WealthManagement.com reported that a group which departed J.P. Morgan has set up Latigo Peak Partners, an independent wealth firm founded by Phil Scott and Jim Atwood. Per the outlet, the new firm opened with 48 staff and a footprint in Florida, Washington, Massachusetts and California, and was characterized as one of the nation's biggest independent wealth managers right away.
The firm's own announcement, issued through Business Wire on Oct. 19, 2026, describes Latigo Peak as an independent, founder-owned wealth manager serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. The announcement puts the firm at approximately $18.6 billion in assets under management, a measure of client assets rather than revenue. It also says the two advisors grew their combined revenue from $34 million to more than $130 million over six years, a separate figure that measures revenue.
Per the announcement, the firm's headquarters are in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and it also has hubs in Bellevue, Wash., and Boston, Mass., plus a field office in Los Angeles. The founders self-funded the launch, and the firm has no outside private equity ownership. Custody will be multi-custodial, with Charles Schwab and BNY Pershing, and Fusion Financial Partners advised on the launch. Phil Scott, a co-founder, said the firm's goal is investment performance and a distinctive client experience, according to CityBiz.
AdvisorHub reported, citing the announcement, that the two primary owners hold the RIA through a holding company called ASO Meridian Holdings. The release did not say how much of the $18.6 billion is subadvised, according to AdvisorHub. According to CityBiz, the company says its size puts it among the larger independent US wealth firms at launch; that is the company's own claim, and it has not been independently verified.
On the platform side, AdvisorHub reported, based on regulatory filings, that the firm manages nine proprietary investment strategies and serves as a separate-account manager within Schwab's Managed Account Marketplace. AdvisorHub reported that the firm lets outside RIAs and family offices hire it while they retain their own client relationships, and that it compensates accountants for client referrals through either a fixed fee or a share of advisory revenue. WealthManagement.com noted that SEC records list 10 registrants affiliated with the firm.
Phil Scott is listed at No. 68 nationally on the Forbes 2026 Best-in-State Wealth Advisors ranking, based in Bellevue, Wash., according to a JPMorgan corporate news item about that ranking. The same JPMorgan item credits Scott with over 30 years in wealth management and investing, and lists degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy among his credentials. According to AdvisorHub, Atwood came to First Republic's Boston office in 2018 leading a 15-person group whose revenue reached $22 million, and the group managed $4.5 billion. That is the 2018 team figure, not the current book of business.
The team departed J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, the U.S. wealth management business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. According to JPMorgan's corporate news, the business has about 6,000 advisors and $1.3 trillion of assets under supervision, a measure that is not the same as assets under management. SmartAsset describes the main wealth arm as headquartered in New York City. Latigo Peak should not be confused with Latigo Partners, L.P., a separate New York hedge fund manager founded in 2005 that Pretium Credit Management acquired as of March 2020, according to Preqin. Its SEC adviser registration was terminated in March 2020.
Independent launches of this size draw attention from recruiters and team leaders because the choices a new firm makes on custody, platforms and ownership shape what it can offer advisors and their clients. The sources do not say how client accounts will transfer, what the team's timeline is, or whether additional advisors will join. The sources also do not verify the firm's claim about its size relative to other independent firms, and no earlier coverage of Latigo Peak before the launch was found.