Long Island-Based S&P Financial Services Joins Avantax

Avantax Inc., a unique community within Cetera Holdings and a leader in tax-focused financial planning and wealth management, has welcomed financial advisors John Surace, Kelly Powers and their S&P Financial Services team, based in Hauppauge, New York, in the heart of Long Island. Transferring to Avantax from Osaic, the team has approximately $150 million in client assets under administration as of June 2024.

S&P Financial’s mission is to build strong, multi-generational relationships with clients by offering them clarity, education, confidence, and complete disclosure when approaching their financial strategies.

Prior to forming S&P Financial Services, Surace’s experience included being an executive with a global financial services firm where he supervised a location with more than 300 advisors, which won the President’s Trophy several times for being among the country’s top-producing branches. Powers has managed money for clients for 30 years, while having other roles such as vice president, sourcing, hiring and training new financial advisors.

Surace and Powers formed S&P Financial Services because they wanted to open an independent operation. But after their prior broker/dealer became part of Osaic, they began looking for a broker/dealer whose experience, service and focus on keeping commitments aligned with how Surace and Powers wanted to operate their organization.

“When we started talking with Avantax, things sounded so good that I was actually skeptical going in, but everything they told us came to fruition, and the entire company is very competent, from the top down,” Surace said. “Transitioning to a new broker/dealer is stressful, and in other places the level of services that were promised turned out to be subpar. We didn’t experience any of that with Avantax. We trusted our gut, went with Avantax, and it’s been all green lights from the beginning.”

Powers spearheaded the firm’s transition to Avantax, calling the experience “amazing.”

“The transition is a very stressful time for the advisor because it’s all new and it feels like your livelihood is in limbo, but the Avantax transition team was so professional, they took charge of everything and made me so comfortable,” Powers said. “On previous transitions we were busy filling out paperwork, but at Avantax they picked up the ball and ran with everything, allowing us to focus on our clients. My experience was amazing, it was seamless and it’s all working very well.”

In welcoming Surace and S&P Financial Services, the head of Avantax Business Development Tim Stewart, CFP®, said: “John, Kelly and their team are fantastic additions to the Avantax Community. Their experience running advisory practices at scale is impressive, and we’re looking forward to supporting them as they serve existing clients while planning to add advisors and grow their already highly successful practice.”

Tax and financial professionals can learn more about Avantax by clicking here.

*Value approximated based on asset-holding details provided to Avantax.