Carson Group Makes Largest Partnership Deal To Date

Editorial Staff

23 June 2023

Carson Group has forged an equity partnership with Northwest Capital Management, a retirement and investment advisory firm. Carson said this is its largest such deal to date.

Northwest, which has offices in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, provides wealth management services for individuals and retirement plan services for plan sponsors and their participants. It has more than $5 billion in client assets and 13 staff.

The Northwest team will continue to be led by managing director, partner and senior investment advisor, Brent Petty, and senior investment advisor, Fred Payne, Jr.

The business was founded in 1998 in Portland, Oregon as an independent and privately held investment advisory firm.

The deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, gives NWCM access to Carson’s investments platform.

"Our affiliation with Carson will allow us to expand our resources considerably, gaining a larger support staff for client service, financial planning, investment research, portfolio analysis, trading and investment monitoring," Petty said in a statement. “We will now have specialized support in technology and investment research, and we will also broaden our depth of compliance and regulatory support. By reinforcing our infrastructure with a best-in-class cybersecurity framework and strong business continuity, we can ensure needs are met without interruption.”

Working with Carson makes sense as client demands for service levels increase – part of a series of demands that are also driving M&A activity in the North American wealth sector.

Carson cited data from PricewaterhouseCoopers that showed 60 per cent of investors want their financial advisors to offer holistic advice that encompasses their entire financial picture, including budgeting, debt management, tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning.

“With more clients seeking holistic planning solutions, our partnership with NWCM is another part of the strategic puzzle that will allow us to better compete in the retirement planning space,” said Jamie Hopkins, managing partner of Wealth Solutions for Carson Group. “The team at NWCM has spent the last three decades building a tremendous business. We are excited to learn from them and continue to build on the value we can bring to the table.”

In addition to this partnership, Carson Group has built up its retirement plan offerings and its ability to offer holistic planning through recent strategic partnerships with Vestwell, BOK Financial Advisor Trust Services and Trust & Will as well as several recent strategic hires.

Carson Group, founded in 1983, manages $28.2 billion in assets. Its advisory network has more than 140 partner offices.