Believe in More.
We know that you want more from your advising business. Tell us what more means to you – and let us help you achieve it.
Business Out of the Box
We get it. You dream of building a financial advising practice that reflects your unique personality and outlook on life. And your first instinct is to think you have to do it all yourself, from marketing and meetings to technology and transitions. Who has time to do all of that?

That's where we come in.
When you work with AE Wealth Management, you get an experienced and knowledgeable team dedicated to helping you build your business. And you also have access to our full range of services and expertise:
Holistic Financial Planning
Backed by industry-leading technology, our platform makes it easy for you to make informed decisions in line with your clients’ risk tolerance and overall financial goals. You get:
Greater Visibility
- AE Wealth Management’s integrated technology platform includes investment management, financial planning and retirement planning, giving clients a 360° view of their finances.
- Innovative software helps you align your clients’ portfolios with their risk profile, providing a customized retirement plan with daily account recalibration.
- Integrated advisor dashboards and single-source login simplify client acquisition, account opening, trading, rebalancing and more.
One-Stop Solution
- Joining AEWM integrates your wealth management team with the Advisors Excel annuity and life teams you already trust to help you make holistic recommendations to clients.
- Learn about our all-encompassing platform and holistic approach toward financial planning with a variety of AEWM’s technology trainings and small groups.
Full Transparency
- Our Client Welcome Kit helps you explain the transition process and benefits of joining a new RIA to your clients. The InvestmentHQ mobile app helps your clients monitor their portfolio performance while staying connected with you.
Custom Money Management
Trustworthiness
- You’ll be supported by a team of CFAs, providing best-in-class investment solutions and ensuring you fulfill your fiduciary responsibilities.
- Our rigorously vetted, heavily monitored and well-respected money management platform helps your clients feel confident about retirement
Time-Tested Principles
- Our investment platform employs historically proven principles of successful investing: including active, passive and tactical investing as well as diversification and rebalancing.
Constant Due Diligence
- We do the heavy lifting for you, conducting extensive and exhaustive due diligence on all investment managers to identify those with a disciplined, transparent and repeatable process.
Technology & Software
Portable, Reliable Technology
- Give your clients easy access to all their accounts with web-based tools designed to provide the information they need – whenever and wherever they need it.
Goal-Focused Planning
- Offer a 360-degree view of each client’s financial picture with integrated investment management, financial planning and retirement planning services.
- Help clients make informed decisions aligned with their financial goals and risk tolerance with some of the industry’s most recognizable Financial Planning Software.
Strong Industry Partners
- Capitalize on our partnership with some of the top companies and leaders in the wealth management industry.
Strategic Support
Dedicated Account Team
- A highly knowledgeable and integrated transition team – spanning AUM, annuity and life – will develop a customized transition plan.
- Our compliance team helps manage the paperwork required to transition your business and meet your state’s regulatory requirements.
- Case design helps you maximize your time with clients by preparing fee analysis and presentations.
Hands-On Assistance
- AE Wealth Management works closely with you on every aspect of your transition, including research, document processing and training.
- Your AEWM transition consultant can help organize a client paperwork-signing event, with AEWM staff on hand to ensure your event is a success
- Our team provides operations and technology training for you and your associates before, during and after your transition.
Turnkey Transition Process
Fast Transition
- It takes an average of 60 to 90 days to transition to AE Wealth Management. Our efficiency allows you to focus on running your business.
- Once your client applications are signed, we help you and your staff open new accounts, submit transfers and enable cash management.
- Our service team carefully monitors the feedback we receive from transitioning advisors to help us continually improve turn times and handle any ongoing service issues.

You also get advice and support from experienced professionals who understand the challenges of growing a financial practice. We work closely with you to build the business you want — which may look totally different than any other financial advising business out there.
Best of all, we assist with all the stuff behind the scenes, to help free up your time to focus on what’s most important for the future of your business. Now that’s thinking outside the box.
Meet Your AE Wealth Management Team


Kevin Thornton
Vice President of Wealth Management

Justin Kuhl
Director of Wealth

John Del-Zio
Director of Wealth
Kevin Thornton
Before joining AEWM, Kevin worked as a financial advisor and then as an internal wholesaler and a hybrid wholesaler on the 401(k) team at Ivy Investments. As a team leader, he applies the knowledge he gained in those roles to consult with advisors about their overall practice; provide insights regarding appropriate business structures; and give suggestions about sales, marketing and branding strategies.
Kevin is a graduate of the University of Kansas, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance. He holds a life and health insurance license and has passed the Series 6, 7, 63 and 65 exams. He has earned his Certified 401(k) Professional (C(k)P®) designation, which recognizes a combination of practical plan management experience and the completion of a highly specialized educational program.
Kevin and his wife, Ashley, have two sons, Parker and Carson. Kevin is an avid KU Jayhawks fan and enjoys trap/skeet shooting, going on wine-tasting tours and volunteering in his church.
Ben Sullivan
Bio coming soon!
John Del-Zio
John joined Advisors Excel in September of 2020 to help support and build out AE Financial Services. In July of 2022, he joined Team Thornton. John Del-Zio has over 25 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industries. John is a dedicated professional providing essential products and solutions for individuals, families, and business owners. Throughout his career he has been an individual contributor, sales leader, and program manager. John graduated from San Diego State University and holds the Series 24, 7, 65, 63, and Kansas Life and Health License.
John’s success can be attributed to his unwavering focus on the client. By taking the time to understand their unique values and needs, he transforms ideas into actionable plans.
John and his wife Maureen, who also works at AE, have been married for 22 years and have four children. They moved their family to become part of the AE family from Southern California. John enjoys cooking, playing tennis, and hiking. He also volunteers at his church in Topeka.

Lisa Becker
Senior Relationship Manager

Chelsea Walter
Relationship Manager
Lisa Becker
Lisa began her career at AEWM in 2017 as a transition consultant and moved to Team Thornton as relationship manager in early 2019. Prior to joining AEWM, she worked in an independent financial advisor’s office for 13 years, gaining a deep understanding of all the pain points advisors experience on a daily basis.
Lisa has her Kansas life insurance license and has passed the Series 6 and 63 exams. An avid reader and podcast listener, she is always learning and growing, both to benefit her own personal development and better serve the advisors with whom she works.
Lisa’s husband, Chad, also works for AEWM, and they have two kids, Emma and Jacob. They love to explore new places together — especially tropical locales boasting sandy beaches and cold drinks. Lisa has never met a dog she didn’t love, and her dream is to live in a tiny treehouse on a beach with her husband and dog.
Chelsea Walter
With over a decade of experience in the financial industry, Chelsea joined AEWM in March of 2016 as a transition consultant. She enjoyed training offices on all things AEWM and assisted them as they transitioned their clients over. After two years, she then moved to compliance, where she spent a year on our onboarding team before becoming a compliance examiner in March 2019. Chelsea is looking forward to putting her knowledge and experience to work, so she can provide excellent customer service to all of the advisors who partner with Team Thornton. Before joining AEWM, she worked in banking for nine years. Chelsea has passed her Series 7 exam and is currently studying for her Series 66.
Chelsea is a native of Topeka, Kansas, where she still lives. In her spare time, Chelsea loves to read and spend time with friends and family.
Our Strategic Relationships
Outsourced Chief Investment Officer
Sterling Capital Management LLC
Sterling Capital Management is an SEC registered investment adviser with $59 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2020, and serves as our outsourced chief investment officer. Sterling strives to offer consistent, long-term investment performance and investment management support, due diligence on asset managers and in-depth research and analytical reporting.
Third-Party Custodians
TD Ameritrade Institutional
TD Ameritrade Institutional* is a leading provider of comprehensive brokerage and custody services to over 6,000 fee-based independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and their clients. Their collaborative approach and innovative technology solutions ensure that we spend less time navigating a one-size-fits-all solution and more time focused on exceeding your expectations.
Fidelity InstitutionalSM
Fidelity InstitutionalSM (FI) provides a comprehensive clearing and custody platform, brokerage services, trading capabilities, and practice management and consulting to registered investment advisors (RIAs),including strategic acquirers and professional asset managers, as well as retirement recordkeepers, broker-dealer firms, banks, and insurance companies through National Financial Services LLC (NFS) or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC. In addition to providing services to third-party institutions, the NFS brokerage platform supports all the clearing and custody businesses at Fidelity, including Fidelity’s retail and capital markets businesses, bringing NFS assets under administration to more than $4 trillion as of 09/30/2020.
Fidelity InstitutionalSM("Fidelity") is an independent company, unaffiliated with AE Wealth Management. Fidelity is a service provider to AE Wealth Management, LLC. There is no form of legal partnership, agency affiliation, or similar relationship between your financial advisor and Fidelity, nor is such a relationship created or implied by the information herein. Fidelity has not been involved with the preparation of the content supplied by AE Wealth Management and does not guarantee, or assume any responsibility for, its content.
Fidelity is a registered trademark of FMR LLC. FI provides clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC.
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Technology Solution Providers
Ready to build the business you’ve always dreamed about?
It’s time to take that next step! Contact us if you’re someone who:
- Wants to nail your marketing and branding — but you’re not sure where to start
- Wishes for more time in your day to focus on the tasks that will take your business to the next level
- Desires to become a first-class financial advisor for your clients
To get started, simply fill out the form! We’ll take it from there.
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Our brochure shows you exactly what to expect from your dedicated AE Wealth Management team.
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