Journey expands to Florida with $200M LPL advisor

Journey Strategic Wealth has extended its footprint to include the Sunshine State as it welcomes an advisor previously with LPL.

The national RIA catering to independent advisors announced on Tuesday that it has recruited MDL Wealth to its growing team.

The firm’s latest affiliate team, founded by Michael LaBarbera, also includes advisor Ted Albrecht and service advisors Carol Liddy and Sheila Meneses.

Albrecht, a veteran with 24 years of experience in the industry, is joining journey from LPL. Earlier in his career, he was registered with JPMorgan, Chase Investment Services, and Merrill Lynch, according to his BrokerCheck profile.

With the addition of Albrecht, who reportedly manages a $200 million book, Journey has pushed its total AUM up to reach $3.7 billion.

Michael LaBarbera, who has a long-standing professional relationship with Journey President Penny Phillips, expressed enthusiasm about joining the firm.

“We are ready to take our practice to the next level,” LaBarbera said in a statement. “To do that, we know that we need to free up our time, double down on delivering exceptional service, and continue establishing ourselves in the markets we’re uniquely positioned to serve. Partnering with Journey is an important step in accomplishing those goals.”

Phillips, for her part, saw the partnership as an ideal alignment of values between MDL Wealth and Journey’s values.

“Mike and team could not be a better fit for Journey. They are passionate about their financial planning work and care deeply about their clients’ happiness and success,” she said. “I cannot wait to watch this team grow and thrive.”

A relative newcomer to the wealth space, Journey says its support model, which provides middle-and-back office infrastructure and takes on all investment operations tasks for its advisors, has led to average revenue growth of 99 percent for its partners since its inception.

“Our advisors grow in a scalable way, without having to immediately add expenses and people,” Phillips said, highlighting her firm’s approach of “[providing] leverage so [advisors] can focus on what they do best and love most.”

The addition of LaBarbera’s team marks Journey’s first expansion into Florida with a Tampa-based office and is the eighth advisory team to join since its inception in 2021.

Earlier this year, Journey opened an office in Minneapolis, adding to existing locations in the Bay Area, Richmond, Northern New Jersey, and New York City. More recently, it upgraded its ability to support advisors via a partnership with RISR, a wealth tech startup focused on helping advisors engage with business owners.