Why We Are Moving to LPL Financial, and What Is Not Changing
Some of you have already heard this news from the industry press. Some of you are reading it here first. Either way, you should hear it from us, in plain language, before you hear it anywhere else.
In March of 2025 we learned that Commonwealth Financial Network, the broker-dealer that has stood behind our firm since 2015, had agreed to be acquired by LPL Financial. That transaction has since closed. As a result, the accounts we manage for you will move from the Commonwealth platform to the LPL platform in November of 2026.
Some of you will notice something in that sentence. We were at LPL once before, and we chose to leave in 2015 because we believed Commonwealth was then the better home for our clients. So the fair question is whether we are simply being carried back somewhere we once walked away from.
We are not, and we want to tell you exactly why.
We spent a year on this decision
From the announcement in March of 2025 through the end of October, we evaluated essentially every independent broker-dealer we believed could be a good fit for the way we serve you. Cort Winsett, our Chief Investment Officer, devoted the better part of his year to that review. We examined technology, service models, investment platforms, operational capacity, cost, and the question that mattered most to us, which was what a move would actually cost you in disruption.
We were not short of options. Firms in this business compete for services like ours, and we had real alternatives available to us. That is the point worth making here. Staying inside the Commonwealth and LPL organization was a decision we reached, not a default we accepted.
What we found is that LPL is not the firm we left in 2015. It has grown into the largest independent broker-dealer in the country, and it has invested heavily in the areas where our team spends most of its time. LPL has also said that Commonwealth will continue to operate as a distinct organization within LPL, which means the service group our advisors work with every day is expected to remain in place. We intend to hold them to that.
What is not changing
Your relationship is with Pickler Wealth Advisors. It always has been. Nothing about this transition changes who advises you, who builds your plan, or who answers the phone when you call.
Your advisor is your advisor. No one is leaving as a result of this conversion. We continue to grow and to add staff.
Your financial plan, your goals, and the strategy behind your portfolio remain ours to manage.
Our offices, our phone number, and our people are unchanged.
The standard we hold ourselves to in advising you is unchanged.
Changing the firm that operates behind the scenes is not the same as changing financial advisors. Those two things get confused constantly in our industry, and we want to be clear about the difference.
Pickler Wealth Advisors and LPL: who does what
Pickler Wealth Advisors | LPL Financial |
Knows your family, your goals, and your plan | Holds your accounts as custodian |
Builds and manages your investment strategy | Serves as broker-dealer and executes trades |
Advises you on retirement income, taxes, and estate matters | Produces your statements, tax forms, and online portal |
Is who you call | Provides the technology and operations we use to serve you |
The simplest version is this. We advise. They hold and process.
What is changing
You will see the LPL name in places where you are used to seeing Commonwealth. Your online account access will move to a new system, and we will walk you through it well before you are expected to use it.
The menu of available investments will also shift somewhat, as it does any time a platform changes. Our conclusion, after a great deal of study, is that the added flexibility we gain in how we construct portfolios more than offsets any individual product that does not carry over. Cort and our investment committee will take that up in detail in a later article in this series.
We also expect real improvement in the routine work that takes longer today than it should, things like opening an account or linking a bank. That is unglamorous, and it is also where clients feel friction most.
What we need from you today
Nothing.
Between now and the conversion we will publish one article each week answering a single question about this transition, and we will tell you clearly and in advance any time something needs your attention. If you would rather not wait for the article, call us.
We have spent twenty-one years earning the right to advise your family. We intend to handle this the way we handle everything else, which is carefully, transparently, and with your interests ahead of our own
