"It gave me chills and goosebumps listening to that podcast — it was as if he was speaking to me," Parry recalled. "I listened to it four or five times and then sent him a message on LinkedIn ... I said I'd love to have coffee with him, I just threw it out there, and he replied that he would. I couldn't believe it."
On Wednesday, the two sides announced that they would be formally teaming up. Partnering with Penney's Dynasty, Parry is set to launch his own independent advisory firm, Unique Wealth. The firm employs a dozen professionals including seven certified financial planners and is based out of an office in Tampa's South Hyde Park neighborhood.
Parry and his team had previously managed $400 million. Joining Parry from Northwestern Mutual are John Mosher, Tim Bartlett, Jessica Holbin and Jeff Sievers. That group is joined by five additional private wealth planners.
Many years in Tampa Bay
Plenty of wealth advisers talk about serving the clients, but it's especially important for Parry, who worked as a youth counselor after he graduated from the University of Florida. Parry, who has lived in Tampa since 1997, became an adviser in 2000. The ability to work with a firm based in the Tampa Bay region was part of what drew Parry to Dynasty, but it was the firm's people-first approach that sealed the deal.
"Dynasty was competent but more importantly, they care about us, and our clients," he said. "They told me, 'Hey, we just wanted you to realize that you are a client, you can fire us at any time, at every moment we need to prove ourselves to you' — I had to look around to see if I was being filmed, cause that's our same message."
Dynasty will provide a technology platform for asset management and investment services, M&A services as well as marketing capabilities. The firm also helped Unique Wealth find its custodian and other resource partners, such as eMoney.
"We wanted the best financial planning software out there ... and we ended up with the best custodian," Parry said. "We get to cherry-pick the best of best and they bundle it."
Parry said that most Unique Wealth's clients are in Florida, but increasingly it has expanded outside the Sunshine State as the firm moves to work with the parents or children of existing customers. According to Parry, most of the firm's clients are in the 50 to 75 age range.
“Curtis exemplifies the traits that make a successful entrepreneur: he is smart, flexible, strategic and listens to his clients," Penney said in a statement. "Once he made the decision to go independent, he and his team have been all in."
Another $1.2 Billion Win
