Wealth Enhancement expands family office services through RWA acquisition

Wealth Enhancement is expanding its ultra-high-net-worth and family office capabilities through Reserve by Wealth Enhancement and a new partnership with RWA Wealth Partners, one of the largest woman-led registered investment advisers in the nation.

Families with significant, multigenerational wealth rarely face one financial decision at a time. A business sale can reshape taxes, liquidity, estate structures, investment strategy, and philanthropy; a trust decision can affect several generations. Serving these families well requires more than advice delivered in separate disciplines. It requires an integrated view of each family's financial life and a team that can carry the plan from strategy through execution.

RWA's Family Office business was built around that reality. It serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals and multigenerational families whose wealth may span businesses, private investments, real estate, concentrated positions, charitable entities, and multiple trusts. Advisors and portfolio managers work alongside financial planners, fiduciary, tax, and trust professionals, and the client officers and administrators needed to connect the strategies, people, and decisions that shape a family's wealth.

Wealth Enhancement, a national independent wealth management firm, today announced that it has agreed to acquire RWA, which delivers wealth management services through its Family Office and Private Wealth businesses. RWA is led by Michelle Knight, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Economist, and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with five additional offices across Massachusetts, California, Illinois and Michigan.

RWA Family Office will add depth to Reserve, Wealth Enhancement's dedicated offering for families whose wealth has outgrown a traditional advisory model, generally those with $25 million or more in investable assets and complex, interdependent needs spanning investments, tax, estate planning, trusts, and business ownership or succession.

Reserve brings together a carefully matched senior advisory team and dedicated specialists to connect decisions, coordinate internal and outside professionals, and develop highly bespoke plans based on each client's unique situation. RWA Family Office will strengthen that offering with an established family office operating model and particular depth in trusts, estates, and family governance.

Jeff Dekko, Chief Executive Officer of Wealth Enhancement, said, "One of the core founding principles of Wealth Enhancement was to provide complex financial planning to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. RWA's capabilities will strengthen how we meet those needs. Its established family office capabilities add depth to how we serve ultra-high-net-worth clients with deep specialisation in trusts and estates, tax-aware planning, and the seamless coordination required to turn advice into action."

RWA Family Office is designed to help clients navigate the most consequential moments in their lives. For a founder preparing to sell a business, it can coordinate liquidity, tax, investment, estate, gifting, and cash-flow decisions before and after the sale. For a family managing multiple trusts across generations, it can bring together trust administration, tax and investment oversight, beneficiary support, and family education. For a law firm partner, it can connect compensation, cash flow, tax strategy, insurance, and estate structures. Following the loss of a loved one, it can help align estate settlement, trust administration, tax requirements, and asset transitions while maintaining continuity for the family.

Michelle Knight, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Economist of RWA, said, "Wealth Enhancement shares our belief that comprehensive wealth management starts with a deep understanding of each client and the life they are working to build across generations. This human side of wealth has always been central to how we serve families, because behind every financial decision is a set of goals, values, and aspirations. Joining forces with Wealth Enhancement gives our teams access to the scale, resources, and breadth of a large national firm while allowing us to continue delivering the highly personalised, authentic advice our clients expect."

RWA Family Office's deep trust and estate heritage traces to Ropes Wealth Advisors, the former registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of Ropes & Gray, the global law firm, which combined with Adviser Investments in 2023 to form RWA. Its family office capabilities include trust administration, professional trustee services, estate planning coordination, and estate settlement. These are supported by personal and fiduciary tax planning and preparation, estate and gift tax analysis, tax projections, planning around liquidity events, and other major decisions.

Jim Cahn, Chief Strategy Officer of Wealth Enhancement, said, "As families' wealth grows, the decisions surrounding it become more interconnected. RWA brings a model designed for that reality. Combined with the broad capabilities behind Reserve, it will strengthen our ability to turn complexity into clear, coordinated advice."

Upon closing, RWA Family Office will continue to be led by Michelle Knight, JP Powers, Nicole LaChapelle, and Kristin Fazio, preserving continuity for clients and the professionals who serve them. RWA's Private Wealth business will operate as advisor teams at Wealth Enhancement, with Steve Reder continuing to work directly with those teams. RWA Private Wealth serves high-net-worth individuals and families through personalised investment management and comprehensive financial planning, including integrated tax and estate planning.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter and will represent an exit for Summit Partners.

Matt Hamilton, a Managing Director at Summit Partners, said, "We believe this combination will bring together two industry leaders with strong legacies and demonstrated experience serving clients across the wealth spectrum. We are honoured to have been a part of RWA's growth over the last few years." Ashley Smith, a Principal at Summit Partners, added, "Michelle's vision and commitment have been instrumental in building RWA into the firm it is today. We are grateful for her leadership and excited for this next chapter for the RWA and Wealth Enhancement teams and the clients that they serve."

 Re-disseminated by Wealth and Society