About a year ago, Wealthcare, an integrated tech platform and hybrid registered investment advisory firm in West Chester, Pa., closed on its sale to Sammons Financial Group, an insurance holding company building out a wealth vertical. Wealthcare believed the new ownership would contribute to continued growth in its multiple affiliation models.
A year later, Wealthcare CEO and President Matt Regan says the deal has paid off, with the RIA adding 26 advisors across various affiliation models, totaling more than $1.8 billion in assets under management. That includes the acquisitions of Crowley Wealth Management, an RIA with $417 million in AUM, in December, and Doug Koopman’s practice in Dubuque, Iowa.
In 2026, Wealthcare has purchased or received letters of intent for firms representing about $900 million in assets.
Regan attributes that success in part to the fact that, with Sammons help, they’re talking to larger practices. The firm is also differentiated out there due to Sammons being a permanent capital provider.
“The financial support and the fact that that financial support represents permanent capital is absolute game changer for us, both in our 1099 recruiting and in our efforts to buy firms because when you’re telling an advisor that this is the last home they’ll have, that this capital is permanent and nothing’s going to happen, there’s going to be no private equity flip when the shot clock goes off is a real differentiator in the market and we think that that’s going to be critical to our success moving forward.”
Wealthcare’s professionals are now shareholders of Sammons through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Wealthcare has also started working with NorthRock Partners, another wealth management firm backed by Sammons, to coordinate their M&A activities. The two firms have different models; NorthRock has a wholly-integrated W2 approach, in which advisors adopt the NorthRock brand. It’s also more focused on high- and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Wealthcare has a more open architecture approach, and firms can maintain their brand. So if a firm is a better fit for NorthRock, Wealthcare will refer them over and vice versa.
Regan said his firm is also working with Beacon Capital Management, an RIA and turnkey asset management platform that’s also part of Sammons Wealth Management, to integrate some of Beacon’s investment strategies into the Wealthcare platform. Beacon runs a series of tactical, risk on/risk off strategies through ETFs, a mutual fund and model portfolios.
“Our wealth management approach is much more holistic, kind of a universal approach to asset allocation across various asset classes and diversification, but to the extent that we can add tactical or risk-managed products to the mix, we’re always open to that,” Regan said.
Michael Mock, president of Sammons Wealth Management Group, said there’s an opportunity for Wealthcare to collaborate with Midland National, an insurance company owned by Sammons. There are a lot of Midland National agents who are looking to get into the wealth management space, and Wealthcare can provide that platform for them to do so.
Regan said they are working on a program to allow Midland agents to plug into the platform, and that will likely be rolled out in the fourth quarter of this year or early next year.
“One of the things to note is that this is not a distribution play to sell more Midland, North American life annuities through the wealth management space,” Regan said. “Sammons’ strategic decision to enter wealth management had nothing to do with product distribution and everything to do with creating a differentiated revenue stream than the annuity revenue stream.”
