Calton

What Calton does

Calton & Associates, Inc. is a privately-held, independent broker-dealer and registered investment adviser founded in 1987 and headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The firm provides an open-architecture platform serving approximately 400 independent financial professionals across more than 100 offices nationwide, who in turn deliver brokerage, advisory, insurance, and financial planning services to retail investors under Transactional, Hybrid BD/RIA, and Corporate RIA business models. Its product surface spans investment products (mutual funds, alternatives, insurance and annuities, fixed income), fee-based advisory programs (including the Premier-MAP wrap, Separately Managed Accounts, Mutual Fund/ETF Wrap, Unified Managed Accounts, and Third Party Money Managers), clearing firm services via dual correspondent relationships with Hilltop Securities and National Financial Services (NFS), and an in-house fixed income trading operation with 10 desks transacting over $4 billion annually across municipal, corporate, government, agency, and mortgage-backed securities. Account assets serviced through the platform exceed $6 billion.

The technology backbone integrates partner solutions including Envestnet for managed accounts and rebalancing, Redtail CRM, eMoney for financial planning, Laser App for forms automation, DST Vision for data aggregation, and Artisan Repertoire, all accessed through Calton's proprietary CAL-NET advisor portal and the clearing firm platforms (Hilltop MOmentum, NFS Wealthscape, plus VisionInvestor for clients). Revenue is generated through brokerage commissions, recurring wrap and asset-based advisory fees, fixed income trading markups across institutional and inter-dealer flows, and insurance and annuity commissions. GTM is sales-led and channel-driven: Calton recruits independent advisors through personalized outreach emphasizing advisor freedom, large-firm resources, and small-firm personalized service, then enables those advisors to serve end clients under their preferred business model with multi-custodian choice. The firm is independently owned (President Dwayne K. Calton suggests founder-family involvement), with no public listing, no institutional investors, and no disclosed funding rounds or M&A activity in the input data.

Name

Calton

Legal name

Calton & Associates, Inc.

Website

https://calton.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Calton & Associates is an independently-owned broker-dealer and RIA founded in 1987, serving approximately 400 independent financial professionals across 100+ U.S. offices with an open-architecture platform spanning advisory programs, fixed income trading, and dual correspondent clearing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Broker-Dealer and Investment Advisory Services

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Independent Broker-Dealers (Retail Network) (FSAAAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Comprehensive/Full-Service RIAs & Independent Wealth Managers (FSAAACAA), Independent Broker-Dealer / Registered Representative Networks (FSAEACAG)

Keywords

• Independent broker-dealer
• Registered investment adviser
• Wealth management platform
• Fixed income trading
• Advisor custodial services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tampa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Brokerage Commissions and Transactional Fees: Generated from general securities trading and clearing on behalf of independent financial professionals and their clients through the firm's open-architecture platform with mutual fund, insurance, alternative investment, and equity/fixed income product offerings.
2. Advisory / Wrap Fee Programs: Recurring fee-based revenue from advisory programs (Advisor Directed, Premier-MAP, SMA, Mutual Fund/ETF Wrap, Unified Managed Accounts, Third Party Money Managers) where portfolio management, custody, and rebalancing fees are bundled into a single wrap fee.
3. Asset-Based Advisory Fees on RIA / Hybrid Platforms: Recurring asset-based fees earned on RIA, Hybrid BD/RIA, and Corporate RIA platforms where advisors custody assets through Charles Schwab, NFS, Hilltop Securities, or Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions.
4. Fixed Income Trading Markup / Institutional Sales: Revenue from 10 fixed income trading offices transacting more than $4 billion annually across municipal, corporate, government, agency, and mortgage-backed securities, primarily with large institutional accounts and other broker-dealers.
5. Insurance & Annuity Commissions: Producer/commission revenue from selling insurance and annuity products, leveraging the firm's separate insurance agency operations in addition to its broker-dealer and RIA activities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Calton & Associates, Inc. is an independently-owned broker-dealer and Registered Investment Adviser that provides independent financial professionals with an open-architecture platform for brokerage, advisory, fixed income trading, and insurance services. Its core business is supporting approximately 400 independent advisors across 100+ U.S. offices under Transactional, Hybrid BD/RIA, and Corporate RIA business models, with $6B+ in account assets and $4B+ in annual fixed income trading volume.

Product overview

Calton & Associates, Inc. operates a multi-product broker-dealer and registered investment adviser (RIA) platform rather than a single unified SaaS product. Its core offerings include Investment Products (an open architecture product shelf), Advisory Services (a modular suite of fee-based programs that includes Premier-MAP as its wrap-fee offering, plus Separately Managed Accounts, Mutual Fund and ETF Wrap, Unified Managed Accounts, Third Party Money Managers, and Advisor/Client Directed options), Trading Services (in-house fixed income trading desks plus electronic platforms BondPro and BondTraderPro), and Clearing Firm Services (dual clearing through Hilltop Securities and National Financial Services LLC). These services are bound together by the CAL-NET advisor portal and the integrated clearing-firm client portals (Hilltop MOmentum and NFS Wealthscape/Wealthscape Investor, plus VisionInvestor), which together provide the technology backbone that ties Calton's advisory programs, trading, custody, and client account access into one platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Premier-MAP (Premier Managed Advisory Program): Calton's wrap-fee advisory program offering all-inclusive investment management and asset allocation services using investment sleeves, developed by Calton's investment research team and/or third-party asset managers.

Products and services

• Investment Products Open-architecture investment product platform offering one of the widest ranges of investment product selections via selling agreements with numerous mutual fund, insurance, alternative investment, and fixed income firms. Used by independent financial professionals and their end clients.
• Advisory Services Fee-based advisory platform offering multiple programs (Advisor Directed, Premier-MAP, Separately Managed Accounts, Mutual Fund and ETF Wrap, Client Directed, Unified Managed Accounts, and Third Party Money Managers) supported across multiple custodians. Used by independent financial professionals to deliver managed-account advisory services to their clients.
• Premier-MAP (Premier Managed Advisory Program) Calton's wrap-fee advisory program offering all-inclusive investment management, asset allocation, custody, and rebalancing in a single fee. Portfolios built using investment sleeves selected by Calton's investment committee and/or third-party managers. Available to clients of Calton financial professionals.
• Trading Services In-house fixed income trading operation with 10 trading desks transacting more than $4 billion annually across municipal, corporate, government, agency, and mortgage-backed securities. Includes electronic trading access via BondPro and BondTraderPro. Supports both retail advisors and institutional/broker-dealer counterparties.
• Clearing Firm Services Dual-clearing offering that lets Calton financial professionals choose between Hilltop Securities and National Financial Services LLC for clearing and custody of client securities trades. Supports advisor-directed, advisor-managed, and client-directed accounts across the two clearing platforms.
• Client Offerings Suite Suite of products and services delivered through Calton advisors to clients: general securities trading and clearance, mutual funds, insurance and annuities, fee-based investment programs, alternative investments, financial planning services, and retirement plan services.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $6 billion in account assets serviced across the platform
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration16 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EnvestnetcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a Technology Partner on the At-A-Glance page; underpins Calton's Advisory Services through an integrated offering via National Financial Services, providing access to 15,000+ products, hundreds of SMA managers, rebalancing, performance reporting, and analytics for managed accounts clients.
• National Financial Services LLC (Fidelity)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDual clearing firm relationship and RIA custodian; supports the Wealthscape broker-dealer workstation, Wealthscape Investor client portal, BondTraderPro electronic trading, Envestnet-integrated managed accounts platform, and VisionInvestor account access. NYSE member firm.
• Hilltop SecuritiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDual clearing firm and RIA custodian; wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE-listed). Provides MOmentum platform, BondPro electronic trading, business continuity disclosure, and SEC Rule 606 disclosures for Calton's correspondent clearing clients.
• Fidelity Clearing & Custody SolutionscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorListed as an Other Advisory Custodian for Hybrid BD/RIA and Corporate RIA business models, supporting RIA asset custody alongside Charles Schwab, NFS, and Hilltop Securities.
• TD Ameritrade InstitutionalminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorListed as an Other Advisory Custodian for Hybrid BD/RIA and Corporate RIA business models.
• Charles SchwabcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCustodian relationship for RIA assets in Hybrid BD/RIA and Corporate RIA business models, alongside NFS, Hilltop Securities, and Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions.
• Mutual Fund and Insurance Product Companies (open architecture)coreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerCalton has selling agreements with many mutual fund and insurance companies as well as alternative investment firms; product partners are not all individually named in the source.
• Third-Party Money Managers / Strategists (Calton Premier-MAP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalton's investment research team and third-party asset managers co-develop Premier-MAP portfolios, with Calton's investment committee making the final investment selection and management decisions for the wrap program.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Kestra Financial: Independent broker-dealer and RIA platform serving independent financial professionals with open-architecture products, hybrid RIA support, and dedicated transition assistance. Closely aligned with Calton's positioning toward breakaway and growth-oriented advisors.
• Waddell & Reed Financial: Diversified IBD/wealth management platform (acquired by Macquarie Asset Management in 2021) supporting independent financial advisors across the U.S. Comparable in independent-advisor support model, although materially larger in scale than Calton.
• Osaic (formerly Advisor Group): Large IBD platform formed from the combination of Advisor Group IBDs (Royal Alliance, SagePoint, FSC Securities, Woodbury Financial, Triad Advisors, Infinex), supporting independent advisors across multiple sub-brands. Directly comparable to Calton in advisor services and open-architecture products.
• LPL Financial: The largest independent broker-dealer in the U.S., supporting tens of thousands of advisors across Hybrid RIA, Corporate RIA, and traditional brokerage models. Directly comparable to Calton in business model and target advisor segment, but materially larger in scale.
• Cambridge Investment Research: Large privately held independent broker-dealer/RIA supporting thousands of financial advisors across Transactional, Hybrid RIA, and Corporate RIA models. Closest mid-to-large IBD peer to Calton in terms of advisor-support philosophy and open-architecture platform.
• Cetera Financial Group: Multi-channel IBD/RIA firm supporting thousands of independent advisors through multiple custodian and business model options. Directly comparable to Calton in advisor recruitment strategy and hybrid RIA focus.
• Independent Financial Group (IFG): Mid-tier independent broker-dealer and RIA supporting hundreds of independent advisors with hybrid RIA structures, open-architecture products, and multiple custodian relationships. A close size and model match to Calton.
• Stifel Independent Advisors: Independent-advisor channel of Stifel Financial, offering IBD/RIA services to breakaway and existing independent advisors with research, technology, and back-office support. Directly comparable in advisor-segment focus and hybrid RIA model.
• NEXT Financial Group: Mid-sized independent broker-dealer and RIA serving independent financial professionals with multiple business model options and an open-architecture platform. Comparable to Calton in advisor count and independent-channel focus.

Broad incumbents

• Hilltop Securities: Wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH) and one of Calton's two core clearing firms, providing correspondent clearing, fixed income trading infrastructure (BondPro, MOmentum), and RIA custody. Overlaps with Calton in fixed income capability but operates at much larger institutional scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/caltoninc
• Facebookfacebook.com/calton-associates-inc-1672695246374846
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/calton-&-associates-inc-

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Calton