Insights

Damian Lo Basso, managing partner and CFO at $2.6bn RIA Journey Strategic Wealth, examines the changing climate for employee compensation.

Damian Lo Basso, the former founder and CEO of Compass CFO Solutions, has joined Journey Strategic Wealth, the new registered investment advisor/partnership launched earlier this year, as managing partner. Lo Basso joins three other managing partners at the firm, which include former Dynasty Financial Partners executives Michael Brown and Brian Flynn, as well as practice management coach Penny Phillips, founder of Thrivos Consulting. As of the end of the first quarter, Lo Basso sold his stake in Compass CFO Solutions, an outsourced accounting, bookkeeping and strategy firm that services financial advisors exclusively, to his partner Matt Hayon.

Summit, N.J., May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Journey Strategic Wealth (“Journey”), a registered investment advisor and practice management partner, today announced the addition of Damian Lo Basso as managing partner. In this role, Lo Basso will head finance, operations, and mergers and acquisitions for Journey as the firm continues to expand its industry-disruptive approach to the traditional RIA aggregator model. In addition, Mark Lebida, CFA® will serve as director of investments, Erin Moeller as chief of staff, and Caitlin West, CFP® as director of operations. Lo Basso is a sought-after industry expert for his work in helping execute more than 50 M&A transactions with firms ranging in size from $50M to $5B in assets under management while advising both buyers and sellers. With a background in investment banking, Lo Basso began his career at Deutsche Bank’s Structured Finance division and eventually served as vice president for Dynasty Financial Partners. In 2017, he left Dynasty and launched Compass CFO Solutions, one of the only fully outsourced accounting, bookkeeping, and strategy firms that services the RIA industry exclusively. At the time of Lo Basso’s departure, Compass was managing the finances for over 75 RIA's. Compass is currently fully owned and managed by co-founder Matt Hayon. “Damian has forged his own path in this industry, always focusing on how to improve the experience for advisors and their clients,” said Penny Phillips, president and co-founder of Journey. “All of the partners here at Journey have known Damian for quite some time; what we respect so much about him is not just his sheer knowledge and competency in finance, accounting and operations – he’s also one of the most ethical and compassionate people we all know.” Lo Basso is now one of four managing partners, including longtime advisor executives Michael Brown and Brian Flynn, along with Phillips, who founded practice management firm Thrivos Consulting. “I really believe that Journey is a first-mover when it comes to the modern advisor,” said Lo Basso. “We’ve built a solution where advisors can focus on listening, responding, and anticipating their clients’ needs, rather than getting bogged down in operations. I’m excited to bring my expertise to this team and our advisors – we’ve got a lot in store for this industry.” As director of investments, Lebida brings over 16 years of investment management experience to the Journey team, where he oversees the firm’s Investment Committee, asset allocation, and manager selection processes. Prior to joining Journey, he was the Chief Investment Officer of a multi-family office where he headed the firm's Investment Committee, managed multiple Special Purpose Vehicles, and was tasked with providing market commentary and client communications.

Damian Lo Basso is moving on from the outsourced CFO services firm he founded to join an upstart RIA. Lo Basso (pictured), formerly the chief executive of Compass CFO Solutions, has joined Journey Strategic Wealth, a Summit, N.J.-based firm with roughly $2.7bn in client assets under management.

An RIA aggregator that launched into the crowded sector earlier this year has made its first M&A deal and opened its first location on the West Coast. Financial advisor Kristin Bartlow joined Journey Strategic Wealth after nearly a dozen years with Northwestern Mutual, where she had grown the ensemble practice to a team of four managing $195 million in client assets, Bartlow said in an interview. Journey announced the new outpost of the RIA on April 13, four months after advisor coach Penny Phillips and planners Michael Brown and Brian Flynn launched the firm. The parties didn’t disclose terms of the deal. Journey aims to stand out from the field of wealth managers serving RIAs with a strong foundation in practice management and a focus on “solo-preneur” practices with between $100 million and $1 billion in client assets, according to Phillips. The firm's newest advisor picked Journey out of nearly 20 firms in a due diligence process beginning almost two years ago.

summit, New Jersey-based Journey Strategic Wealth has expanded with the opening of a new San Francisco office that is home to the first advisor team under the new RIA partnership business model that Journey launched in January, it said Tuesday. The San Francisco advisor team is led by Kristin Bartlow, previously of Bartlow Wealth Management, a Northwestern Mutual (NWM) firm. Bartlow was registered with NWM since 2010, according to her report on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck website.

Journey Strategic Wealth, the new registered investment advisor/partnership launched earlier this year, has recruited its first tuck-in, adding financial advisor Kristin Bartlow and her team, who bring $180 million in client assets, from Northwestern Mutual. Journey was founded in January by financial advisors and former Dynasty Financial Partners executives Michael Brown and Brian Flynn, along with practice management coach Penny Phillips, founder of Thrivos Consulting. The addition of Bartlow’s team brings its assets under management to about $2.7 billion.

Summit, N.J., April 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Journey Strategic Wealth (“Journey”), a registered investment advisor and practice management partner, today announced the launch of their San Francisco office led by award-winning advisor Kristin Bartlow, CFP®, CLU®, RICP, ChFC®, WMCP®, previously of Bartlow Wealth Management, a Northwestern Mutual firm. The team brings $180M in assets under management to Journey. Bartlow’s team includes Brett Agnew, CFP®, Kevin D. Rinow, CFP®, CLU®, RICP®, ChFC®, and Adrienne Braccia Conrad. They are the first advisors to join Journey’s practice management-centric RIA model and will primarily serve institutional and other pre-retirement clients, including high-net-worth technology executives and their families. Bartlow has been recognized by Forbes as a “Top Women Wealth Advisor of 2020” and by Working Mother & Shook Research as a “2020 Top Wealth Advisor Moms” recipient.

Financial advisors and former Dynasty Financial Partners executives Michael Brown and Brian Flynn have left Magnus Financial Group, a New York registered investment advisor backed by Merchant, to launch Journey Strategic Wealth, an RIA/partnership, with practice management coach Penny Phillips, founder of Thrivos Consulting. The firm, based in Summit, N.J., will start with just over $2 billion in assets. It is structured as a hybrid RIA, with Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments as the broker/dealer, but the model is a sort of spin on the aggregator approach. They are looking to tuck in advisor teams from all over the country, and will provide more services to advisors than the typical RIA, doubling down on practice management consulting. Journey will add other coaches shortly with different types of practice management expertise. Phillips’ specialty is human capital management.