Mariner Wealth Advisors has seen its first transition from its impartial advisor platform to a full Mariner agency, a transfer CEO and President Marty Bicknell sees as Mariner’s succession capabilities in motion.
Ocean Heights Advisors, a Newport Seashore, Calif.-based registered funding advisor, joined mega-RIA Mariner’s impartial advisor channel in 2022. In April, the $730 million Ocean Heights will transition into being a full Mariner agency, giving up independence to realize nearer entry to Mariner’s scale and sources.
“The concept [of Mariner Independent] has all the time been across the idea of corporations that might not be utterly able to promote the enterprise to get a chance to make the most of the sources and the methods that we’ve constructed, and finally, there is likely to be a chance to maneuver over to the opposite aspect,” Bicknell mentioned.
Ocean Heights’ group, together with founders Kevin O’Grady and Nella Webster, will probably be a part of the transfer. Ocean Heights companions Kevin Barlow, Danielle Bronner and Kara Devar will change into shareholders in Mariner, and Barlow will lead Mariner’s Newport Seashore locale.
Mariner arrange its impartial advisor channel in 2020 via a partnership with Dynasty Monetary Companions, through which advisors had been 1099 contractors. In 2021, Mariner took on the impartial setup and ended the connection with Dynasty.
Bicknell mentioned the impartial channel has since grown to 270 corporations representing $34 billion in belongings, with extra additions in 2025.
When growing this system, Mariner thought bringing over independents from the channel can be a chance however wasn’t certain to what extent, Bicknell mentioned. The core cause for beginning the W-2 aspect of the enterprise was to leverage Mariner’s scale in advertising, human sources and compliance divisions, in addition to providers reminiscent of tax planning, trusts and estates, and funding banking for carefully held companies.
“All of these issues exist to raise the advisor worth proposition,” Bicknell mentioned. “Permitting that providing to be out there for impartial advisors creates a income stream that turns value facilities into revenue facilities and permits us to have a chance to reinvest again into them and develop them much more.”
By the channel, Mariner assists advisors with funding portfolios and supplies billing, compliance, know-how, advertising help and insurance coverage.
Consultancy Cerulli Associates not too long ago forecasted that the impartial RIA channel will proceed to have the strongest headcount development amongst advisor channels. However competitors within the house can be ramping up, with nationwide dealer/sellers competing for expertise and increasing their providers.
Throughout its time in Mariner’s community, Ocean Heights expanded its shopper providers and almost doubled its belongings below advisement.
“After three years of efficiently working collectively, totally integrating with Mariner is a pure evolution and can enable our group to supply even better worth to our purchasers whereas devoting extra time to the private relationships which have all the time been our hallmark,” mentioned Barlow, managing associate of Ocean Heights Advisors, in an announcement.
Bicknell anticipates some of these strikes will probably be within the minority, or about 10% to fifteen% of its impartial channel corporations. However he and the group will proceed to make the case for the transition, now utilizing Ocean Heights as a real-world instance.
To offer actually “holistic” monetary providers, “the expertise must be in-house,” Bicknell mentioned. “Priorities must be the identical so that you’re not being pulled in a number of instructions. Tradition must be the identical so you might be delivering as a group collectively. … The flexibility and need to re-invest for development can be necessary. Mariner’s urge for food for that’s considerably completely different than a typical RIA, particularly RIAs within the plus or minus $1 billion class.”
Mariner and its associates advise on over $560 billion in belongings, together with these of Cardinal Funding Advisors, the institutional funding consulting agency with $292 billion in AUA that Mariner introduced it was buying in January. That deal is predicted to shut on the finish of March.
