SEIA Launches Tax Division, Expands Family Office
Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, a $32.6 billion hybrid registered investment advisor based in Los Angeles, has launched a new division focused on delivering integrated tax-planning capabilities to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. The firm has hired Tim Gacsy, who previously led tax and cost basis initiatives at LPL Financial, to lead SEIA Tax Services.
In the new role as director of tax services, Gacsy will oversee the development of the firm’s tax consulting, planning and tax preparation services. Most recently, Gacsy was an in-house CPA for Elite Resource Team, a consulting firm for advisors and accountants.
The new division will combine SEIA’s planning methodology with tech-enabled tax analysis to help advisors identify planning opportunities.
“Income tax provides one of the clearest windows into a client’s overall financial picture,” Gacsy said in a statement. “By bringing tax conversations to the forefront, we can identify planning opportunities earlier, collaborate more effectively across disciplines and help clients make decisions with a clearer understanding of their long-term financial impact.”
The move into tax services mimics what many other large RIAs have done in recent years, through deals and partnerships.
Separately, SEIA has also expanded its family office services through a partnership with Baker Tilly Family Office. This will allow the firm to provide specialized support with multigenerational wealth, business ownership, liquidity events and other complex situations. That will include family governance services, trust and fiduciary accounting and family office advisory services.
“The biggest financial decisions our clients face rarely fit neatly into one silo,” said Brad Repinsky, head of estate, tax and financial planning at SEIA. “Whether someone is preparing to sell a business, planning for the next generation or navigating a significant change in wealth, those decisions affect every part of their financial life. Expanding our tax and family office capabilities allows us to bring the right knowledge and resources together at the right time, so clients receive advice that’s coordinated around their goals, not around individual specialties.”
The RIA also announced new branding and a redesigned website.
SEIA currently has 33 offices and is using a “three-pronged” approach to growth, which includes “advisor recruitment and development, acquiring culturally aligned firms, and enabling internal expansion through its hub-and-spoke model.” SEIA has a 1099 affiliation model alongside its W-2 employee model and has recently been bringing advisors from its 1099 model into the employee fold.
It has also been hiring leadership quickly to oversee its advancement. Last April, it brought on Matt Matrisian from AssetMark as president, followed by naming finance and accounting specialist Stephen Masterson as CFO and, finally, financial planning lead Repinsky from Fidelity Investments as director of estate, tax and financial planning.
