$800M Texas Team Splits From Kestra, Joins LPL
Fort Worth-based Gus Bates Insurance & Investments joins LPL’s BD, hybrid RIA and custodial platforms.
LPL Financial added Gus Bates Insurance & Investments, a division of HUB International Texas managing about $800 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets that is based in Fort Worth and was previously registered with Kestra Financial.
The advisor team has joined LPL’s broker-dealer, RIA and custodial platforms, aligned with HUB Retirement and Wealth Management, it said Tuesday.
Leading the team is financial advisor Kip Adams, who also serves as its retirement and private wealth practice leader. He was registered with Kestra since 2016, according to his report on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck website.
The team also includes retirement plan advisor Blake Hiett (who was with Kestra since 2018), wealth advisor Spencer Stilwell (with Kestra since 2019), senior account manager Susan Blassingame (with Kestra since 2008) and two additional staff members.
Adams spent a decade of his career in public accounting with a focus on retirement plan consulting before joining the financial advice industry 14 years ago. Although his roots are in retirement planning and employee benefits, as the team evolved over the years, their services expanded to include comprehensive wealth management, according to LPL.
“We help our clients understand that the financial decisions they make today have an incredible impact on their future,” Adams said in the announcement.
Explaining why the team decided to join LPL, he said: “We believe LPL has the resources, services and scale to really help us differentiate our business. We’ve found that LPL’s trading platform is incredibly easy to use and the level of innovative technology has already improved how we open new accounts and manage our business.”
LPL has been recruiting advisor teams at a fast rate. The company “will continue to use our size and scale to create value for our advisors, including making investments in the integrated technology and business resources that can help them be more successful by serving their clients efficiently and effectively,” according to Scott Posner, LPL executive vice president, business development.