Growth Leaders of Wealth Management

Piton Wealth tracks a number that most wealth management firms would rather see going in the opposite direction: assets leaving the firm.

Founder and CEO Michelle Clary calls it “assets under distribution,” measuring the money clients use to fund the lives and legacies they’ve been planning for, from major purchases and family gifts to charitable contributions. Rather than treating those outflows as losses, Piton celebrates them, while maintaining a disciplined goal of 10% net new money each year.

Michelle joins Meg to unpack the economics behind that philosophy and the growth engine required to sustain it. They explore Piton’s advice-first model, its approach to fostering producing advisors from within, and why building those capabilities is central to the firm’s plans for internal succession. Mandy Tuong, President and CEO of Thrivent Charitable, also joins the conversation to offer a broader perspective on what charitable planning can mean for advisor growth and client relationships.

It’s a compelling look at what happens when a wealth management firm measures success not only by how much money clients entrust to it, but by what that wealth ultimately allows them to accomplish.

0:00 - Why Outflows Deserve Attention

3:40 - Defining Assets Under Distribution

6:10 - The Conflict Advisors Avoid Naming

10:08 - Early Blind Spots Building An RIA

14:21 - Training Service Advisors To Hunt

15:04 - Organic Growth Through Referrals

17:36 - How Generosity Shows Up In Meetings

24:44 - Do Charitable Plans Hurt Revenue

32:32 - Next-Gen Relationships And Referrals

35:27 - Planning For Outflows With 10% Net

37:42 - Sponsor Message From FICOM Partners

38:36 - Advice Fees As The Front Door

41:29 - Building Producers From The Front Desk

46:31 - Skills And Incentives That Drive Production

48:43 - Marketing As An All-Hands Practice

50:29 - Where To Start With Charitable Planning

56:12 - Designing For Internal Succession

1:00:15 - Living The Values In The Community

1:03:07 - The Boardroom Moment That Sparked It

1:09:21 - The Simple Experiment And Closing CTA

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• Michelle Clary on LinkedIn
• Piton Wealth Website
• Mandy Tuong on LinkedIn
• Thrivent Website

Cerity Partners was founded with an ambitious idea: build an independent wealth management firm with the professionalism, scale, and staying power of the world’s leading accounting, law, and consulting firms.

Today, that vision has grown into a roughly $200 billion firm with 1,700 professionals, 375 partners, and a 60,000-square-foot university dedicated to developing its people. Cerity Partners CEO Kurt Miscinski and Chief Growth Officer Michael Barry join Meg to unpack the infrastructure behind that growth, from partnership and talent development to workplace wealth, digital marketing, and a disciplined approach to the client experience.

Their conversation explores what it takes to turn proven ideas into an enduring enterprise, and why, in an increasingly AI-driven world, human connection may become wealth management’s most important differentiator.

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• Michael Barry on LinkedIn
• Kurt Miscinski on LinkedIn
• Cerity Partners Website

About Ficomm Partners

Ficomm Partners is the embedded growth partner for results-driven RIAs, and wealth management platforms. With a track record of helping over 250 clients achieve their growth goals, Ficomm understands that while industry patterns may repeat, each firm's growth challenges are unique. Ficomm prioritizes strategy and finds the most impactful ways to move you toward your goals. We align all your marketing activities with your business objectives, acting as your dedicated growth partner with our human-first approach, strategy-first methodology, and unrivaled team of industry marketing experts. For more information, visit ficommpartners.com.  

Nearly every wealth management firm says it's aligned with its clients. Very few can hand a prospect the proof.

Simon Quick Advisors can. The firm's owners commit their own capital to the same investment vehicles they present to clients, and they use the same CPAs and the same trust and estate attorneys. When the firm launched a co-mingled private equity vehicle this year, more than 30 colleagues invested their own money in it. Both founding families are still fee-paying clients of the firm they built.

The family office capability arrived the same way, fully formed. The 2017 merger brought over a team that had been running a single-family office for close to 30 years, with its processes, its service model, and its vendor relationships intact. In the nine years since, Simon Quick has tripled from roughly $3 billion to $9 billion in assets under management. The firm now serves 678 households at an average relationship size of $13 million.

Meg sits down with Managing Partner Chris Moore, Partner and Corporate Development Officer Mark DeLotto, and Chief Marketing Officer and Principal Darcy O'Brien. They get into why organic growth has to work before inorganic growth can, what a year of underperforming paid lead gen taught them about order of operations, how Darcy runs marketing KPIs backward from a client target, and the week two inbound leads arrived because they'd asked ChatGPT for an advisor who could help them.

0:00 - New Growth Equation From Investor Data

1:38 - Why Simon Quick Caught Our Eye

4:33 - Origin Story Of Two Families

6:56 - Family Office Capability Built For Complexity

10:14 - Alignment Through Investing Alongside Clients

12:52 - Alternatives Platform And Private Markets Access

17:26 - Inflection Points That Fueled Rapid Growth

22:33 - Balancing Organic Growth With Inorganic Deals

31:50 - Treating Marketing Like A Growth Engine

34:30 - Paid Lead Gen Lessons The Hard Way

44:42 - How Ultra Wealthy Clients Search Today

49:41 - Measuring Marketing With Pipeline KPIs

52:33 - Acquisitions Lift-Outs And Right People

1:01:31 - Independence Capital Choices And Staying Relevant

1:07:24 - Head Of Client Growth Closes Gaps

1:11:22 - AI Cyber And The Future Relationship

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• Mark DeLotto on LinkedIn
• Darcy O'Brien on LinkedIn
• Chris Moore on LinkedIn
• Simon Quick Advisors Website

About Ficomm Partners

Ficomm Partners is the embedded growth partner for results-driven RIAs, and wealth management platforms. With a track record of helping over 250 clients achieve their growth goals, Ficomm understands that while industry patterns may repeat, each firm's growth challenges are unique. Ficomm prioritizes strategy and finds the most impactful ways to move you toward your goals. We align all your marketing activities with your business objectives, acting as your dedicated growth partner with our human-first approach, strategy-first methodology, and unrivaled team of industry marketing experts. For more information, visit ficommpartners.com.  

For years, the wealth management industry has operated under a familiar assumption: the future belongs to the biggest firms. Scale has become the answer to nearly every strategic question, leaving many leaders wondering whether independent firms can continue to compete without becoming part of something larger.

Peak Retirement Planning offers a different perspective.

In this episode, Meg sits down with Founder and CEO Joe Schmitz Jr. and Director of Standards Megan Casselberry to explore how a firm that launched in late 2021 has grown to more than $630 million in assets by building a business where marketing isn't simply a department; it's the foundation of the operating model.

The conversation examines what happens when content informs nearly every aspect of a firm, from hiring and advisor development to client experience, niche positioning, and long-term strategy. Joe shares why he believes Peak is "more of a media company than a financial planning business," why every piece of client-facing content remains intentionally human, and how consistency, not shortcuts, created a marketing engine that now generates dozens of qualified opportunities each week.

Along the way, they discuss the discipline required to protect culture while growing rapidly, the advantages of developing talent from the ground up, the philosophy behind keeping critical functions in-house, and why saying "no" to the wrong clients can be just as important as attracting the right ones.

Whether other firms choose to follow Peak's playbook, the broader lesson is clear: sustainable growth isn't reserved for the industry's largest firms. It belongs to organizations willing to rethink how growth is created in the first place.

0:00 - The Myth Of Inevitable Consolidation

4:00 - Peak’s Growth Numbers And Origin Story

8:48 - Building A Media Company First

15:20 - YouTube Consistency And Workshop Grind

20:00 - Director Of Standards And Brand Fit

24:10 - Niches Built Through Books

27:20 - Why Peak Rejects AI Content

30:38 - Insourcing Marketing And Client Services

34:53 - Unit Economics And Reinvesting Profits

41:36 - Lead Volume And Saying No

44:57 - Hiring Pipeline Built For Scale

51:40 - Training, Pay, And Coaching Culture

57:35 - Why The Dayton Office Closed

1:00:07 - Founder-Led Content And Human Brands

1:05:34 - Standards, Simplicity, And 2026 Goals

1:10:52 - Key Takeaways And Listener Next Steps

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• Joe Schmitz Jr. on LinkedIn
• Megan Casselberry on LinkedIn 
• Peak Retirement Planning, Inc. 

About Ficomm Partners

Founded in 2012, Ficomm Partners delivers strategic marketing and PR solutions for financial advisory teams across all channels. Through strategic consulting, execution services, and advisor coaching, Ficomm empowers firms to achieve measurable growth objectives aligned with business goals. The firm helps advisory businesses articulate their authentic value, connect meaningfully with ideal clients, and diversify lead sources. Combining industry expertise with human-centered strategies, Ficomm guides teams to increased net new assets, deeper client engagement, and sustainable business scaling. For more information, visit ficommpartners.com.  

What creates a growth advantage that competitors can't easily replicate?

In this episode of Growth Leaders of Wealth Management, Meg sits down with Grant Rawdin, Founder and CEO of Wescott Financial Advisory Group, Carrie Delgott, President and COO, and Alex Rawdin, Director of Client Development and Growth Strategy, to explore how a firm founded inside a law practice nearly 40 years ago continues to evolve while staying true to the principles that shaped it from the beginning.

Built on long-term relationships, specialized expertise, operational discipline, and a deep understanding of human behavior, Wescott has focused on strengthening the underlying systems that make growth possible. That approach has shaped everything from the firm's expansion beyond its legal roots to the development of a growth infrastructure centered on people, process, technology, and data.

Along the way, the story touches on acquisition integration, next-generation talent development, behavioral psychology, client engagement, and the cultural practices that have helped Wescott maintain its identity through decades of growth and change. Nearly 40 years after its founding, the firm continues to balance consistency with curiosity, proving that durable growth often comes from investments that compound quietly over time.

For leaders seeking to build something that can endure across generations, this episode offers valuable insight into the structures, habits, and decisions that stand the test of time.

0:00 The Search For Durable Growth

4:28 Meet Wescott And The Guests

7:30 Founding Inside A Law Firm

10:59 Inflection Points And Rah Rah

15:20 People, Process, Technology, and Data

21:32 Centralize Then Democratize Business Development

27:40 Growth Channels And COI Verticals

34:01 Pharma Acquisition And Integration Truths

47:20 Digital Lead Gen That Broke

52:07 Ideal Client Profile And Content Engine

56:44 Behavioral Roots And Perfect Score

1:06:54 B Corp Culture And Talent Pipeline

1:17:29 Incentives Training And Monday Morning Quarterback

1:25:09 AI Experiments Next Chapter Closing

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• Grant Rawdin on LinkedIn
• Carrie Delgott on LinkedIn
• Alex Rawdin on LinkedIn
• Wescott Financial Advisory Group website  

Most firms say they care about culture. Coldstream Wealth Management built a system that forces it.

At a time when private equity has become the default path to scale, Coldstream has taken a different route: eight acquisitions in five years, more than tripling assets, and not a single dollar of outside capital. No investment bankers. No fund timelines. No external pressure to close.

So what replaces it?

In this conversation, Meg talks with CEO Kevin Fitzwilson, President of M&A Josh Harris, and Chief Growth Officer David Christian about what it actually takes to build an acquisitive firm without private equity. The intellectual capital required to represent yourself in deals. The long-standing bank relationship that quietly powers their growth. And why they believe direct, unfiltered conversations reveal more about a partner than any data room ever could.

You’ll also hear how Coldstream defines its ideal client at scale across ten teams, why growth is treated as a firm-wide responsibility, and how a shared mission of “enhancing people’s lives” translates into a 10-year vision without letting AUM become the goal.

But the most important idea runs deeper: culture fit isn’t something they evaluate after the fact. It’s something they design for. Through employee ownership, deliberate pacing, and a willingness to walk away, they’ve built a system that attracts a specific kind of founder, and filters out the rest.

This isn’t a story about avoiding private equity. It’s a story about what you have to build instead.

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• Kevin Fitzwilson on LinkedIn
• Josh Harris on LinkedIn
• David Christian on LinkedIn
• Coldstream Website

0:00 The PE Assumption Gets Challenged 

5:53 Building Deal Skills Without Sponsors 

8:27 Why Coldstream Avoids Bankers 

14:07 Ideal Client Work At Scale 

20:52 Mission First And A 10-Year Plan 

30:48 Integration Lessons And Talent As M&A 

36:06 Founders Explain The Leap 

42:35 Culture Fit As Structural Design 

52:30 Ownership Architecture And Financial Discipline 

1:02:30 What Comes Next And Real Threats 

1:11:28 Infinite Mindset And Closing Requests

About Ficomm Partners

Ficomm Partners is the embedded growth partner for results-driven RIAs, and wealth management platforms. With a track record of helping over 250 clients achieve their growth goals, Ficomm understands that while industry patterns may repeat, each firm's growth challenges are unique. Ficomm prioritizes strategy and finds the most impactful ways to move you toward your goals. We align all your marketing activities with your business objectives, acting as your dedicated growth partner with our human-first approach, strategy-first methodology, and unrivaled team of industry marketing experts.

Most firms say they want to last. Truepoint Wealth Counsel engineered it.

When PE valuations exploded and peers were cashing out at eye-popping multiples, Truepoint Wealth Counsel did something almost unheard of: they put the PE decision to a vote. One shareholder, one vote, regardless of ownership size. The result? An overwhelming mandate to stay independent and double down on growth.

That vote didn't just settle a question. It forced one: if you're not selling, how do you actually build a firm designed to outlast its founders?

In this conversation, Meg talks with founder and chairman Michael Chasnoff, CEO Steve Condon, and Director of Growth Abby Tuke about what 36 years of employee ownership actually looks like in practice. The financing mechanism that lets employees buy in, the governance structure that separates ownership from management, and the comp model that rewards firm-wide growth instead of individual production.

You'll also hear about Commas, Truepoint Wealth Counsel's subscription-based service arm for wealth accumulators, the segmentation mistake that allowed them to realize a third service tier they never planned on, and why a 20-year time horizon changes every decision from marketing to technology to AI readiness.

This isn't a succession planning story. It's a story about what becomes possible when permanence is the strategy from day one.

0:00 — What Does It Actually Mean to Build a Firm That Lasts?

4:41 — Why Michael Chasnoff Started TruePoint in 1990

8:13 — Employee Ownership as a Growth Strategy

10:01 — The Mindset Shift That Made Ownership Distribution Possible

15:42 — How Employees Actually Afford to Buy In

16:48 — The Private Equity Vote That Changed Everything

26:01 — Building a Growth Culture Without Sales Language

35:06 — No Individual Incentives, Firm-Wide Reward

42:49 — The Segmentation Mistake That Led to a Third Service Tier

54:55 — Why AI Readiness Starts With Clean Data

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website

• Michael Chasnoff on LinkedIn
• Steve Condon on LinkedIn
• Abby Tuke on LinkedIn
• Truepoint Wealth Counsel Wealth Counsel

Most firms treat liquidity like an event. Parallel built it into the system.

Instead of waiting for retirement to solve succession, they created a way for advisors to transition pieces of their book internally, get paid through revenue share, and free up space to grow again.

No forced sale. No awkward handoff.

The next advisor steps in, incentives stay aligned, and clients never feel the shift. 

They also give advisors a real choice. Monetize up front through M&A, or partner and monetize later. Same platform. Same culture. Different timing. That flexibility changes recruiting conversations and keeps good advisors building longer.

In this conversation, Meg talks with CJ Rendic, Mike Murray, and Jake Schutt about what actually drove Parallel from $5B to over $10B, why their digital lead gen experiment didn’t convert, how they built peer accountability instead of boss pressure, and why autonomy, relationships, and economics still run this industry.

0:00 — The Myth of Silver Bullets & Parallel’s Inflection to $10B
6:20 — The Three Levers of Growth: Organic, Inorganic, Market
12:28 — Solving Capacity with Internal Book Transitions
16:58 — Infrastructure That Scales: Pods, Planning, Centralized Teams
20:24 — Forums, Peer Accountability, and Advisor Activation
24:00 — Corporate Lead Gen Trade-Offs & The Bay Area Experiment
31:40 — M&A vs. Recruiting: Dual Paths, Dual Equity, Real Optionality
42:37 — Scaling Culture Through Systems, Not Slogans
46:12 — Autonomy, Relationships, Economics & Gamified Activity
51:40 — Market Capture, AI Tools, and the $100B Vision

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website
• CJ Rendic on LinkedIn
• Michael Murray on LinkedIn
• Jacob Schutt on LinkedIn
• Parallel Advisors

When a firm grows, most people picture the same things: more clients per advisor, more complexity stacked onto the day, and longer hours that slowly become the norm. The common result is that growth shows up as pressure before it shows up as progress.

Mission Wealth challenged that assumption early and built a firm around a different idea: protect capacity first, then design growth around it. Today, that thinking shapes everything from how many households an advisor serves, to how teams share revenue and who earns ownership across the organization.

In this new episode of Growth Leaders of Wealth Management, our host Meg Carpenter sits down with Mission Wealth’s leadership to explore what happens when growth becomes a structural decision rather than a volume race. They talk through the choices behind capped client loads, shared expertise, long-term investment in organic channels, and why patience compounds faster than urgency. Welcome!

0:00 — Why Mission Wealth Stands Out

2:08 — The 60-Household Cap and a Different Growth Model

6:21 — Organic Growth, Market Impact, and M&A Reality

9:09 — How Mission Wealth Built Multiple Growth Channels

14:29 — Custodial Referrals and Competing at the Top Tier

16:54 — The Wealth Strategy Group as a Growth Engine

20:13 — Diamond Teams, Regional Models, and Capacity Control

26:02 — Marketing Evolves Into a Firmwide Growth Driver

32:23 — Digital Growth, Patience, and the Three-Year Rule

41:05 — Leadership, Gender Equity, and Advisor Advantage

43:11 — AI, Advisor Capacity, and the Road Ahead

Connect with us: 

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website

• Matthew Adams on LinkedIn
• Dannell Stuart on LinkedIn
• Michelle Winkles on LinkedIn
• John Wernz on LinkedIn
• Mission Wealth Website

Very few firms in wealth management grow from $25 billion to nearly $100 billion in five years, and even fewer do it by rethinking the structure of the industry itself. NewEdge Capital Group built its momentum by designing a platform around what elite advisors actually need: time, autonomy, and a model that supports different kinds of practices without forcing them into the same box. Their dual-RIA architecture, integration-first tech philosophy, and innovative bridge programs — now generating almost $2 billion in internal referrals — are the result of looking at the advisor experience with fresh eyes.

In this episode, host Meg Carpenter sits down with two leaders whose path into wealth management began in the tech world. They first built companies together, then scaled Alex’s family advisory practice into Goss Advisors, which was later acquired by EdgeCo Holdings and merged with Mid Atlantic Financial Management to form the base of what is now NewEdge Capital Group. Their story is part entrepreneurial, part structural reinvention, and part cultural clarity — a combination that helps explain why top advisors are choosing NewEdge and why the firm’s growth shows no signs of slowing.

Connect with us: 

• Alex Goss on LinkedIn
• Neil Turner on LinkedIn
• NewEdge Capital Group

• Megan Carpenter on LinkedIn
• Ficomm Partners Website

About Ficomm Partners

Ficomm Partners is the embedded growth partner for results-driven RIAs, and wealth management platforms. With a track record of helping over 250 clients achieve their growth goals, Ficomm understands that while industry patterns may repeat, each firm's growth challenges are unique. Ficomm prioritizes strategy and finds the most impactful ways to move you toward your goals. We align all your marketing activities with your business objectives, acting as your dedicated growth partner with our human-first approach, strategy-first methodology, and unrivaled team of industry marketing experts.