Creative Planning Buys $1B Memphis RIA Firm

What You Need to Know

Creative Planning’s purchase of Memphis, Tennessee-based Telarray brings 18 new employees to Creative Planning.
As of Dec. 31, Creative Planning managed or advised on more than $225 billion in assets across all 50 states and 65 countries.
The RIA firm has plans for continued growth throughout 2023, it said.

Creative Planning says it has acquired Memphis, Tennessee-based Telarray Advisors, an RIA firm that manages $1 billion in client assets.

The deal brings 18 Telarray employees — all advisors — to Overland Park, Kansas-based RIA Creative Planning, joining Creative Planning’s approximately 430 advisors across all offices.

Telarray has been serving its clients across the U.S. since 2005, handling a wide portfolio of investments. It offers services for everyone from those just beginning their investment journeys to senior corporate leaders with complicated compensation packages, according to Creative Planning.

Telarray specializes in retirement planning, estate planning, investing, tax management strategies, executive compensation and risk management. It has historically operated as a fee-only fiduciary.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. But Peter Mallouk, Creative Planning CEO, told ThinkAdvisor on Thursday that the transaction was finalized in January. “Telarray retained an investment banker that brought them to Creative,” he said.

The addition of the Telarray team “will help us break deeper into the Tennessee market,” according to Mallouk. It “gives us a strong presence in Memphis, which we did not have before.”

Creative Planning first entered Tennessee seven years ago, in Nashville, Mallouk told ThinkAdvisor, noting his company had only two advisors in the state, both in Nashville, before the latest acquisition. There is “no overlap” in offices between Creative Planning and Telarray, he said, adding that Telarray’s name has already been changed to Creative Planning.