Merit Financial acquires $1.1B Orchard Park advisory practice

Merit Financial Advisors acquired Moldenhauer & Associates, a family-run practice in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York, that oversaw about $1.1 billion in client assets for nearly 1,900 households, AdvisorHub first reported. The practice was affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network. The deal closed September 25 and included a mix of cash and equity; other terms were not disclosed.

The 13-person team, led by Brett A. Moldenhauer, will stay in Orchard Park, giving the Atlanta-based RIA its first New York office, Merit said. Merit reports almost $33 billion in assets. The practice will shut down its own RIA, with most client accounts staying at Fidelity and a small number moving to Schwab Advisor Services, Moldenhauer wrote. Advisors also shifted their brokerage licenses to Purshe Kaplan Sterling.

Brett Moldenhauer said LPL Financial's $2.7 billion purchase of Commonwealth prompted the group to rethink the technology and support it needed to keep growing. Moldenhauer & Associates registered as an RIA in September 2025, about a month after that deal closed, and the sale to Merit closed roughly a year later. The firm was owned by Brett Moldenhauer and his father, Richard C. Moldenhauer, who has spent more than five decades in the industry, according to a January Form ADV brochure.

About $1.1 billion across nearly 1,900 households works out to roughly $580,000 per household. Roughly $900 million of the assets sit in advisory accounts, with about $170 million in brokerage and $20 million in retirement plans, Moldenhauer wrote. Merit said this is its 12th deal this year and 63rd to date, and that it has added 10 Commonwealth teams including this one.