The AmeriFlex Group, a Las Vegas-based hybrid RIA and super office of supervisory jurisdiction of Osaic, has joined Cambridge Investment Research, moving its 129 advisors and approximately $11.87 billion in client assets onto the Cambridge platform.
AmeriFlex was founded in July 2019 by Thomas Goodson, and the firm was originally affiliated with SagePoint Financial. That broker/dealer has since been consolidated into Osaic. Goodson said Cambridge was one of the last remaining independently-owned broker/dealers.
“There’s a battle that’s brewing and being fought every day between the true independents, like Cambridge, and the larger broker/dealers that are consolidating, are buying other broker/dealers and just becoming bigger and bigger,” he said. “Our philosophy was to stay independent, and we felt that there was more support from Cambridge.”
AmeriFlex has grown significantly since its founding, under three affiliation models. Last year, the firm added 53 advisors and more than $3.4 billion in client assets. Its assets under administration grew 35% year-over-year.
The partnership with Cambridge will allow AmeriFlex to expand its affiliation models, adding a W-2 model for advisors who want to sell and stay, and a pure RIA-only option.
AmeriFlex’s existing affiliation models include SuccessionFlex, a succession planning program launched in 2021 for advisors within five years of retirement. Through SuccessionFlex, advisors sign a succession and continuity agreement with AmeriFlex, with the option to sell up to 49% of their current revenue stream under an agreement to sell the remainder to AmeriFlex at a future date.
Advisors can also affiliate through a standard model under which they retain branding, join AmeriFlex’s ADV and affiliate with Cambridge for brokerage services.
Dubbed The AmeriFlex Group X, the third option was aimed at partnering with smaller OSJs—generally between five and 20 advisors—that are seeking scale, resources, cash or all three.
“As these smaller OSJs want to break away from broker/dealers and maintain their independence, the broker/dealers can put up many roadblocks and we’ve become specialists in helping groups break away with the least amount of damage,” Goodson said.
The big broker/dealers have “become almost super-aggregators, and they’re sucking up the likes of Lincoln, Atria, and, most recently, Commonwealth, and we’re going to get to a point when we look around, and there’s going to be nobody left,” Goodson said. ”As these groups get bigger, a good portion of their profit has to be from a renewable source, a durable source, and that’s on platform assets.”
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