RIA moves: Wealth Enhancement acquires $532M FPG Private Wealth

RIA dealmakers returned in force after the extended Thanksgiving weekend, with mega-RIA Wealth Enhancement expanding its footprint in Indiana while Sequoia Financial extended its own reach in California.

Wealth Enhancement adds $532M hybrid FPG Private Wealth

Wealth Enhancement, the Minneapolis-based mega-RIA, said it acquired FPG Private Wealth, a hybrid RIA with offices in Carmel and Lafayette, Indiana.

Adding more than $532 million in client assets, the move lifts Wealth Enhancement’s total client assets to more than $127.8 billion and gives the firm another outpost in the Midwest.

The FPG Private Wealth team, formerly part of Financial Partners Group, is led by senior vice presidents Andrew Moulton and Timothy Johnston and financial advisor Don Penn.

Their practice touts a three-step “Plan, Prosper, Protect” framework that packages planning and investment management with asset-based lending solutions, and it has built a niche with business owners.

Wealth Enhancement chief executive Jeff Dekko framed the transaction as a way to add experienced talent in a familiar region, pointing to the FPG leaders' combined industry experience of more than 65 years.

For Moulton, partnering with Wealth Enhancement gives the group added scale while preserving its client focus, as well as the opportunity to "enhance the experience we deliver and open new opportunities for our clients and our team.”

The FPG deal breaks a roughly one-month blank in Wealth Enhancement’s 2025 calendar, which most recently featured its back-to-back acquisitions of Guidance Wealth in Indiana and Wise Wealth in Missouri.

Sequoia Financial Group deepens California footprint

In California, Akron, Ohio-based Sequoia Financial Group moved to deepen its West Coast presence with the purchase of Sterling Financial Group, an independent advisory firm in Pasadena with $406 million in assets under management as of Sept. 30.

Sterling’s seven-person team serves about 200 clients across more than a dozen states.

Sequoia, which reported $29.9 billion in assets under management as of September, said Sterling owner and managing principal Michael Hatch and financial advisor and principal Kody Brown are now equity owners in the combined firm.

Hatch called Sequoia “a true partner that understands our holistic approach,” while Brown pointed to Sequoia’s “deep investment research platform and technology leadership.”

The deal marks Sequoia’s first standalone office in California, building on a prior partnership it struck up last year with accounting firm Eide Bailly that gave it a presence in Irvine and Torrance. Since 2023, Sequoia has leaned on both organic growth and a string of 11 acquisitions to extend its footprint and services.

Allworth Financial scales up in greater Boston

On the East Coast, Allworth Financial announced it is acquiring FSA Wealth Management, a Needham, Massachusetts-based fiduciary advisory firm with $460 million in assets under management.

FSA’s six-person team, including five advisors, will relocate to Allworth’s existing office in Waltham, consolidating the firm’s greater Boston presence.

Allworth chief executive John Bunch said FSA brings the type of talent and client relationships that strengthen the firm’s position in greater Boston, noting that the team has built “meaningful trust across diverse high-net-worth client communities.” 

The FSA acquisition follows Allworth’s October purchase of Shorepoint Capital, another Boston-area firm, as it pursues more affluent households and complex planning mandates in one of the country’s most competitive wealth markets.