Raymond James Recruits $2.8B Team From Commonwealth
Raymond James Financial Services, the primary broker/dealer of Raymond James, has lured another Commonwealth Financial Network team ahead of a transition period for Commonwealth advisors now with LPL Financial.
Financial Strategies Retirement Partners, a 12-advisor team in Bedford, N.H., will join Raymond James under the leadership of CEO and Managing Partner Shawn Monty and partners Al Gilbert and Sara Kenda. The group, which has 24 employees overall, oversaw $2.8 billion in client assets while at Commonwealth, comprising $1 billion in private wealth assets and $1.8 billion in employer-sponsored retirement plan assets.
“We were looking for a partner that supports independence, innovation and long-term growth while enabling us to continue delivering the personalized guidance our clients expect,” Monty said in a statement.
LPL closed its acquisition of Commonwealth in August 2025, but those advisors are nearing the deadline to transition to LPL’s platforms at the end of this year, according to prior statements from the IBD.
St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James has been one of the more active recruiters of former Commonwealth advisors. The firm has also boosted its recruitment spending over the past year, according to recent earnings reports.
Monty of FSRP began his career in 1985 and had been with Commonwealth for 31 years. Gilbert co-founded FSRP with Monty in 2007 and had been with Commonwealth for 19 years, according to BrokerCheck. Kenda joined FSRP in 2018 and has over 25 years of experience, including eight years with Commonwealth.
Other active broker/dealers in the Commonwealth recruiting push include Arkadios Capital, Cetera, and Kestra Financial. In addition, some Commonwealth advisors have set up on their own as registered investment advisors, including Kintra Wealth, which comprises six prior Commonwealth firms that linked up to create a $4 billion platform open to other joiners.
Merit Financial Advisors, an RIA acquirer that has won over a number of Commonwealth advisors, announced earlier this month that it had made Advisor360 a supported wealth technology platform for its advisors—a platform initially created at Commonwealth that advisors had been using for years.