Ex-Commonwealth FA with $888M in AUM Hops to Merit Financial Advisors

Merit Financial Advisors has added a financial advisor from Commonwealth Financial Network, where they managed $888 million in assets under management, and expands the firm’s footprint in the greater Chicago market. 

Advisor Tim Brennan and his team spent nearly 27 years with the Commonwealth’s affiliated firm Pinnacle Financial Group, which he co-founded, according to registration records. 

Following Brennan’s transition to Merit, Pinnacle Financial Group will remain led by the firm’s co-founder Jim Santos. 

Brennan’s team, which is based in Deerfield, Illinois, provides wealth management services to high-net-worth clients, including business owners and families across 1,000 households. 

Alongside the acquisition, Brennan has joined a practice based in Wisconsin, which oversees $57 million in total client assets and maintains a presence in the Fond du Lac/Oshkosh region, which he has managed for over 15 years. 

The firm marks Merit’s 62nd acquisition overall and its 11th transaction for the year, Merit stated. 

The acquisition builds on Merit’s presence in Illinois, after the firm had established an office in December through its acquisition of Chicago-based Blueprint Wealth Advisors, managing $1.2 billion in assets under management. 

“After 37 years in this business, I still love what I do and I still want to grow,” Brennan said. “What attracted me to Merit was the opportunity to be part of a firm that is building something and continuing to evolve. It reminds me of what it felt like earlier in my career to be part of a growing organization.” 

Financial terms of the transaction, which closed on September 10, were not disclosed. 

Last month, Merit acquired Southern California-based The Bridgeway Group, which oversees about $900 million in assets under management. 

Atlanta-based Merit Financial Advisors manages approximately $30 billion in total assets, including $22.9 billion in advisory assets and $3.3 billion in brokerage assets, under advisement across 55 offices as of July 20.