Hightower Advisors Adds $2.5B Stearns Financial Group to W-2 Advisory Channel

Hightower Advisors has added a $2.5 billion North Carolina-based wealth management firm to its W-2 advisory platform, Hightower Signature Wealth. 

Stearns Financial Group, which launched in 1991, provides financial planning, investment strategies, and risk management to high-net-worth clients across Greensboro and Chapel Hill. 

Stearns Financial Group has been an affiliate of Hightower since 2020, and since joining Signature Wealth, the firm has boosted the unit’s assets to about $40 billion with over 160 advisors, Hightower stated. 

“By streamlining our day-to-day operations, our team can work even more efficiently and spend more time focused on clients,” John Thomas, managing partner and senior wealth advisor at SFG, said. 

Hightower Signature Wealth launched last October and is designed to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, and leverage the firm’s growing scale. 

In July, Hightower added three wealth management firms with over $5 billion in combined total client assets to Hightower Signature Wealth. The three practices are Chicago-based Private Vista, Valparaiso, IN-based Hightower Great Lakes, and Half Moon Bay, CA-based The McGuirk & De Nevi Group.  

The practices boosted Hightower’s presence to six locations, bringing over 40 team members to Hightower Signature. 

Chicago-based Hightower Advisors and its affiliates oversee about $352 billion in total assets, with over 652 advisors across 33 states and the District of Columbia.