Creative Planning, an Overland Park, Kan.-based registered investment advisor with about $710 billion in assets under management and advisement, has completed a more traditional U.S. wealth acquisition in a year when it has penned add-ons in insurance, institutional consulting and investment, and U.K.-based wealth managers.
On Wednesday, the RIA announced it was bringing on Rockbridge Investment Management, a fee-only RIA based in Syracuse, N.Y., managing about $2.2 billion in client assets. The deal brings 23 employees to Creative Planning and capabilities in financial planning, investment management, estate planning, insurance and business succession planning.
The firm is employee-owned, with CEO Patrick Rohe and Managing Partner David Carroll holding the largest stakes, and custodies with Charles Schwab, according to its most recent Form ADV.
Rockbridge’s roots date back to 1991, when Craig Buckhout and Bob Ryan launched an advisory firm focused on corporations and institutions. In 2009, Rohe, a Wells Fargo advisor with a little over one year of experience, joined to focus on small businesses, individuals and families, according to his LinkedIn profile and the firm’s website. He was joined by Managing Partner David Carroll in 2014 and was named CEO of Rockbridge in 2020.
Rockbridge clients will continue working with their current advisors, who can now sync with Creative Planning’s tax preparation, estate planning, legal, trust and retirement plan services, according to the announcement.
Alaris Acquisitions advised Rockbridge on the move to Creative Planning.
The acquisition comes after Creative Planning’s majority owner and CEO, Peter Mallouk, branched out beyond U.S. RIA acquisitions this year.
In September, the firm said it had agreed to acquire an institutional consulting and investment research firm overseeing $4.3 trillion in assets for public and private retirement plans, endowments, foundations and insurance companies. That deal is slated to close in January 2027.
In July, Creative Planning acquired an insurance brokerage based in Summit, Mo., specializing in commercial insurance, surety and risk management.
Those deals came after Mallouk and team made two U.K.-based acquisitions, including London-based MASECO LLP, a firm with 123 employees and over $5 billion in AUM.
Despite Creative Planning’s creep toward managing $1 trillion in client assets, Mallouk told an audience at Wealth Management EDGE this summer that he has no designs on taking the RIA public.
The firm has minority private equity backing from TPG Capital and General Atlantic.