Torrance-based EP Wealth Advisors is sprinting to growth.
The financial planning firm more than doubled its assets under management in two years, ballooning from roughly $20 billion in AUM at the end of 2023 to $42.2 billion as of Dec. 31.
Organic growth and strategic acquisitions of growth-minded independents have been key, said Kyle Miller, EP Wealth’s managing director for mergers and acquisition partnerships.
In its first deal of 2026, following nine last year, the firm acquired Capital Insight Partners, a Scottsdale-based wealth management firm with more than $730 million in assets under management. Miller said the partnership was “a natural fit.”
“What we were really attracted to is that (CIP advisers) put their clients first above everything else that they’re doing, and they had a real desire to increase the services and capabilities that they can offer to their local clients,” he said.
Founded in 2008, CIP supports private clients and employer-sponsored retirement plans. Nine members of its team will join EP Wealth, including co-founder Susan Anastasiadis, who will step into a senior vice president role as part of the transition.
“Our clients gain access to expanded planning resources, broader investment capabilities, and a larger team of experts,” Anastasiadis said in a statement. “Yet their existing advisers retain the leading role in the relationship.”
Arizona is one of EP Wealth’s fastest-growing markets, with four other advisory teams in the state folding into the firm since 2019 under the leadership of regional directors M.J. Nodilo and Adrian Larson.
EP Wealth has also built out an East Coast presence over the past five years, starting from scratch and growing to more than $10 million AUM in the region. The firm operates offices in 22 states and hopes to be “in many more” by the year’s end, Miller said.
Since 2017, EP Wealth has averaged 35% compounded annual growth to its managed assets, outpacing most fee-only registered financial advisers in the U.S., according to Financial Planning’s latest report.
Miller attributes EP Wealth’s multiplying success to its disciplined, client-first approach and ramped-up investment in operations infrastructure. The firm began using Salesforce and Jump AI last year to increase connectivity and adviser productivity.
