Delivering on the Promise of Growth

Alera Group’s Strategy: A Shared Vision of Growth

Alera Group provides comprehensive property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, wealth management and retirement plan services to clients nationwide. With over $1.5 billion in gross revenue, it is one of the country’s top independent insurance brokers and financial services firms. A critical part of their long-term growth plan, Alera Group continues to aggressively expand its financial services footprint through very targeted acquisitions. Rather than simply buying RIA firms to grow assets under management, they’re looking specifically for advisors that share their passion for growth and see the value of leveraging Alera Group’s compelling TAMP offering.

Mike Moss is Platform Leader in their Wealth Services team and oversees key aspects of technology and team integration. As he puts it, “We want partners in growth and not advisors with assets but one foot out the door. We want to work with advisors and RIAs looking to double-down on their business. Our job is to give teams that are as committed to growth as we are the tools, infrastructure and culture to make our shared vision a reality.”

And their strategy has been working very well. By providing their member offices with comprehensive in-person support and a sophisticated, turnkey asset management platform, Alera Group advisors are able to optimize their internal processes and spend more time doing what they love – helping improve their clients’ outcomes.

“Our relationship with 55ip is making our vision for growth very much a reality.”

Mike Moss, Wealth Services Platform Leader, Alera Group

A significant step in executing their growth strategy happened in 2023 when Alera Group purchased The Ascent Group, an independent RIA headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Immediately following the announcement, beneath the headlines and behind the scenes, teams worked to connect legacy RIA business already at Alera Investment Advisors (AIA) with the newly acquired platform. In 2024, that effort was realized through the transition of nearly 3,500 investment accounts with a combined $1.2 billion in assets.

The Situation: A Single Vision, But Different Platforms

The wealth management sector is, as we know, rife with mergers, acquisitions and client money in motion. According to PwC, 81% of advisors are considering strategic partnerships, consolidations or mergers and acquisitions as a means to expand their offerings and improve their technological capabilities. Still, the challenges of transitioning a large number of often complex and sometimes overlapping client accounts to new firms with necessary speed, efficiency and accuracy remain commonplace in the industry.  

At AIA, legacy assets were held in over 200 allocation models and account types, some of which were manually managed and, as a result, difficult to scale and customize. Inherent in Alera Group’s growth strategy was the need to provide their advisors with sophisticated, tax-smart investment portfolios and the ability to scale and tailor these portfolios efficiently.

Managed poorly, liquidity restrictions, missing or mislabeled documentation, complex accounts, legacy holdings and human error all have the potential to cause problems and delays at critical junctures during asset transitions. But managed well, effective asset transitions are “win-win-win.” They put acquirer and acquiree firms closer to realizing the strategic benefits that led to the transaction itself, and, at the same time, they increase advisor and client access to potentially more scalable and potentially more impactful investment solutions.

Alera Group’s approach to effective transitions emulates their top-level business strategy – deliver better outcomes through the intelligent integration of sophisticated technology with experienced, service-oriented people. To transfer and integrate AIA’s accounts into Alera’s new investment ecosystem, Mike along with Caitlin West, their VP of Operations, turned to 55ip, an industry-leading provider of scalable solutions for tax-smart investing.

The Alera-55ip Solution

“55ip’s transition capabilities were a game changer. They’re a preeminent provider of scalable investing solutions and their ActiveTax platform has the capabilities and breadth our advisors need. But first things first, their ability to help us move the assets in a disciplined, timely and tax-advantaged manner made all the difference.”

Caitlin West, VP of Operations, Alera Group

To ensure the interconnected steps in this critical process were managed with appropriate haste and, above all, unmatched accuracy, Caitlin and Mike partnered with Craig McHaffie, VP, Enterprise Solutions for 55ip and a key member of their Transition Services team.

They and their teams formulated a plan for the two interconnected steps in the transition:

1. Move client assets from legacy systems in an efficient and tax-efficient manner.
2. Transition accounts into scalable, tax-smart models to enhance client outcomes over time.

55ip’s ability to manage high volume transitions in a tax-smart manner was essential. By accurately incorporating account information for every security at the tax lot level, their platform intelligently paired unrealized losses against unrealized gains to transition assets in the most tax-efficient manner possible.

According to Caitlin, “55ip’s transition capabilities were a game changer. They’re a preeminent provider of scalable investing solutions and their ActiveTax platform has the capabilities and breadth our advisors need. But first things first, their ability to help us move the assets in a disciplined, timely and tax-advantaged manner made all the difference.”

From model portfolios to SMAs and UMAs, across taxable and tax-advantaged accounts, 55ip’s platform accommodates a broad array of account types and structures and so aligned closely with Alera Group’s needs. Their breadth of capabilities simplified the transition process considerably, especially when clients had multiple accounts that needed to be managed individually but coordinated – and tax-managed – holistically.  A wash sale is a wash sale, even when it’s inadvertent.

But while it was imperative to optimize the tax impact of transfers, it was also critical to optimize the advisor and client experience during and after the transfers. 55ip’s structured process aligned fully with Alera Group’s tested and disciplined approach to transitions. Given the complexity of legacy assets, developing and defining an approach to how account information was shared, validated and completed across teams before accounts were uploaded was essential.

Having led multiple enterprise transitions, Craig believes firmly in the value of communication and the perspective that only experience can bring. He said, “We’ve seen corporate structures and roles within those structures varying greatly, but the critical importance of communication before, throughout – and after – the process is constant.”

He goes on to add, “The communication across teams and firms was frequent, clear and timely. Upfront discussions were structured, in-depth and benefitted greatly from our shared experiences. We quickly clarified roles within each function and, importantly, defined the degree to which individual advisors would be ‘plugged in’ operationally.” While approaches and functions can sometimes be fungible across teams, the specificity that emerged from the integrated team’s pre-work was a key factor in making what followed run successfully. Holistic support is integral to the value Alera Group delivers to member firms and a key driver of their continued growth. As part of Alera Group’s broader TAMP offering that provides advisors with an array of curated SMA managers and multiple direct indexing capabilities, 55ip features very prominently and provides access to a suite of professionally built models that can be tailored to specific client needs and scaled with ease. As a result, advisors can implement their investment strategy across asset classes with precision and without giving up control.

Importantly, the same ActiveTax technology that enables tax-smart asset transitions also provides ongoing tax-management of portfolios. Intelligent tax-loss harvesting across asset classes and across regions gives Alera Group’s advisors the opportunity to differentiate their services and the potential to enhance their clients’ after-tax outcomes. Mike believes that “With market volatility high and expected to stay that way, tax-smart portfolio management can turn even short-term volatility into harvesting opportunities and improved outcomes. We see this capability as a real differentiator in client conversations – often when it’s needed most. Helping clients find ways to win, even in down markets, truly cements very long-term client relationships.”

The Result: The Resources for Growth – Delivered

A transition that should have taken months and could have taken years, was accomplished in just three weeks. “Speed is both a client service issue and potentially a means of adding value.” Says Craig. “The more timely the transition, the more opportunities there are to utilize market volatility to harvest more losses and further improve outcomes.” In this case, 95% of client assets were transitioned with limited tax impact.

The accuracy, operational rigor and tax efficiency throughout the process were surprising to some outside the transition team. Still, resting on their laurels is perhaps the one thing neither firm does especially well. Client feedback and continual improvement are embedded in both cultures.

“The more timely the transition, the more opportunities there are to utilize market volatility to harvest more losses and further improve outcomes.”

Craig McHaffie, Enterprise Solutions, 55ip

Caitlin is a strong advocate of providing feedback. She states, “55ip truly partners with us, solicits our feedback, and really weigh that feedback to create a best-in-class solution for advisors of all shapes and sizes. When you know your feedback is welcome and valuable, and you have a partner who is engaged and committed to growing with you, it makes the act of offering feedback much easier”.” For example, the use of self-service functions continues to expand for 55ip, albeit carefully. “We want people at every point in the process where they’re needed or may be needed. But we’ll continue to identify more tasks with defined workflows that can be automated accurately and client-led efficiently,” says Craig.

A key tenet of Alera Group’s growth is encouraging advisors to “look beyond their four walls.” That is, to foster new relationships and build their book of business across member offices, across areas of specialization and across regions. With 4,500 people all committed to growth, that’s a lot of opportunity to complement other teams’ strengths. The operational efficiency and M&A transition capability that was delivered in partnership with 55ip is a key reason they are able to do it, and why they are so bullish on their future growth trajectory for Wealth Management and their entire Financial Services division.

Mike summed up their success criteria this way, “At Alera Group we look at effective account management and back-office efficiency not simply as operational tasks, but as drivers of business development, client satisfaction and ultimately better investor outcomes. Our relationship with 55ip is making our vision for growth very much a reality.”

Note – As of 11/13/2025, The statements provided by Mike Moss and Caitlin West of Alera Group/Ascent Group, a 55ip client, are not affiliated with 55ip or J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and reflect their own opinions and experiences. They have not received any compensation for sharing their views.

55ip’s Transition Services is an operational consultative and implementation service provided by 55ip. 55ip does not provide advice regarding strategy selection or with regards to model portfolio creation. 55ip does not provide advice or consultation regarding merger/acquisition activities. 55ip does not provide tax advice.