Headquartered in Asheville, the team of Parsec Financial has joined Modera Wealth Management to further their fiduciary client services. By combining, the company now comprises 87 employees in NC, managing $1.5 billion of wealth in WNC alone.

Modera’s Chief Growth Officer and former CEO of Parsec Rick Manske said the companies are very similar from their cultural perspective. Both being in business for 40+ years, they are both fee-based, long-term Registered Investment Advisor firms that keep clients’ interests first and maintain a high legal standard for their clients.Services provided by these companies include portfolio planning, retirement planning, trust services.

The largest objective of the acquisition was scalability as an RIA. “With scale comes the ability to reinvest in the business,” Manske said. “We can invest more in technology, software, and security as well as investing more in our people. There is an opportunity for a deeper bench of talent and a better career path for our employees, and it’s better for our clients too.”

While both companies have been growing rapidly on their own, Manske said he has great confidence in the company’s continued growth and the ability to generate more jobs. An employee-owned company, the staff have increasing opportunities for collaboration. 

The company has locations and clients in many cities in the Eastern US including Boston, Washington DC, Inverness, FL, and New York, NY, but Manske said Parsec’s focus was in North Carolina. 

“We had two locations here offering services in Downtown and South Asheville,” Manske said. “Parsec grew up here and organically grew for more than 40 years. This means a lot; employees continue to be employees and share the company’s values and continue the goal of helping people thrive. I’m proud of our team here.”

With lots of expertise in all areas and an increased reach following the acquisition, Modera has the ability to provide more solutions for their clients. Manske said it is exciting to have several locations from which to share resources and recruit from each other’s job markets, improving the lives of both clients and employees to diversify their expertise.

Manske said not all financial advisors are created equally. Many are not fiduciary, and he said it’s important to understand that distinction. Many national advisors have grown rapidly with private equity and groups of investment advisors, but many do not have control. 

“This is an important distinction,” Manske said, “and we are happy to provide that fiduciary standard to our clients in Asheville and beyond with Modera.”