps five years, I would say that's one of our targets,” said Morris. “We're open to engaging with firms that are $150 million to $1.6 billion. But the sweet spot would be that $400 million to $1 billion of assets under management in an advisory type of model.”