Argent Financial Group, a diversified Southern wealth and financial services firm responsible for more than $6 billion in client assets, announced today the acquisition of Oxford, Miss.-based Family Wealth Practices, LLC.
Family Wealth Practices, founded in 2008 by Mark Hartnett, specializes in multi-generational family wealth planning. Hartnett will lead the new Argent unit — Argent Family Wealth Services.
J. Phil Buchanan, president of the Ruston, La.-based Argent Financial Group, said acquiring an established firm, specialized in the complex discipline of generational wealth counseling, strategically broadens Argent’s array of financial offerings and primes the company for continued growth.
“In every Argent market, there are individuals in need of a multi-generation family wealth plan that balances the financial, philanthropic and historic legacy they want to pass along,” Buchanan said. “History has shown that financial success in one generation does not necessarily translate to financial success in the succeeding generations.”
“Mark Hartnett’s highly specialized skillset and professional leadership greatly improve Argent’s ability to serve families, whose estates have complex legal and technical considerations, with effective, long-term financial solutions,” Buchanan said.
An attorney, estate planner and professional fiduciary, Hartnett will bring customized family wealth counsel to Argent’s entire Southern footprint, expanding the firm’s ability to deliver a full range of client services, including trust and retirement plan administration, comprehensive investment management, and mineral (oil and gas) wealth management.
“Argent was a natural fit because our firms share a common beginning and a relentless commitment to our values,” said Hartnett, who has 20 years of legal, trust and family wealth counseling experience. “We want to meet individuals where they are, at their homes and in their communities, providing an unparalleled level of service.”
Previously, Hartnett practiced corporate law at Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company and led bank trust departments in the southeast from 1999 to 2008.
About Argent Financial Group
Argent Financial Group, domiciled in Ruston, Louisiana, was formed in 1990 and traces its roots back to 1930. Responsible for more than $6 billion in client assets, Argent Financial Group is a diversified wealth management entity providing individuals and businesses in the mid-South with a broad range of financial services including trust administration and related services, investment management, retirement plan and charitable organization administration, mineral (oil and gas) management, financial, retirement and estate planning, and brokerage services (offered through LPL Financial). For more information, visit www.argentcares.com.
