The Dividend Cafe
The Dividend Cafe
The Bahnsen Group
The Past, Present, and Future of The Bahnsen Group
27 minutes Posted Oct 2, 2026 at 5:16 pm.
Welcome and Housekeeping
Why This Episode Matters
Early Life Before Finance
Entering Wall Street
UBS to Morgan Stanley
Building the Core Team
Going Independent
Choosing Hightower Partner
Growth and Evolution
Acquisition and Autonomy
What Changes for Clients
Personal Motivation Story
Closing and Next Week Preview
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27:32
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Show notes
Today's Post - https://bahnsen.co/4iVv0QW
David Bahnsen announces a temporary shift from the usual Dividend Cafe format: a normal episode on Monday, a future deep dive on long-term bond yields, and a later recap of the firm’s annual New York meetings with money managers. He marks the closing (September 30) of The Bahnsen Group becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Hightower Advisors, explaining what changes and what does not—especially continued autonomy, culture, and client service while leveraging Hightower’s technology, compliance, cybersecurity, and client portal resources. Bahnsen recounts his path into finance from managing musical bands, early career at PaineWebber/UBS, adoption of dividend growth, move to Morgan Stanley, thriving through the financial crisis, key partnerships with Brian Szytel, Kimberly Davis, and Robert Graham, and the 2014 move to independence. He notes current scale (14 offices, 13 cities, $10.5B, ~110 employees) and reiterates he is not leaving the firm.
Links mentioned in this episode:
DividendCafe.com
TheBahnsenGroup.com