SII Investments firm makes indie move after LPL deal

The fallout from LPL Financial's acquisition of National Planning Holdings' assets now includes an indie RIA defection.

Luken Investment Analytics, a quantitative research and third-party asset management firm with about $500 million in assets under administration, will operate as an independent RIA, founder Greg Luken announced last week. The Franklin, Tennessee-based TPAM has about 50 advisor clients, with more on other firms’ platforms.

As the recent transaction shuffles advisors between firms and outsourced portfolio solutions emerge as the norm, the ex-SII Investments practice took a different path. The firm divested its brokerage business to focus on its TPAM services.

LPL’s Aug. 15 purchase of the assets of SII Investments and three other independent broker-dealers owned by National Planning Holdings prompted Luken to go indie, he says. At least 270 advisors with $11.1 billion in client assets have bolted NPH firms before the transition of the four IBDs’ assets to LPL.

Luken, a 26-year financial services veteran, appears to be the first advisor exiting NPH for an indie RIA after the deal. His diversification-focused firm also bucks the trend of outsourced asset management, which has become even more prevalent under firms’ fiduciary rule compliance policies.

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Most advisors who approach Luken’s team spend 10 hours or more per month on portfolio rebalancing and allocation, he says. The company’s strives to cut the time down to eight hours per year, or less.

“There is a direct correlation between the amount of time advisors spend interacting with their clients and their gross and direct income,” says Luken.

He officially left SII on Nov. 1, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. A spokeswoman for NPH and a spokesman for LPL both declined to comment on Luken’s departure. LPL CEO Dan Arnold said last week that LPL plans to move about 70% of NPH’s business to its platforms in the first half of the transition.

The Nashville-area practice had been with SII for 14 years, and Luken started the asset-management RIA four years ago. Luken’s company divested from roughly $60 million in brokerage assets in a transaction with fellow ex-SII advisor Matthew Sawyer, who now works for Securities America.

Luken Investment Analytics uses a risk management strategy it calls “smart diversification,” according to its website. The RIA opted for TD Ameritrade as its custodian.

“Our industry-leading technology, ongoing business-consulting support and exceptional client service can help Luken grow and achieve its business goals,” TD Ameritrade Institutional spokesman Joe Giannone said in an emailed statement.