HBKS Wealth Advisors

HBKS Wealth Advisors

HBKS Wealth Advisors launched in 2001 as the wealth management arm of HBK CPAs & Consultants, a regional accounting firm with roots stretching back to 1949. The founding premise was unusual — instead of the brokerage-to-advisory pipeline that defines most multi-family offices, HBKS grew out of tax and estate planning, pulling in clients who first came to HBK for audit and compliance work. Christopher Alley and Jerry Francis lead the advisory business, operating from the firm's Fort Myers headquarters. Asset allocation follows a manager-of-managers framework. Client portfolios are constructed using external private fund commitments, direct municipals, separately managed accounts, and structured credit facilities. The firm does not operate in-house private equity or venture teams — instead it selects GPs across real estate, private credit, hedge fund strategies, and traditional equity and fixed income. Geographic focus is US-centric, with client concentrations along both coasts and the upper Midwest. Known allocations include institutional real estate partnerships and private credit funds, with manager due diligence conducted by an internal investment committee. The firm maintains additional offices in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey, reflecting the legacy footprint of its parent CPA partnership. Team size has historically been modest relative to AUM — a deliberate choice consistent with the outsourced-investment-manager model rather than a build-out of internal analysts and direct deal teams. HBKS operates adjacent relationships through HBK CPAs & Consultants' network, offering integrated tax strategy and estate planning alongside portfolio construction. Professional staff often hold dual credentials as CPAs and CFPs, a structural feature that differentiates the firm's tax-aware portfolio management posture from broker-dealer competitors. Structurally, HBKS operates under a hybrid multi-family office and RIA model. The firm is legally distinct from the HBK accounting partnership but maintains exclusive referral relationships and shared branding. This architecture creates a built-in pipeline of tax-and-estate-planning clients who convert to wealth management relationships — a sourcing model that sidesteps the asset-gathering costs typical of standalone RIAs. The single-audit-firm origin also means client retention correlates with the lifecycle of the underlying accounting relationships, creating a different set of succession-planning imperatives than those facing brokerage-origin multi-family offices.