Beacon Financial Group, an Aurora, Ohio-based independent advisory firm overseeing nearly $1 billion in client assets, has joined Osaic’s growing W-2 employee channel.
Beacon Financial had been running for two years as a 1099 registered investment advisor affiliated with independent broker/dealer Private Client Services. Managing Director and founder Brent Besinger had been leading the firm under that setup since 2007, with Lincoln Financial Advisors, which Osaic acquired after his firm left it in 2024.
Besinger and his team of six built the firm to work with about 120 families. They moved to Osaic to help with the firm’s succession and maintain an independent structure, according to an announcement.
“With Osaic, we found a partner that respects our independence while giving us access to the resources, scale and succession planning capabilities to support our next chapter,” Besinger said in a statement.
The move was also influenced by Besinger’s long-time relationship with John DiMonda, head of Advisor Direct at Osaic, who had worked with him at Lincoln Financial Advisors for over 15 years.
Cindy Hammel, who is head of Osaic’s W-2 division, said in a statement that Beacon Financial “represents exactly the kind of entrepreneurial, client-focused firm we aim to empower.”
Scottsdale-based Osaic launched its W-2 channel, which it calls Empowered Independence, in 2023. The setup is designed to give advisors access to Osaic’s wealth technology platform and business solutions, including organic growth help and succession planning.
Osaic, which has about $700 billion in total client assets, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on current assets in its W-2 channel, but has previously pegged them at approaching $80 billion.
The move by Beacon Financial comes after two Osaic 1099 firms had shifted to the employee channel. In April, the division added Salem, N.H.-based Pointes North Wealth Management, which had been managing $500 million in client assets; in February, Branford, Conn.-based BARD Financial Services came over, having overseen $1.2 billion in client assets.
Other IBDs, including Cetera Financial Group and LPL Financial, have been championing W-2 employee channel options for 1099 firms whose founders may be nearing retirement, as well as firms that may find the trade-off in take-home pay worth it to shed administrative and operational duties.
Osaic is owned by private equity firm Reverence Capital Partners, which completed a recapitalization of the broker/dealer with Bain Capital entering as a new investor in April.
