LPL adds $1B Seattle team from Northwestern Mutual; Raymond James recruits $350M Georgia practice

LPL Financial has added Prince Financial Services, a Seattle ensemble practice that reported roughly $1 billion in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets at Northwestern Mutual, InvestmentNews reported on Oct. 14. The practice moved onto LPL's broker-dealer, registered investment adviser and custodial platforms.

Founders Julie Prince and Dave Burnett run the practice with Cade Mossman, Conner Gehring and David DeYoung. Its clients are retirees, business owners, high-net-worth families and technology-sector workers, mostly in the Pacific Northwest; every client relationship starts with a comprehensive financial plan that the advisors revisit as circumstances change.

The Seattle move follows LPL's addition last month of a pair of Salt Lake City-area practices from Northwestern Mutual with roughly $1 billion in combined client assets, according to InvestmentNews. Days later, another billion-dollar-plus team moved to LPL in New York.

Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's independent advisor channel, recruited GFS Advisory, a family-owned team that managed more than $350 million at Commonwealth Financial Network. The practice operates from Braselton, Georgia, with a second office in Alpharetta, and provides financial planning and investment advice to families, individuals and small business owners.

Co-branch owners Nathaniel "Nate" Langley and Paige Rossi are siblings; the third advisor, Stephen Groover, is their cousin. Rossi and Groover both joined after careers in public accounting.

"Access to the firm's banking and high-net-worth planning capabilities strengthens our ability to provide comprehensive, tax-aware financial planning," Langley said. Todd Gartrell, Southeast division director for RJFS, said the team's "family-oriented approach, planning experience and commitment to client service make an excellent addition to our presence in the Southeast."

Raymond James has recruited other advisors from Commonwealth since LPL acquired the firm, per InvestmentNews. Before GFS, the most recent example came last month, when RJFS brought in a five-advisor Commonwealth team with approximately $500 million.

LPL, for its part, has raised its run-rate cash flow target for the Commonwealth acquisition by $25 million and projects that advisor retention will climb to 90%, per PWD's earlier reporting.

This publication has argued the talent war's unit of trade is the team book rather than the solo breakaway.