HighTower and RDM and the benefits of scale
Chicago-based HighTower, a financial advisory company, said recently RDM Financial Group Inc., a Westport-based investment adviser with $700 million under management, will merge.
Ron Weiner is founder, president and CEO of RDM Financial Group and managing partner at HighTower Advisors. He has more than 30 years experience in the investment industry and has been named as a Barron”™s Top 100 Independent Advisor seven separate years. The firm has offices in Westport, Boca Raton, Fla., and New York City.
“Ron Weiner”™s contributions to the industry and passionate advocacy for his clients are truly remarkable,” said HighTower founder and CEO Elliot Weissbluth. “When a highly distinguished independent adviser who has run his own firm for many years decides to become a partner with us, it is a powerful validation of our platform, our brand and our financial strength.”
The FCBJ asked Weiner to examine the impetus for the merge. His response came under the heading: “RDM Financial adds scale, services, advanced technology with HighTower merger.”
Said Weiner: “The financial advisory business is much more than just buying stocks and bonds, it”™s very much about people and relationships. The benefits of scale and advanced technologies add significantly to an advisory firm”™s capabilities that can no longer be ignored.
“After decades of success, RDM Financial decided it was time to seek out these attributes. RDM recently announced its merger with one of the largest advisor-owned independent advisory firms in the U.S., HighTower Advisors LLC.
“RDM has always been entirely focused around client needs. But in our quest, we knew we must also be able to compete based on price, service and differentiating technological capabilities.
“RDM is not broken and I”™m certainly not retiring. The firm as a whole will not change. But these market forces led us to believe the time was right to take this step.
“Investors today are looking for state-of-the-art reporting and advanced website design. We wanted to enhance our trading and research, in addition to providing comprehensive, client-focused advice. HighTower provides all of this. Their platform will allow us to pick and choose which technologies and investment products and managers are best suited for our clients.
“Additionally, we will also be offering additional services, including investment banking referral partners, private banking and alternative investments. Given HighTower”™s scale, over $30 billion in client assets, they were able to negotiate better pricing which will add to the clients”™ bottom line and attract new assets to the business.
“RDM Financial today stands with approximately $700 million in assets under management. As we”™ve grown, we realized adding these capabilities is the best way to stay relevant in the space and provide clients a better overall value proposition.
“It takes scale to provide the amount of capital needed to build state-of-the-art technology and client data security. Most advisors do just fine when it comes to these capabilities, but taking them to the next level and continually upgrading requires additional resources beyond those typically available to midsized firms.
“I imagine other practices of our size will be seeking to add scale, additional advanced product offerings, and advanced technology. It also would not surprise me if firms respond to these competitive needs by pursuing deals similar to the RDM Financial/HighTower merger.
“Not just any firm with scale is worthy of a long-term partnership. It is essential to find a firm that shares your cultural philosophy. As fiduciaries, our focus at RDM Financial is always on the client, and HighTower is perfectly aligned with that. They were designed from conception not to have proprietary products or balance sheet risk. The company”™s operations are clearly centered on the client, not the firm, which is quite different than most advisory businesses out there.
“Many of the largest wirehouses and investment advisory firms are publicly traded and therefore responsible for delivering profits to shareholders. HighTower”™s shareholders are the advisers, themselves. This model calls for the benefit of both the adviser and HighTower to be directly linked to client performance. This uniquely puts everyone on the same page with the ultimate beneficiary being the client.
“There are 15 staff and management personnel at RDM. My responsibility as CEO is to plan for the firm”™s long-term future. RDM Financial reached the point where I was spending too much time being a CEO and not enough time doing what love ”” being with clients.
“Our partnership with HighTower will allow us to continue to grow and function at a higher level because much of the day-to-day processes are either automated or assembled in a more functional platform. These heightened efficiencies will allow us to be much more client focused, which will ultimately benefit the client.
“Simply put, this merger makes great sense for RDM and our clients. And I believe similar firms of our size and philosophy will follow suit.”