Cetera Financial Snags $490M Team from Commonwealth

Cetera Financial Group is continuing to pluck advisory teams from Commonwealth Financial Network, following its takeover from LPL Financial. 

Harleysville, PA-based Tupelo Wealth Partners is led by financial advisors Les Benzak, John Gallagher, and Lynn Craig and oversees about $490 million in assets under administration. 

Tupelo Wealth Partners provides “comprehensive” financial planning and wealth management, retirement planning, saving, tax, and legacy planning. 

The team also includes advisor Sage Bleakney and advisor assistants Susan Sorensen and Maggie Sorensen, according to Cetera. 

Benzak stated that he and his team expected to finish their careers at Commonwealth but began looking for a new firm after LPL acquired Commonwealth last March. 

In the end, Tupelo Wealth Partners chose to affiliate with Cetera’s multi-affiliation model, Summit Financial Network. 

“All the companies we talked with were solid options. The difference at Summit was in the details and the people,” Benzak said. “The specialized service within Summitreally appealed to us. And if you can’t do right by your clients, everything else is noise.” 

Recently, Cetera Financial also added Tallahassee, Florida-based 7G Wealth Management, a six-person team that oversees about $240 million in assets under advisement, marking yet another team to join from Commonwealth. 

Since LPL acquired Commonwealth, Cetera has nabbed approximately 29 Commonwealth advisors representing over $2.6 billion in combined total assets, according to public registration records. 

Cetera Financial Group manages $640 billion in assets under administration and $294 billion in assets under management, as of March 31, the firm said.

Pictured: Tupelo Wealth Partners