With all due respect to the great American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who once wrote that "there are no second acts in American lives,” take a look at what Elevation Point CEO Jim Dickson is up to.
He’s already finished two wildly successful acts and is breaking out with his third.
Dickson co-founded Elevation Point with fellow Merrill Lynch alum and United Atlantic Capital chairman Mark Penske in 2024 to serve as a “value-aligned growth partner” to independence-focused advisors and RIAs. Dickson had previously founded Sanctuary Wealth in 2018, quickly building it into a nationally recognized wealth management company.
In fact, Dickson built Sanctuary Wealth’s vaunted Partnered Independence platform, which provides advisors with the tools, services, and resources needed to effectively serve their clients. With Dickson at the helm, Sanctuary Wealth grew into one of the industry’s top RIA firms, with more than $25 billion in assets and 76 partner firms in 28 states when he left the firm in 2023.
As for act number one, Dickson spent 20 years as a senior divisional executive at Merrill Lynch in Indianapolis and Chicago before chasing his entrepreneurial dream at Sanctuary Wealth.
But in this third act, however, Dickson is determined not to repeat the mistakes of his first two adventures in the investment management world. And believe it or not, he’s not looking to use the same aggregator playbook that vaulted him to such rapid success at Sanctuary Wealth.
“We are not aggregators,” Dickson says. “Aggregators simply combine businesses and buy income, which is not our approach. We’re not interested in fixer-uppers. Instead, we’re focused on partnering with those who believe they can improve, serve clients better, and grow faster. These are the opportunities we seek.”
Nor is he leaning on private equity capital to roll up those partners like he did at Sanctuary Wealth with the backing of Kennedy Lewis Investment Management. This time around he launched with family office capital instead.
“Not being tied to private equity gives us the flexibility we need to stick to our mission. Our investors are long-term investors who believe in the value we are providing to our partners, and the way we are providing it,” Dickson says.
From a financial perspective, clearly Dickson didn’t need to dive back into the wealth management pool for a third time after he was abruptly terminated by Sanctuary Wealth in 2023 over allegations of conduct issues.
Regarding the split, he says: “The investors and I had a difference of opinion, and I learned the hard way about the risk of partnering with a capital provider that is not fully aligned from day one. I wish the firm well, and to my knowledge I remain the largest non-institutional shareholder.”
Still, despite his seemingly fractious departure from Sanctuary Wealth, Dickson chose to start Elevation Point with Penske, with the goal of offering a better solution for wirehouse advisors seeking independence, and RIAs looking to scale. While many firms focus on full acquisitions, they saw an underserved market of advisors who wanted to monetize part of their business while maintaining control.
“Elevation Point was created to serve those advisors who are not ready to retire but want a partner to help manage and grow their business, while they still retain ownership,” Dickson says. “Our firm is committed to partnering with experienced independent advisors through minority-stake partnerships, providing support as RIAs and breakaway advisors navigate their transition to independence.”
Dickson highlights $200 million to $3 billion as the “ideal range” for firms he’s looking to partner with, or what he calls the “middle market.”
“It’s our sweet spot, and we like it for a couple of reasons. Number one, there’s a lot more of them to be able to invest in, and number two, it’s just a sweet spot in terms of growth,” he says.
Put simply, he wants to link up with firms that are not so large that growth-driven changes take years to execute, yet they operate with enough scale “to feel the momentum” when they are accelerating.
As for the minority-stake-partnership model he is waving in front of advisors to attract them to his new venture, Dickson says he’s looking for people who want to own 70 to 80 percent of an asset that will be much larger than what they could build on their own.
“For us, it’s about growing the entire pie. The pie will be so much bigger that their share will be worth far more. Some people insist on owning 100 percent. That’s not what we’re looking for.”
Dickson’s latest quest also gives him a new, and somewhat refreshed, perspective on the evolution of the RIA industry, seeing in a new light things he might have missed while toiling away at both Sanctuary Wealth and Merrill Lynch.
For example, he says advisors are no longer asking questions about old-school topics like compliance. Instead, they are desperately seeking answers and education around AI, data warehouses, and data leaks.
“The capital we invest in technology, AI, and automation is a major differentiator for us. The reality is that most firms in the middle market don’t have the resources or capacity to implement these themselves.”
When it comes to the impact of private equity players invading the RIA arena and pushing up valuations, Dickson believes many advisors who recently gave up control of their businesses now wished they hadn’t. As a result, he sees Elevation Point’s arrival on the scene as a “value-aligned partner” as perfect timing.
“Previously, deals were mainly based on ‘Who’s going to pay me the biggest multiple?’” Dickson says. “Now, we’re at the point where it’s, ‘Who’s helping to make my client experience better?’ or ‘Who’s going to help me buy more over time so I can secure my unique exit from the business?’”
One thing that hasn’t changed since he left Merrill Lynch in 2017 to start Sanctuary Wealth, according to Dickson, is the flow of advisors from wirehouses toward independence. If anything, he says, it’s grown from a trickle to a torrent.
“I think the whole independent RIA space is mature, and that maturation has led to more optionality for advisors, but they also know so much more about the space,” Dickson says. “Just a few years ago there weren’t as many choices, but now there are more options, and with that comes more expertise and more lessons that can be learned.”
Striking entrepreneurial success once, as Dickson did with Sanctuary Wealth, is certainly nothing to take for granted. Few new ventures grow to such heights so quickly. The question then arises as what Dickson expectations are for Elevation Point and whether he would be disappointed if he was unable to raise or exceed the same level of AUM.
“I think we’ll know we’re successful when people talk about us defining the category. We’ll know we’re successful when RIAs say, ‘I want an Elevation Point experience,’ or, ‘I want someone like Elevation Point who can help me grow faster,’” Dickson says.
“For so long, this space has been defined by, ‘What multiple did you get?’ We’re trying to redefine that conversation to: ‘What could the valuation be, and how much fun could we have if we’re really successful?’ That’s the inspirational energy we aim to provide.”
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