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Practice Succession
We’re Not Looking for Volume.
We’re Looking for the Right Fit.
Over the next decade, we intend to bring on two to four practices — total. The quality of care we deliver requires us to be selective. If you built your practice the same way, we are worth the conversation as you transition to your next chapter.
$450M+
Assets Under Management
2–4
Acquisitions Over 10 Years
La Jolla & Hampstead
Two-Office Independent RIA
A Firm That Chose Depth Over Scale — Deliberately
Castle Coast Wealth was built around a simple premise: that a small number of client families, served exceptionally well, will always outperform a large number of families served adequately. We’ve never wavered from that. It’s why we’re selective about the clients we take on and the practices we acquire.
If you’re considering succession, you’re evaluating a price as you determine who will carry on the relationships you’ve spent a career building. We take that seriously — maybe more seriously than anyone else you’ll talk to.
We aren’t the highest-volume acquirer in the market and don’t envy that business model. We’re the firm that will still know your clients’ grandchildren’s names decades after your transition. For the right advisor, that distinction matters.
“We’re the right fit for practices whose clients would feel genuinely well-served by us — not just transitioned to us. There’s a meaningful difference, and your clients will feel it.”
— Charlie Gillespie, Principal
2–4
Total acquisitions over 10 years
Select
Client families — not mass-market AUM
Fee-Only
No commissions, no conflicts
6 People
Boutique by design
What Client Care Actually Looks Like in Our Practice
Below are specific ways we show up for clients and the standard your clients would experience from their first conversation with us.
01
They Always Know Who to Call
Every client has a named advisor who knows their complete financial picture. When something happens in their lives, they know exactly who will pick up the phone.
02
Plans Built Around Their Life
We don’t slot clients into a risk model and call it planning. Every strategy is built around their actual situation — income, family structure, timeline, goals, and the things that keep them up at night.
03
We Think in Decades
Many of our client relationships span generations. We’ve planned alongside parents and now work with their adult children. That kind of continuity shapes every conversation we have.
04
Present in the Hard Moments
When markets are volatile, we reach out personally — not with a mass email, but individually. We know who’s drawing income, who just sold a business, and who may be anxious. Proximity and scale make that possible.
05
Honesty Before Comfort
Our clients trust us to tell them what they need to hear, not what’s easiest to say. That standard of candor in planning, in markets, in life decisions is what they’ll continue to receive.
06
Guided by More Than Regulation
Castle Coast Wealth operates on Christian principles, meaning integrity and genuine care for clients aren’t just policies. They shape the small decisions that clients never see but always feel.
Why So Few
Two to Four Practices. A Decade.
No More.
The reason we’re capping acquisitions is a
commitment to quality.
Every practice we bring on requires us to invest deeply in understanding your clients, in building real relationships before the transition happens, and in absorbing that practice into our culture without diluting it.
We’ve seen what happens when firms grow faster than their ability to serve. We’ve built our reputation by being the alternative to that.
A Process Built Around Mutual Confidence
Our process is deliberate and unhurried, designed to determine whether working together would genuinely serve your clients and whether it’s the right move for you personally. We’ll be honest if it’s not a fit.
1
A Private First Conversation
No pitch decks, no intake forms. Just us on the phone or over coffee getting to know your practice, your clients, and where you are in your thinking. This is a listening session. Nothing moves forward without your say-so.
Confidential & Low Pressure
2
Understanding Your Practice at Depth
If the conversation feels promising, we take time to understand your client base: the demographics, relationship styles, planning complexity, and the people behind the AUM. We want to know whether we can serve your clients at the standard they’re accustomed to. If we can’t, we’ll tell you plainly. If we have additional services you haven’t offered, we’ll be tactful in the approach to making clients aware of why you chose us for their needs moving forward.
Honest Assessment on Both Sides
3
Valuation & Structure — Transparently
We share our methodology, work through it together, and arrive at something that reflects what you built. Bring your attorney or CPA. We welcome scrutiny and have the financial backing to honor our commitments.
Open Book, Fair Terms
4
Building the Transition Plan Together
You know things about your clients that no document will capture. We want that knowledge to continue to drive a positive experience. The plan is built around your clients’ comfort, not our convenience. The transition letter goes out in your voice, on your timeline.
Your Voice, Your Clients, Your Pace
5
Warm Handoff, Not a Hard Stop
We encourage a meaningful overlap period — weeks or months where clients have had the chance to meet us alongside you. Trust transfers through relationships, not paperwork. When the time comes for you to step back, your clients won’t feel dropped. They’ll feel handed off — the way you’d want it done.
Relationship-Led Continuity
6
You Retire — With a Clear Conscience
You’ve helped dozens of families reach this moment. You know what it looks like when someone retires well. We want that for you — knowing your clients are being cared for the way you would have. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to, long after the paperwork is done.
The Exit You Earned
What the Transition Feels Like for Them
They Hear It from You First
Your clients learn about the transition in a letter written in your words — crafted together, but unmistakably from the advisor they’ve trusted for years. No form letters. No corporate announcements.
They Meet Us Alongside You
For clients who’ve been with you for years, we make introductions in person — ideally with you present. Earned trust doesn’t transfer through paperwork. It transfers through presence and time.
The Relationship Continues
The attention, the planning depth, the straight talk, the personal care — it all continues. The only thing that changes is the name on the letterhead, and even that we handle thoughtfully.
A Note on Client Retention
We purchased $197M from our first acquisition. That book is now around $450M, with clients who find themselves better served and appreciative of their original advisor’s decision to select us. One client had a family member become a financial advisor — they are the only person to have left since the acquisition in 2019, outside of deaths.
The Practices We’re Genuinely Looking For
We’d rather spend five minutes on honest alignment than five months on a deal that wasn’t right. Here’s a candid read on what tends to work well.
- Relationship-driven advisors whose clients know them as a person — not just a service provider
- Practices serving retirees, pre-retirees, business owners, or multi-generational families
- Advisors who prize planning depth and believe fewer, better relationships beat volume
- Those who’ve built their reputation on candor, even when it was uncomfortable
- Advisors with a thoughtful succession horizon who want to plan deliberately
- Practices in the $50M–$300M AUM range where boutique-level service remains genuinely possible
An Honest Note
We won’t be the right buyer for every practice and we’ll say so early if that’s the case. We’re not interested in high-volume transactional books, variable annuity heavy investments, practices requiring rapid 90-day closings, or situations where the primary objective is the highest possible multiple with less weight given to what happens to clients afterward.
If that’s not you, let’s talk. If it is, we’d rather you hear it from us now than six months into a process.
Let’s Find Out
Start a Confidential Conversation
No obligation, no follow-up campaign. A brief note reaches Charlie and Tyler directly. If there’s something worth exploring, you’ll hear from us personally — not an intake coordinator or M&A Manager.
Castle Coast Wealth is a Registered Investment Adviser. This page is intended for financial professionals exploring practice succession. All inquiries are treated with complete confidentiality.