Conversations with a Luminary: Sanctuary Wealth's Jim Dickson on their Dealmaking & Growth win

Summary by Roger Wohlner

We recently had a chance to talk with Jim Dickson, CEO and founder of Sanctuary Wealth, a member of the ThinkAdvisor Luminaries class of 2021. Sanctuary Wealth was an award winner in the category Dealmaking & Growth.

Jim was a 21 year veteran of a large wirehouse firm in 2017 when he and several partners decided the march towards independence among financial advisors was strong. Sanctuary Wealth is now three years old. 

The firm built an independent platform that allows financial advisors to own their own business. Sanctuary partners with advisors on the platform to run their business and to provide the tools, the toolbox, the support and the compliance these advisors want and need so that they can spend their time helping their clients reach their financial goals. 

Dickson added they are a three-year old company and already have $20 billion in assets under management. In 2021, coming off of COVID, a lot of people had time to evaluate their practice and we were a benefactor of that. So far this year they’ve added about $8 billion in new AUM and that’s a combination of minority deals, majority deals, helping advisors break away and join our corporate RIA. 

Jim also told us that Sanctuary’s business extends beyond the U.S. He indicated that once the firm’s platform was up and running in the U.S. they felt it was a natural extension to look towards the growing advisor market in Latin America. Jim expects that the Latin American market will be a source of growth for Sanctuary Wealth’s business in 2022. 

Sanctuary Wealth uses the term “partnered independence” to describe their business model and their relationship with the advisors on the platform. The Sanctuary platform allows the advisors to run their practice independently to best serve the needs of their clients. Sanctuary provides services like compliance and other back-office functions, freeing the advisors to do what they do best. Jim feels that there is a lot of upside potential for Sanctuary’s business in the coming years as more advisors want to move forward with independence, and many are looking to have a foundation for their practice as they look to exit the business and retire. 

Press play to hear the entire conversation with Jim Dickson to learn more about the Sanctuary Wealth platform for independent advisors seeking a better deal than what many banks and wirehouses are offering. 

About Sanctuary Wealth 

Sanctuary Wealth was launched by a group of former Merrill Lynch executives in late 2018, the focus was on recruiting advisors from banks and wirehouses by offering them a better deal. Sanctuary Wealth created a model of partnered independence for advisors on their platform. 

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