Creative Planning paves multilane road for old United Capital advisors

investmentnews.com:

Creative Planning CEO and president Peter Mallouk said the giant registered investment advisor with $245 billion in client assets is building three lanes for the several hundred financial advisors and staff at the newly acquired RIA Personal Financial Management to allow them to move comfortably to Creative Planning in the next few months.

The first lane is simply to stay put at Personal Financial Management, which has about 70 offices and financial advisors who work with $29 billion in client assets, Mallouk said. He called the first option “United Capital 2.0.”

The next is to work under the roof of Creative Planning, which has a deliberate, one-firm process for its advisors. And last, financial advisors may set up their own RIA, if they are so inclined.

“We’ll wind up with two completely separate RIAs,” Mallouk said in an interview on Tuesday. “I’m not interested in having the biggest RIA in the United States. I’m interested in running the best RIA in the United States.”

Last week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it was selling Personal Financial Management to Creative Planning. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Goldman bought the RIA, formerly United Capital Financial Partners, in 2019 for $750 million in cash.

In the interview, Mallouk acknowledged that the financial advisors at Personal Financial Management were “tired” after being involved in multiple deals over the past several years.

“Now that they see the group of options, I sense more relief,” he said.

One industry executive said Creative Planning’s varied strategy for the old United Capital advisors was unusual.

“This is very outside the box,” said Jodie Papike, president of Cross-Search, a recruiting firm. “I’ve never heard of a firm being so