Team managing $2 billion splits from Ameritas

Tax Favored Benefits, a 40-year-old, third-generation financial services firm, has spun off a sister company and new business entity, TFB Advisors, a Kansas City, Missouri-based registered investment adviser with $2 billion worth of client assets.

The new hybrid RIA is designed to combine the wealth management experience and expertise of six founding principals David Wentz, Bill Stapp, Josh Selzer, Tim Gaigals, Dan Dolan, and Adam Bettis.

The six advisers have worked together for years at Ameritas, but in their own silos, Bettis said.

The formation of TFB Advisors represents their move toward independence from Ameritas, although the hybrid firm will still use Ameritas for brokerage business.

“We essentially had six partners and principals running our own siloed businesses,” Bettis said. “This is about breaking down the silos and coming together for a common enterprise for our clients.”

Bettis said the team started making plans to terminate its back-office relationship with Ameritas in 2019, but the Covid pandemic put the move on the backburner until this month.

“It was a friendly departure with Ameritas; we will continue our broker-dealer relationship with them,” he said. “The majority of our business is now fee-based and has been for a very long time. It’s about independence and the ability to control our client experience. This was a long time in the making.”

Part of the move toward independence is the ability to bring on other independent and independent-minded advisers.

“We love working with our clients, helping them grow, finding affordable retirement solutions, and meeting their needs over time,” said Jeff Pytlinski, president of both Tax Favored Benefits and TFB Advisors.

“When an adviser joins our firm, they know they are not in it by themselves,” Pytlinski added. “We work as their partner to help them grow and realize success. We have created a great place for entrepreneurial advisers to thrive and grow.”