Many of the advisors on this year’s Bank Investment Consultant's Top 100 list focus on fostering personal relationships with their clients that go well beyond portfolio building and financial planning.
One advisor notes that taking an interest in clients’ lives outside of financials — including travel plans, restaurant preferences and hobbies — is what deepens an advisor-client partnership. “Clients want a down-to-earth, non-stuffy person who is knowledgeable but can be looked upon as an extension of their family,” he says.
Another advisor makes it a point to visit his clients abroad, in places including South America, the Caribbean and Europe. While many on the list acknowledge that technology increasingly does and should play an important role in financial planning, face-to-face human contact is still prized.
“I stay relevant by being able to hold my clients’ hands to and through retirement,” one advisor notes. “A computer cannot do that.”
The advisors on our list have a variety of different focuses, and varying degrees of experience. Some have a high-net-worth clientele, while others make it a point to work with clients who have less than $1 million to invest. Some have been in the industry for 30-plus years, others are new to advising. This year’s No. 1 advisor uses his relative youth as a differentiator, aiming to work with families for generations to come.
This year’s list, like last year’s, was created through a formula encompassing AUM, production and percentage of fee-based business. Some on the list shone in some areas and were less strong in others. Some advisors have also dealt with challenges in the past, including involvement in client settlements. However, a professional life without challenges is rare, and all on our list are, of course, licensed, working advisors who currently serve clients both across the country and the globe.
As we noted last year, statistics don’t tell the whole story of an advisor and his or her worth. There are many qualities that cannot be measured by a list like this, such as how an advisor relates to each client and what they give back to their communities, among many other more subjective characteristics. However, numbers do tell their own story, and we consider our formula a fair way to rank advisors for this annual list.
Citibank, Raymond James and LPL were represented heavily this year, along with other firms including SunTrust, Pinnacle and Citizens.
See our full top 100 advisor coverage in our slideshows, beginning with the top 25.