Steward Partners, an employee-owned hybrid partnership of independent advisory firms, has added Gainesville, Georgia-based Moore’s Wealth Management to its platform along with over 115 other registered investment advisors.
Moore’s Wealth is a father-and-sons team that, under founder Scott Moore, has grown to $700 million in client assets. Sons Chris and Brian Moore, who are partners, will make the transition along with partner Mark Peterson, financial advisor Isaac Pitt, and four support staff.
Scott Moore founded the firm in 2009 after working for a division of Citigroup for almost 20 years, then built it up with a focus on tax-efficient planning, wealth preservation and personalized wealth services. Now, it will be Moore’s Wealth Management at Steward and is on the RIA’s Form ADV.
“Moore is a perfect fit as a multi-generational family that has built a great reputation in their community of Gainesville and all over Georgia,” said Scott Danner, Steward’s EVP and head of its legacy M&A division. “They were looking for strategic partnership, continuity for both their clients, as well as the continuity for their practice and the next generation within their business, and we were able to facilitate that as a partner for them.”
Founder Moore said he and his team started considering a sale to a larger RIA a few years ago to help support growth and position it for the future. However, they eventually gave up as the partnerships were never the right match. Then, in 2024, a member of their extended family connected with an M&A broker in the RIA space, who brought Moore’s Wealth a list of suitors to consider.
Moore said Steward Partners stood out partly due to its availability and focus on responding to them.
“When we would ask a question of Steward, we would either get an answer on that Zoom call or within a few hours of that day,” Moore said, which wasn’t the case for other potential acquirers. “They probably would have to have a meeting to figure out when they were going to have a meeting, and then they probably would have three more meetings to come up with the answer.”
One question Steward Partners addressed in the acquisition process was whether Moore Wealth could continue with Fidelity Investments as its custodian. Steward, which hadn’t been offering Fidelity before the deal, has now brought them on as a custodial option along with Schwab, Pershing, and Raymond James.
That type of responsiveness made a difference for Moore and his team. As did the possibility of helping it streamline processes and get more bandwidth to focus on clients, said Chris Moore.
“We’re very excited with the new processes that are available to our staff,” Moore said. “We feel like this is an enhancement for them …. and it will allow us to do what we do best—just put me in front of people. That’s all I need.”
Steward, which launched in 2013, got a minority investment stake from The Cynosure Group in 2019 and another from The Pritzker Organization in 2021.
M&A head Danner said the firm’s Legacy Division was built mainly on wirehouse breakaways. However, it has recently been growing with larger RIAs such as Moore’s Wealth.
“The RIAs that are $5 million revenue and above are doing so much of the busy work and dealing with so many challenges that are taking them away from what they love doing,” Danner said.
Scott Moore also noted an aspect he said often goes undiscussed by RIAs who have made a sale or are pursuing one: improving the quality of life for him, his family, and his employees.
“This opportunity with Steward has given us an opportunity to have a quality of life,” he said. “Because if you’re going to keep growing without the resources of a company like Steward, you’re not going to have much of that. And I think that’s really important.”
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