Modern Wealth Surpasses $4B in Less Than 2 Years

Modern Wealth Management has made its ninth acquisition since being formed in April 2023 by former Goldman Sachs advisers who had joined the firm via its United Capital acquisition.

Modern Wealth announced last week its first foray into the Southern market with the acquisition of C&J Wealth Advisors, a Tennessee-based firm with $260 million in assets under management from more than 300 clients. The acquisition boosts Modern Wealth’s AUM to more than $4 billion and continues its strategy of bringing together wealth management and its qualified plan advisement practice, says Mike Capelle, Modern Wealth’s co-founder and co-CEO.

Mike Capelle

Capelle and partners Jason Del Col, Jason Gordo and Gary Roth, broke off to launch their own RIA with a “full team” approach to offering comprehensive financial advice, according to their initial announcement. Capelle says the group had experienced the benefits of syncing retirement plan consulting with wealth management, and they see potential for strong growth via the same strategy at Modern Wealth.

“It’s definitely a strategy that is very deliberate on our part,” says Capelle. “Back in our prior lives, we did try and connect the retirement plan space and the private wealth space, and I think what we’ve learned there is that you’ve got to have the right people on the plan side in order to make that work.”

To that end, the firm acquired Beltz Ianni & Associates’ 12-person team in March, bringing on $1.2 billion in retirement plan advisement, wealth manager and third-party administrator assets. Michelle Cannan was part of that acquisition and is now managing director and head of company retirement for Modern Wealth.

“We saw how Michelle had really partnered with the wealth team to: a) deliver great service on the retirement plan side and b) helping the participants within the plans with their own personal needs to really maximize the benefit to the employees, which, in return, reflects well on the employer,” Capelle says.

Meeting Demand  

Cannan says the firm has been realizing opportunities across the groups in part due to the demand coming from both sides: on one end, business owners looking for retirement services and advice, and on the other, participants asking for individual advisement.

She notes that the firm does not approach participants about wealth management, but instead focuses on education and wellness, from which leads can emerge.

Michelle Cannan

“Usually because of the relationship we’ve built, it’s participants asking us [for wealth advisement], not the other way around,” she says. “We don’t ever push our services on people, but we want Modern Wealth to be the first name participants think of.”

To build that trust, her team is focused on education programming, including meetings, podcasts, e-newsletters and group meetings, she says.

“We create a wide variety of topics that can benefit plan participation,” she says. ”It can be discussing Roth or pre-tax savings, … gap analysis programs that identify potential retirement income options or retirement reports and annual check-ups.”

Cannan says her team has not layered into its retirement plan advisement product areas such as management accounts or the newer retirement income products due in part to “fiduciary considerations.” She says the firm will continue to evaluate those options based on the best interest of the participants.

Co-CEO Capelle notes that Modern Wealth advisers do have access to a platform that allows them to manage clients’ 401(k) assets alongside other investments through the firm Pontera.

“We use it in a limited way right now,” he says, “but it is growing rapidly.”

More to Come

Capelle says the Knoxville acquisition was an opportunity to serve a community that has been growing in recent years—I part due to an influx of residents during the pandemic. That includes, he notes, the potential to work with small business clients on 401(k) plans.

“There’s always a portion of the clients that are small business owners, and if you’re comfortable as an adviser to ask and look for the right things, you can find opportunities to help them out.”

C&J Wealth’s team will take on the Modern Wealth brand as its full firm joins the RIA, including Managing Director Mark King and Investment Specialist Scott Smith. The firm will also join Modern Wealth’s Organic Growth Hub, a lead management, distribution and client onboarding system.

Financial advisers have been moving away from wirehouses and independent broker/dealer channels in recent years to form or join RIAs, according to reports from consultancy Cerulli Associates. The number of RIAs grew to a record 15,396 in 2023, up about 1.9% from the prior year, according to the latest data from the Investment Advisor Association.

Meanwhile, Capelle expects to be announcing more acquisitions this year.

“We’re continuing to attract attention and are looking for advisory firms that are interested in being part of a new and growing national firm,” he says.