Independent advisors Matt Lawson and William Winchester have moved from LPL Financial (LPLA) to Raymond James Financial and are acquiring the practice of Raymond James advisor John Goodson in Winchester, Tenn. The merged advisor practice should have about $150 million in assets.
“We are very pleased to welcome this exciting and entrepreneurial team to Raymond James,” said Scott Curtis (left), president of Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS), the firm’s independent broker-dealer, in a press release. “The fact we were able to help them grow their business by financing their acquisition of an existing RJFS practice is particularly gratifying.
Prior to co-founding Lawson/Winchester Wealth Management in 2007, Lawson spent three years working as a financial advisor with SunTrust. Winchester began his financial-services career in 2002 with First Tennessee Brokerage and in 2003 moved to SunTrust. In 2007, the two formed Lawson/Winchester Wealth Management; they affiliated with LPL Financial, which now has about 13,000 independent reps, and their practice grew to about $40 million in assets under management.
“We had known and respected John Goodson for several years,” said Lawson in a statement. “And, initially, had wanted to acquire his practice and have him transition to LPL. But John insisted we talk to Raymond James, and once we were exposed to all that the firm had to offer and then worked with Patrick Jinks in Practice Planning & Acquisitions, we knew we wanted to move to RJFS.”
“Without the creative financing and attention to detail that Patrick provided,” added Winchester in a press release, “this deal would not have gotten done. And now that we’ve discovered Raymond James’ superior technology and experienced its client-first culture—which so matches our own—we could not be more pleased.”