It's a reunion at Steward Partners.
The indepedent firm founded last year by former Morgan Stanley branch managers has recruited another former Morgan Stanley advisor team that went independent in 2012.
The three member team, comprised of Travis Tucker, Donald Brusca and Stacy Bazylinski, has left RPG Family Wealth Advisory where they managed about $120 million in assets and generated $1.3 million in annual revenue. The trio has reunited with Steward President Jim Gold who previously served as their branch manager in Danvers, Mass.
"We went through the '08 situation together," says Brusca, who notes that he and Gold have been friends since 1999. "Jim is a great asset. As a sounding board I couldn't ask for a better person."
Tucker adds, "It's a relationship business. There's a lot of synergy between us."
Gold hired Bazylinski when the two worked at Smith Barney.
Brusca says the trio went independent because they wanted a more close knit office, less bureaucracy and quicker, more direct access to managers.
"When I joined Smith barney back in 1999 it was a smaller firm. I have found that smaller firms were more flexible, and they gave more resources. As they got larger, they changed," he says. "Here we're treated as Don needs this and Travis needs that, and we're going to get that and make that happen."
Gold observed similar changes from his position as a branch manager.
"When I started out I had 50 advisors I was responsible. By the time I left Morgan, I had closer to 200," explains Gold. "It's like trying to manage your high school class. It's a little unwieldy."
Steward Partners has averaged $100 million per month in recruited assets since its launch eight months ago, according to the firm. Gold attributes the recruiting success so far this year to increasing dissatisfaction among wirehouse advisors.
Steward Partners has offices in Andover, Mass., Portsmouth, N.H. and Washington D.C.
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