An Open Letter, Part Two - What We've Heard from Commonwealth Advisors

Our conversations have made one thing unmistakably clear: You’ve built something meaningful – rooted in independence, trust, and purpose. And now, you’re watching that foundation start to shift.

Here’s what we heard over and over:

• You didn’t spend your life building trust just to be folded into something impersonal.
• You care deeply about your clients, your teams, and your culture.
• You value community – not bureaucracy.
• You’re being told a lot – but the clarity just isn’t there.
• And more than a few of you have said, “I already feel like a number.”

The Real Cost of Acquisition Synergies

There’s a lot of talk about LPL retaining what makes Commonwealth special, but their history of acquisitions tells a different story. The eye-catching transaction value and structure; the delineated hundreds of millions of dollars of synergy savings; and yet, the promises to preserve the culture. It simply doesn’t add up.

Here’s what you should ask yourself:

• Will the back-office team you’ve come to rely on be consolidated?
• Will the Fidelity/NFS custody and clearing model you’ve optimized for be replaced?
• What happens if the tech stack that set you apart is sunset?
• Is your flexibility quietly narrowing – one decision at a time?

Synergies don’t just fall from the trees; they have to be harvested by making tough decisions and consolidating into existing, scaled, unified processes, and offerings.

The fact is that LPL cannot achieve the synergies it has touted without consolidating technologies, eliminating clearing and custody choices, and dramatically reducing headcount.

There are no shortcuts. We pride ourselves on plain-English transparency of precisely what advisors and employees should expect in an acquisition.

And with so much of what you’ve relied on going away, what do you get in exchange? A retention check. A few basis points to make the pain feel like progress.

Let’s be real: This deal wasn’t designed to protect what you built. Commonwealth was acquired so LPL could scale and become even bigger. That benefits their shareholders, but how does it benefit you?

At Cetera, we're not trying to be the biggest. We're focused on being the best fit for advisors who believe this is still a relationship business.

We've built an ecosystem – not a platform. We support multiple models, multiple custodians, and multiple definitions of success. We're not here to pick winners and losers.

This means:

• You choose your affiliation model. Because we believe your business should reflect you, not us.
• You keep your brand. We give you scale behind it.
• You select your tech and custodian. No lock-ins. No sunsets.
• You serve clients your way. We amplify your impact.
• You own your journey. We bring the infrastructure and growth engines to accelerate it.

This is the Cetera Advantage - how we deliver community without conformity, flexibility without compromise, scale without bureaucracy, independence without isolation.

If you're a Commonwealth advisor questioning what's next, you're not alone. We're hearing it everywhere – this moment is about more than tech platforms and payout grids. It's about identity. Autonomy. The right to choose who you are and how you lead.

At Cetera, we protect the advisors who still believe this is a profession, not a pipeline. We back entrepreneurs who want independence with infrastructure. And we stand with those who refuse to be commoditized.

That's why we're offering qualified advisors:

1. Up to 150 bps of transition assistance – generous and customizable.
2. Custodial choice – stay on Fidelity/NFS or move to Pershing or Cetera's own deeply integrated CIS for "self-custody and clearing."
3. Keep your brand – or amplify with ours. Either way, you're in charge. If you choose to go to market under your brand, we'll spend on that. We believe the grass is greener where you water it – we're not spending millions to put our brand in front of yours. YOU are the celebrity we want to hang out with!
4. White-glove onboarding – 80+ transition specialists, on your timeline.
5. Personalized growth access – grow 50% faster with our GrowthLine Growth Guarantee.

This is not a retention check. It's a runway – for your next chapter, your way.