LPL, Cetera, Raymond James, NewEdge add advisor teams

InvestmentNews has detailed a week of advisor movement across four firms: LPL Financial, Cetera Financial Group, Raymond James, and NewEdge Wealth all added teams. The three disclosed books add up to roughly $534 million in client assets.

LPL picked up Chris Stockton, an Edward Jones advisor who runs Guidepost Wealth Management in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Stockton holds a CEPA designation, has seven years in the business, and brought about $160 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets. His practice serves individuals, families, business owners, and retirees, with a focus on clients working through the sale of a business or inheritance questions. Administrative assistant Ashley Mayfield came with him.

Cetera's addition is Kim Hellerman-Hersman, a ChFC who was with Commonwealth Financial Network and, before that, spent 24 years at Concourse Financial Group Securities. Her team, which includes co-advisor Bryan T. Fox and support staff, oversees roughly $175 million in assets under administration and serves clients in more than 20 states. The practice is family-run and centers on investment management, retirement and college planning, tax exposure management, and asset protection.

Raymond James took on Roberto De Jesus, who left Edward Jones after 18 years and brought about $199 million in client assets. De Jesus founded De Jesus & Co. Wealth Management in Acworth, Georgia, and counts business owners, corporate executives, families, pre-retirees, retirees, and clients experiencing sudden wealth events among his clientele. Financial representative Kimberly Dahnke and senior client service manager Deb Robyck join him.

NewEdge Wealth took a different route: it opened in Houston with a six-person team. Managing directors Jeffrey Thompson and Shannon Willems, vice president Sara DeJay Willis, and three client service associates bring more than 30 years of combined experience serving ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth families, family offices, and institutions. Their specialties include business-owner exit strategies, multi-generational estate planning, and 401(k) and pension plan optimization. Houston is the firm's 20th location nationally.

None of these hires is a blockbuster. But the week still reads as a useful sample. Two of the teams came out of Edward Jones, and both landed at independent firms: LPL and Raymond James. Cetera pulled from another independent, a reminder that independent firms raid one another as readily as they raid the wirehouses. And NewEdge bought a practice with its specializations already intact, rather than building a Houston book from an empty office.

What the firms are paying for is relationships. Advisors who move carry their client lists and referral networks with them; the assets on the transfer form are only the starting balance. When advisors in this bracket change firms, the cost to the old firm shows up later, in the referrals that drift to the new one.