Osaic team with $800M leaves to launch Select Wealth Partners

A team of advisors has left Osaic to launch Select Wealth Partners, an RIA in Middletown, N.Y., moving about $800 million in managed assets, Financial Advisor reported Nov. 11.

The firm was founded by partners Robert Howerter, Roger Pikul and Sandeep Patel, who met about 15 years ago at National Planning Corp. When LPL Financial bought that firm's parent from Jackson National in 2017, the three moved to Securities America; Osaic merged Securities America into Osaic Wealth in June 2024.

None of the firm's 10 advisors will be registered with a broker-dealer, though all 10 are licensed insurance agents and will keep earning commissions on insurance sales, according to its Form ADV. Clients will be able to buy annuities inside managed accounts through DPL Financial Partners' platform of commission-free contracts, according to the firm's brochure. For an advisor weighing the same move, that combination keeps the insurance license and the commissions while dropping broker-dealer registration and its split codes.

Howerter said the team's structure pushed the partners toward independence. Clients typically work with at least two advisors in an ensemble arrangement, and broker-dealers often require team reps to split commissions. "Broker-dealers always had a situation where we had limited selling agreements, and what really prompted our move was the ability to have better products to put into place for our clients," he said. "They don't know how to service a team like us."

Moves Wire has recorded 26 moves involving Osaic in the past 12 months. This one takes an ensemble practice out of the broker-dealer channel entirely, with four offices beyond Middletown across the Hudson Valley.

Many of the firm's clients are retirees or pre-retirees, and many are New York teachers with 403(b) plans, Howerter said. The average household has more than $1 million in investable assets. The 10 advisors range from about five years of experience to Howerter's 35, and the firm has 19 employees in all, according to its Form ADV.

Select Wealth received SEC approval Oct. 22 under a rule that lets a new firm register if it expects to cross the $100 million threshold within 120 days. It has operated under the Select Wealth Partners name for two years and lists four additional offices: Goshen, Pine Bush, Pearl River and Cornwall.