RIA moves: EP Wealth, Merit make key Mountain state debuts

EP Wealth Advisors and Merit Financial Advisors each expanded their national footprints this week, establishing new presences in separate Mountain states through regional acquisitions.

On Wednesday, Torrance, California-based EP Wealth added Buffington Mohr McNeal, a Boise firm with nearly $900 million in assets under management, as its latest partner. The move gives EP Wealth a foothold in the Intermountain West, adding to its network of more than 50 locations across 18 states.

EP Wealth CEO Ryan Parker said the decision to enter Idaho aligned with the firm’s broader approach of finding partners with a shared emphasis on talent development and fiduciary standards.

“When EP Wealth establishes a new region, the most important criterion is to partner with entrepreneurs who share our client-centric, talent-based mindset,” Parker said in a statement announcing the BMM partnership.

Founded in 1998, BMMM has built a presence in the Boise area with a planning-first approach to client relationships. The firm’s 11 employees, including co-founders Carey McNeal, and Bruce Mohr, will join EP Wealth. Their late co-founder Dean Buffington, who passed away in 2020, helped shape the firm’s identity and community ties.

“Our community put their trust in the firm that we created with Dean 27 years ago, making it a priority to continue serving them in a larger capacity,” said McNeal.

EP Wealth said it has announced six deals so far in 2025, which included $660 million RIA Penninsula Wealth in San Francisco and $500 million firm Criterion Capital Advisors in Nashville.

As of the end of March, the firm reported more than $32.6 billion in managed assets and continues to operate with financial backing from Berkshire Partners.

Separately, Atlanta-based Merit Financial Advisors has acquired RCM Investments, a four-partner wealth management firm in American Fork, Utah. The deal introduces Merit to the Utah market and adds $281 million in assets to its platform.

RCM Investments provides planning and investment services to high-net-worth and mass affluent clients. Its principals – Tony Riggs, Craig Riggs, Cameron Foster, and James Houston – will transition to Merit as wealth managers and partners.

“RCM’s experienced team and solid client relationships make them an ideal partner as we enter the Utah market,” Tait Lane, managing principal and partner at Merit, said in the deal announcement.

The Utah move comes after Merit’s late-April acquisition of Safeguard Wealth Management, which brought in $597 million in additional assets and bolstered the firm’s digital marketing reach.

Merit has now completed 37 acquisitions since 2020, when it received backing from Wealth Partners Capital Group and HGGC’s Aspire Holdings.

Merit currently oversees $15.96 billion in client assets across its advisory, brokerage, and retirement platforms.