RIA items of interest: Mag Black-Scott expands beyond Beverly Hills and BAM adds an advisor who contributes to The New York Times

Mag Black-Scott is expanding her Beverly Hills practice by bringing in a veteran Morgan Stanley advisor who will be giving the firm a presence in Phoenix — part of a much larger plan. See: Advisor spotlight: A trailblazer at Morgan Stanley, Mag Black-Scott has a new RIA and an ambitious plan.

Beverly Hills Wealth Management just lured 24-year industry veteran Bart Albrigo to be a senior vice president. This is the firm’s first office outside of Beverly Hills.

Black-Scott and Albrigo have known each other for 10 years. She recruited him to Morgan Stanley where they previously worked together. Albrigo is bringing over about $40 million in assets — which brings the RIA to about $170 million in assets.

“He’s a good man and the clients love him,” says Black-Scott. “He’s very easy to work with and we’re excited he’ll be in Arizona which has been a target market for us.”

West and moving East

Black-Scott is eying other locations for expansion and said a year ago that she aims to have 20 to 30 locations in half-dozen states. She’s demurred about talking about other locations but says she’s hoping to open more offices this year. The exact location for the Phoenix office hasn’t been determined yet but BHWM is are hoping to open by spring.

“We have to make any acquisition that makes sense for us,” she says. “The west is a natural progression point for us. As we grow, we want to be in major cities where there is a good opportunity. That will take us to the East Coast eventually.”

As Black-Scott’s company has been eyeing expansion into other locations, she’s been busy bolstering Beverly Hills Wealth Management’s services to clients in recent months.

The firm formed a trust company in November gaining California approval to form BHWM Private Trust in November 2011. As part of the deal, Black-Scott’s company is now an owner in National Advisors Trust Company, an Overland Park, Kan.-based RIA which is owned by more than 130 RIA firms and places one of its own trust officers into an RIA on a private label basis. NAT is chartered in 50 states and her company is one of the RIA investors. See: National Advisors Trust gets busy Northern Trust-ifying the RIA business, minus the big fees.

Trust issues

Nearly all of Black-Scott’s BHWM’s 100 clients have trusts and having a trust company can help secure that assets stay with her firm rather than winding up with a bank.

“Many of these trusts end up in the hands of banks,” she says. “The banker down the street gets rolled up and it’s owned by a banking Goliath and the client gets lost in the shuffle.” See: Michael Joyce buys a stake in National Advisors Trust after taking a pass 10 years ago.

In January, Black-Scott’s firm also launched BHWM Insurance Services, which offers clients a wide range of insurance offerings.

“We spend a lot of time building out a very robust offering that we think people want and need,” she says.

Carl Richards: I really care about
these 28 families.

BAM brings in ex-Merrill, Fido NYT-contributing principal

Carl Richards, founder of Prasada Capital Management in Park City, Utah has merged his practice of $30 million in assets with Buckingham Asset Management.

Richards, a regular contributor to the New York Times, NPR Marketplace Money and columnist with Morningstar Advisor has had his own practice and is bringing over his 28 clients who he’s worked with for more than 10 years. Richards will continue writing and will serve full time as director of investor education for Buckingham’s sister-firm BAM.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Richards says he’s pleased because he’ll still get to work closely with his clients and he feels they’ll have access to greater services Richards is also thrilled he can spend more time on investor education, which he feels very strongly about.

“I really care about these 28 families and these are longstanding relationships with people I really like,” Richards says. I’ll continue to work with them.”

Richards has been an advisor for 15 years and began his career working at Fidelity in the summer of 1995. He’s worked at Merrill Lynch and launched his own RIA in 2004.

Deep bench

As part of his role with BAM Richards will expand the company’s investor education program focusing on public speaking, additional articles for publications and videos. He is author of recently published book “The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things With Money,” aimed at helping reader identify their own personal behavior gaps. Richards uses drawing to help explain the “behavior gap.”

Adam Birenbaum: Having educators … onboard
allows us to help more investors
recognize the importance of having a
well-designed strategy for achieving their financial
goals.

Richards says he couldn’t expand his practice because he had to keep turning clients away because of the demands of his writing and public speaking requirements. “It’s a huge upgrade for my clients to have that deep bench. You’re going from a solo practice to this huge RIA firm with vast resources. Clients are thrilled.”

Richards intends to focus on the scientific approach of investment research and says he’s going to work closely with clients and prospects talking about how behaviors play such a prominent role in investment decisions.

“I really want to talk to people about what’s good investment behavior and how can we behave better,” he says.

BAM executives say they’re enthusiastic about having Richards on board. “This is truly a win-win for everyone involved,” said BAM
CEO Adam Birenbaum, in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Carl to the team and are delighted to have another outstanding educator in our midst. Having educators like Carl, Larry Swedroe and Jared Kizer onboard allows us to help more investors recognize the importance of having a well-designed strategy for achieving their financial goals.”