RIA Edge Podcast: Building Out the ‘Anti-Aggregator’ RIA, with David Hefty

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong interviews David Hefty, founder and CEO of $3.4 billion AUM Credent Wealth Management. Hefty narrowly escaped pursuing a career trading commodities on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, and instead started an independent wealth management firm shortly after college. But it wasn’t until the past few years that he and his team implemented an aggressive growth strategy, doing over a dozen deals in short order and uniquely being fueled by a relationship with a private credit firm (keeping the undiluted equity in the hands of the advisors). Hefty and his team put the client experience at the forefront of all decisions, and for them, that means full assimilation of onboarded teams into the Credent brand and the workflows. 

Top takeaways from this episode include:

• Credent’s assimilation strategy when it comes to M&A and what it means to be an “anti-aggregator.”
• Why most acquisitive RIAs are building out an “advisor-centric” model of a wealth management firm, and why that’s not always good for the client. 
• What motivated the decision to access private credit instead of equity funding to fuel Credent’s growth strategy, and the firm’s relationship with lending shop Crestline Investors.
• The detailed onboarding process that every one of Credent’s 13 recent acquisitions underwent when they joined the firm. 
• With a dozen more deals in various stages of pursuit, Hefty reveals his future ambitions for the firm and what it will take to become truly “unbuyable” by all but a few national firms. 

Resources:

• RIA Edge Podcast

Connect With David Armstrong:

• WealthManagement.com
• LinkedIn: WealthManagment.com
• LinkedIn: David Armstrong
• Twitter: David Armstrong
• LinkedIn: Informa

Connect With David Hefty:

• Credent Wealth Management
• LinkedIn: Credent Wealth Management
• LinkedIn: David Hefty

About Our Guest:

There are few people more passionate about changing financial lives than David Hefty. As Chief Executive Officer, his vision and leadership have built Credent into a firm dedicated to doing what’s best for hardworking Americans, all with the highest standards of transparency.

Believing all Americans should have access to high-quality, independent advice, David is committed to fee-only financial partnerships. He co-founded Hefty Wealth Partners in 2000 and joined Oak Point Financial Group in 2018 to form Credent Wealth Management.

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