Wayne, PA – As we reflect on 2022, the team at The Sharp Financial Group looks back at a busy year filled with positive changes and growth.
Starting in the summer of 2022, they joined Alden Investment Group as a strategic partner. Based out of Horsham, PA, the Sharp headquarters is in the suburban Philadelphia area not far from their Wayne-based partner, streamlining business collaboration to their clients in both investment banking and family office services.
When asked why The Sharp Financial Group decided to partner with Alden, April Collins, Director of Wealth Management at Sharp said, “We were looking for a strategic partner, rather than just a facilitator. Our previous partner was very transactional. There wasn’t much collaboration. We wanted a symbiotic partner to help us grow our business, and better serve our clients. Alden took the time to understand and appreciate the full complexity of our business – from tax and accounting services to business advisory services, family office and personal wealth management.” Mike Verrill, VP of Strategic Development at Sharp added, “Our previous broker-dealer wasn’t willing to take an integrated approach with us. The Alden investment platform is an open architecture, which offers many solutions to our clients. It’s also nice to have the option to work with all the other teams at Alden and further expand available services.”
Making the move to a new broker-dealer takes some heavy lifting, but the team at Sharp felt it warranted the benefits to them and their clients. For Sharp, having a local partner was very important. While their geographic footprint is rapidly expanding, they really wanted a broker-dealer in the Philadelphia area to connect with in-person for due diligence and strategic initiatives. The availability of many investment options for their clients was also a big determining factor for the move to Alden. “We didn’t want to be stuffed in a box. We were looking for customized services for our clients. The personalization we offer is an important part of our relationship with our clients,” said Mike Verrill. The benefits from Alden extend to operations at Sharp as well. “It’s very easy to onboard new clients. It’s extremely straightforward, with all the agreements in-place and the technology to get things executed quickly. The operational efficiency was immediately evident within the Alden organization structure, with their dedicated staff, web-based technology and streamlined process from on-boarding through to service,” added Mike.
2023 brings about the 30th year in business for The Sharp Financial Group, a considerable milestone for any investment business. In 1993, they started as an accounting and tax services company, and then grew from there to meet the needs of their entrepreneurial client base. “What makes Sharp so unique is our integrated approach,” said April Collins. There are certainly many other firms offering diverse financial services, but they are often very siloed in each business area which impacts the client experience. “We focus on building bridges across our teams, allowing for the highest level of service we are known for delivering to our clients,” added April.
This spirit of growth and going above and beyond to meet the needs of clients has pulled Sharp in a direction of two additional lines of service. As clients experienced significant liquidity events, Sharp’s family office services came together as they bolted on portfolio management, tax planning, business planning, financial reporting, and concierge services to standing tax and accounting and wealth management services. Now, they serve as a trusted advisor to their ultra-high net worth clients for preservation and growth strategies, ongoing tax and business advice, personal wealth and estate planning and other needs, with cohesive and dynamic plug- and play service models.
Similar to their family office offering, investment banking services at Sharp were the genesis of the requests and needs of their clients. Since they already knew their clients’ businesses inside and out, they were the logical choice in helping with liquidity events and helping to raise capital. Sharp offers both debt and equity services to buy and sell businesses for clients in the US for domestic and global transactions. With a focus on the lower-middle market businesses under $250 million, they work with a broad array of industries, from software and technology to business services and manufacturing and everything in-between. In addition to a targeted market approach to identifying potential buyers or investors, because of their strength in accounting and tax services, Sharp excels at going to market for their clients with a clear financial picture of the business and growth projections, which helps create a good story and value to investors.
As they continue to grow and expand their footprint, The Sharp Financial Group hasn’t lost sight of their roots and what makes them unique. They will continue to offer the same high level of personalized service to each and every one of their clients with their differentiated approach to integrated financial management. As their client needs evolve, they will continue to rise to the challenge and enhance their service offerings.