AlphaCore Wealth Advisory, a La Jolla, Calif.-based registered investment advisor focused on alternative investments, has significantly bolstered its client assets and seeded a family office division, according to a Tuesday announcement.
AlphaCore, which had more than $10 billion in assets under management before the deal, has acquired Streamline Family Office to form AlphaCore Streamline, a dedicated family office affiliate that will expand the firm’s capabilities for ultra-high-net-worth families.
The acquisition brings Streamline’s 15-person team to AlphaCore’s platform, with the Dover, Mass.-based firm representing nearly $5 billion in collective assets, according ot the firms. Streamline founder and CEO Katie Sullivan will continue to lead the team.
“This is a natural evolution of our services,” said AlphaCore CEO Dick Pfister. “We needed to be able to offer this type of high-touch service that Katie has created over the past 25 years. We have a growing group of clients who have significant net worth and need much more than what a typical wealth advisor can offer.”
Pfister said with AlphaCore Streamline, AlphaCore advisors can refer clients for services such as bill pay, balance sheet management or the creation of a family foundation.
The division, which will offer non-advisory family office services, excluding portfolio management or investment advice, will continue to work with other wealth management firms as Sullivan and team have done to build the practice.
“I have a view that if a family has a value of $100 million, that if that were a company, there would be a department tracking where every penny resides,” she said. “We from day one have tracked all of those moving parts in a family, as when the wealth grows, the complexity grows … we build the infrastructure and integrity for the whole family.”
AlphaCore noted in the announcement that the division will build on its existing family office foundation, led by Tara Dekel, director of AlphaCore Family Office, and follow the firm’s expansion into tax preparation and planning last year.
Sullivan, meanwhile, will become a partner in AlphaCore, similar to when other firms join, Pfister said.
“We could have sought to hire people for the division, which would have taken years,” Pfister said. “We were fortunate to find a team that has built up and spent decades doing this work and has developed the depth of knowledge and relationships that come from that experience.”
Pfister added that he sees personalized family office services and relationships as a key area for wealth management that cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
Sullivan said when family wealth reaches a certain size, complexity can create risk.
“Risk in not knowing how things are connected and being able to answer questions,” she said. “Families recognize that this is too much for me to handle, with someone in the family holding all the information, and a G2 or maybe a spouse is left in the dark. We work with everyone collaboratively.”
The move is also part of a trend among RIAs of all sizes adding family office divisions to serve higher-net-worth clients. Wealthspire, Summit Wealth Group, and Farther are just some of the firms that have announced family office divisions this year.
Last year, AlphaCore acquired SPC Financial, which included a six-person CPA staff that offered tax and estate planning services. The RIA is backed by Constellation Wealth Capital, which took a minority stake in December 2023 as the fund manager’s first investment.