By Andrew Welsch

When financial advisor Ralph Angelo and his $1.5 billion team joined Commonwealth Financial Network from rival Osaic on March 31, Angelo was hoping it would be the last time he'd switch firms. But that same day, Commonwealth announced it had agreed to sell itself to LPL Financial for $2.7 billion.

"The initial reaction was anxious," Angelo says, adding that he likes stability. He has only switched broker-dealers twice in his nearly 30-year career, the first time by choice and second time because the firm he had joined was acquired by Osaic. "Once the dust settled, we took a good long look at this," Angelo says. "If we are going to have to partner with someone else, LPL would make the most sense. And perhaps most important, no more changes to come."

His 30-person team, Angelo Planning Group, is Commonwealth's largest recruit to date, the company said Wednesday. Retaining his team post acquisition would also be a big get for LPL, which has said it expects the Commonwealth transaction to close later this year. The deal is LPL's largest acquisition ever, and its success hinges on LPL's ability to convince Commonwealth's nearly 2,900 financial advisors (who oversee $285 billion in assets) to stay. To that end, LPL has said it would continue to operate Commonwealth as a separate brand and maintain the level of service it provides to advisors.

Commonwealth's reputation for high-touch service is a reason that Angelo's team joined it, Angelo says. His Rochester, N.Y.-based team was previously affiliated with American Portfolios. After Osaic (previously known as Advisor Group) announced in 2022 that it was buying American Portfolios, Angelo's team explored their options and considered moving to another broker-dealer, he says. Commonwealth made their list of finalists (which also included Raymond James Financial), but they decided to wait and go through the transition to Osaic from American Portfolios. Ultimately, they weren't satisfied with the service they were receiving and revisited their options before settling on Commonwealth.

Switching broker-dealers is a "brutal" task because of the paperwork involved in moving client accounts from one firm to another, he says. In Angelos' case, his team serves about 7,000 clients. "We spent three months preparing for it, just making sure we had all the information we needed, then you reach out to the clients once you begin the transition, " he says. "Thankfully, Docusign makes it easy. But it really just takes a lot of work and takes you away from growing the business."

LPL has said it intends to use negative consent for the vast majority of clients, thereby negating the requirement for advisors to repaper client accounts. That's likely welcome news for Angelo and other advisors.

In addition, Angelo sees growth opportunities for his team at LPL, which has enormous scale thanks to its more than 30,000 financial advisors and $1.8 trillion in assets. In addition to organic growth, Angelo's team has been expanding by acquiring retiring advisors' practices. "That's one of the things we're excited about with the addition of LPL," he says. "They have a potentially large group of retiring advisors that we can help with succession planning."

Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com

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June 11, 2025 09:07 ET (13:07 GMT)

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