Cerity Partners Welcomes Lumina Financial Consultants

Cerity Partners announced today it is merging with Lumina Financial Consultants, a wealth management and financial planning firm that focuses on serving the needs of women, their families and their businesses, with presences in the San Francisco Bay and Richmond, Virginia metro areas.

NEW YORK, July 12, 2023 — Cerity Partners, a leading independent wealth management firm in the U.S., announced today it is merging with Lumina Financial Consultants, a firm providing financial planning and wealth management services specifically focused on women and their families, with a presence in the San Francisco Bay and Richmond, Virginia metropolitan areas. Lumina Financial Consultants was advised by InCap Group, Inc whose team was led by Brian Lauzon, Managing Director, Jim Tennies, President. The combined firm will operate under the Cerity Partners name.

For Cerity Partners, the combination greatly enhances and expands the level of professional talent within the firm and bolsters its ongoing focus on providing financial planning and wealth management services to women and their specific financial needs. As a Barron’s-ranked Top 100 RIA Firm, Cerity Partners is among the nation’s fastest-growing wealth management firms. Cerity Partners President and CEO Kurt Miscinski sees the merger with Lumina Financial Consultants as an important complement to the firm’s expertise and capabilities. “Lumina’s expertise and experience in serving women will enhance our firm’s capabilities.  We look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues who share our vision for how to serve clients.” Miscinski says.

The merger with Lumina Financial Consultants helps solidify Cerity Partners’ presence in the San Francisco Bay Area and develop a footprint in the Richmond metropolitan market. Claire O’Keefe, Cerity Partners Head of Partner Development, adds, “We see this partnership as a terrific way to enhance the breadth of our firm’s services with talented partners and colleagues in key markets while also expanding our existing capabilities in serving the needs of women, their families and their businesses.”

Cerity Partners delivers a full suite of wealth management solutions to serve the complex financial lives of its clientele. These services include estate, financial, tax, compensation, and benefit planning, as well as investment management, tax preparation, and personal financial administration services. For Jeanie Schwarz and Laurie Fried, Co-Principals of Lumina Financial Consultants, the partnership was a “perfect fit,” not only because of the like-minded culture and approach to wealth management shared by both firms but also because the benefits are mutual. While clients of Lumina Financial Consultants gain expanded and enhanced service offerings, Cerity Partners welcomes additional financial planning talent, along with a well-established practice that has focused specifically on the needs of women.

“Our clients work with us because our approach is grounded in proven investment principles and academic research, balanced with a highly personal, face-to-face way of doing business,” says Schwarz. “We serve our clients based on several key principles, including the belief that knowledge about your financial data empowers you to make good choices and is essential to reaching your financial goals. We share a principle-based philosophy with Cerity Partners and that combined with the firm’s nationwide presence and wide range of services make this partnership powerfully differentiating for our industry.”

As a woman-owned firm, Lumina focused on providing an unbiased, holistic view for women, their businesses, and their families. They also specialize in life stage-based financial planning to help clients navigate major transitions like divorce or the loss of a loved one. “We have focused on providing financial planning that accounts for unplanned, but significant life events,” says Fried. “Unexpected events like divorce or the loss of a family member shouldn’t be overlooked during the financial planning process. We are committed to being by our clients’ side and helping them navigate and get through challenging times.”

Schwarz will serve as a Partner and Advisor in the Richmond market and Fried will be a Partner and Advisor in the Mill Valley office.