They might be the biggest, but are they the best?

LPL’s $2.7 billion acquisition of Commonwealth, which closed this summer, set off a recruiting frenzy. While the majority of advisors are expected to join LPL’s network, some are looking elsewhere. Florida-based Hinck Private Wealth Management is the latest former Commonwealth team to align with Osaic, underscoring how LPL’s vast resources don’t necessarily make it every advisor’s preferred destination. Many Commonwealth advisors cite LPL’s culture, tech platforms and size as reasons to go in a different direction.

“The least amount of change and disruption to our clients was important to us,” said Thomas Hinck, managing partner at Hinck Private Wealth. “We also wanted incredibly good service with quick responses and not ‘take a number, we’ll get back to you.’”

Culture Shock

Commonwealth advisors often point to a great culture as what made the firm special, and fear losing that at LPL. “We were concerned about LPL’s size and their desire to get much bigger,” Hinck told Advisor Upside. “LPL says they’re going to keep the Commonwealth personal touch intact, but for how long?” After meeting with an LPL recruiter, Hinck said: “It felt like they were relying on Commonwealth executives to sell the deal, not LPL.” Plus, Hinck Private Wealth would’ve had to transition to LPL’s in-house clearing platform, instead of sticking with Fidelity’s National Financial Services system.

LPL, the largest independent broker dealer in the US, said it’s committed to preserving Commonwealth’s approach. “Unlike other firms, LPL will provide to Commonwealth advisors an advanced experience that starts with a frictionless, paperless conversion, avoiding disruption to their clients and ensuring the continuity of their businesses,” the company said in an email. “We are focused on the opportunities that matter most to advisors while honoring the community and culture that make Commonwealth such a respected company in our industry.”

New Direction. Since LPL announced the Commonwealth deal this spring, several former Commonwealth firms and advisors have migrated to Osaic:

• Joelle Spear previously advised at a firm in the Commonwealth network, but when she launched her own firm, Spear Wealth Management, in August, she did so with Osaic.
• West Virginia-based Virtus Wealth joined Osaic at the start of September.

While LPL President Rich Steinmeier remains confident the firm will retain 90% of the roughly 2,900 Commonwealth advisors, the growing list of teams choosing Osaic and other firms suggests otherwise. Hinck called that projection “very hopeful thinking.”

M&A Not OK. Hinck Private Wealth is no stranger to mergers. The team started at A.G. Edwards before moving through Wachovia and Wells Fargo. But inefficiencies and Wells Fargo’s infamous cross-selling scandal pushed them to go independent with Commonwealth. “I’m saddened this happened,” Hinck said. “We chose Commonwealth because it reminded us of A.G. Edwards. You mattered to them. You didn’t matter to Wells Fargo. They just cared about loans and lending. You were just a number.”

It has become all but a given that most people don’t wait to start claiming Social Security benefits until 70, and new data show that the strategy to max out monthly payments is a luxury.

Simply, most plan to claim younger out of necessity. While 10% of US workers intend to claim before they qualify for maximum monthly payments at age 70, 44% say they will likely file before 67, the “full retirement age,” survey data from Schroders show. Given that Social Security is designed to disproportionately benefit lower-wage workers who rely on the monthly payments to replace more of their preretirement income, that might not seem surprising. But the trend in financial services has been to emphasize the rewards of waiting as long as possible. That isn’t necessarily helping, said Nevin Adams, the former chief content officer at the American Retirement Association. After all, it’s hard to tell people they’re leaving money on the table, when no one knows how big their table, or lifespan, will be, among other factors.

“The retirement industry, which for years has made the mistake of trying to scare people to death, is now trying to shame them to death,” Adams said.

Not Claiming Ignorance

It’s hardly lost on folks that they would get bigger monthly payments by waiting, but financial realities can make that goal difficult, he noted. Data from the Schroders 2025 US Retirement Survey support that:

• 70% said they were aware of the maximum payments from claiming at 70.
• Among those who said they would claim earlier than that, 37% said they simply wanted access to the money. While 36% were worried about the future of the Social Security system, 34% needed the monthly income and 15% were advised to start earlier.

What works for one person may not work for another, and that’s the case with claiming Social Security, which is complicated by income, wealth, physical health, costs of living and myriad other factors. There’s plenty of guidance out there showing the benefits of waiting as long as possible to claim, but there also seems to be growing recognition that such a strategy isn’t optimal for everyone.

“It really is a very individual decision,” Adams said. “I started mine at full retirement age (67) … I don’t have any regrets.”

Let us paint you a picture …

A well-diversified portfolio traditionally includes stocks, bonds, maybe a little real estate and perhaps some gold or private equity. But today, a growing share of wealthy investors’ assets are buying up prized artworks. High-net-worth collectors allocated an average of 20% of their wealth to art this year, up from 15% in 2024, according to the latest Art Basel and UBS survey. Ultra-high-net-worth investors with over $50 million in assets allocated 28% of their portfolios to art.

Notably, women — long stereotyped as more risk-averse — are now outspending men, reflecting greater earnings, financial literacy and inheritance, the research found. “A big part of the story is who has the wealth,” said Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management. “We’re seeing a major global demographic shift in the growing wealth of women and the increasing share of female HNWIs.”

Sisterhood of Dada

Wealthy women investors are not only spending more on art than men, but they’re also more willing to fill out their collections with works from lesser-known artists and pieces from less-traditional media. Much of that shift is being fueled by the Great Wealth Transfer, which is first putting tens of trillions of dollars in women’s portfolios. “More wealth and inheritance in women’s hands means broader taste and greater openness to new works,” Donovan told Advisor Upside.

The study, which looked at data from last year and the first half of this year, found:

• Women’s average spending on art and antiques was 46% higher than men in 2024, and about 7% of women spent more than $1 million on art in the first half of 2025.
• Paintings are still king (or queen) in the art world, but compared with men, women are more likely to have photographs, films, digital art and emerging media in their collections.
• High-net-worth women also have larger shares of works by female artists and new talent.

The Young Folks. Millennials and Gen Z are showing similar patterns. The Facebook generation led spending on decorative art and jewelry. Meanwhile, the TikTok crowd prefers handbags and digital art. Gen Z particularly likes sneakers, spending nearly five times higher on shoes than any other age group.

“Collectors are showing greater openness to discovery,” said Donovan. “Keep women and next-gen collectors front of mind: They’re shaping discovery and broadening what gets seen and bought.”