Hightower Advisors announced that it is moving Clarity Point Financial Partners, a southern New Jersey practice with about $380 million in assets, into Hightower Signature Wealth. It is the latest in a string of affiliate conversions that has pushed the Chicago firm’s centralized advisory channel to roughly $50 billion.
Clarity Point, based in Marlton, N.J., has been a Hightower affiliate since 2017. Managing directors and partners Jim Ewing and Michael Cona lead the team, which provides financial planning and investment management to executives, business owners, professionals and multigenerational families. It also advises employers and their participants on workplace retirement plans.
Hightower said that with Clarity Point included, the channel will have approximately $50 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, more than 170 advisors and 47 locations.
“We joined Hightower nearly ten years ago, drawn to the power of the partnership and the client-first philosophy of a firm built on the fiduciary standard of care,” Ewing said.
Cona said the change is about capacity. “Having more investment and operational support will help us to more proactively advise and implement recommendations as clients’ lives evolve over time,” he said.
Hightower launched HTSW in October 2025 as its first national direct-to-consumer advisory practice, with Dallas-based Frontier Investment Management as the founding firm.
In September, Hightower moved the $1.6 billion Boston Hill Advisors of North Andover, Mass., onto the platform. It also agreed to acquire Sandy Cove Advisors, a Hingham, Mass., firm managing about $752 million. In October, Synergy Capital Solutions, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., practice with roughly $1 billion, made the same move.
The heftiest addition yet came earlier this month, when Hightower folded Purchase, N.Y.-based Altium Wealth, which manages more than $9 billion, into the channel. That pushed AUM in HTSW past $50 billion, putting it ahead of an ambitious growth target Hightower's leaders had set earlier this year.
Echelon Partners’ third-quarter RIA M&A deal report counted seven Hightower transactions in the quarter, adding about $10.1 billion in assets. Only Wealth Enhancement Group did more deals, with nine. Four of Hightower’s seven deals converted existing affiliates into Signature Wealth’s W-2 model.
Aside from internal aggregation, the report pointed to a so-called "Wealth 3.0" movement, where a convergence of tax, insurance, retirement, and consulting businesses with wealth management is "redrawing the competitive landscape for advisors."
In contrast to other reports pointing to a slowdown in Q3 dealmaking, Echelon recorded 125 announced RIA transactions in the third quarter and 387 through September, 12.2% ahead of the same period in 2025. It expects 510 deals for the full year, which would top 2025’s record of 466.
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