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Wealth Management

For a consumer, finding the right wealth manager to manage their assets is a key life decision. In the United States there are more than 50,000 wealth managers that hold the advanced Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) certification, and there are more than 27,000 Registered Investment Advisors.

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Here are a few of the criteria that Goldline Research uses when evaluating a dependable Wealth Manager:

  • The number of years of experience of the firm/professional
  • The range of services and/or products offered (e.g. financial planning, estate planning, investment management, etc.)
  • The number of total staff in the firm
  • The number of staff with advanced certifications
  • Advanced certifications and/or training held (e.g. CFP®, CFA®, etc.)
  • The number of investment advisors
  • An analysis of the client: advisor ratio
  • An analysis of the client: staff ratio
  • Assets under management
  • Any client minimums
  • Average client account size
  • Amount of assets added in the last 12 months
  • Amount of assets lost in the last 12 months
  • The firm’s fee structure (e.g. fee-only, fee-based, etc.)
  • An analysis of the firms’ fiduciary commitment to clients (e.g. signed fiduciary oath)
  • Licensing (local, state, federal), if applicable
  • Geographic service area
  • Any relationships that the firm/professional has with other related services (e.g. estate planning, accounting, etc.)
  • The number of active clients
  • The number of total clients
  • An analysis of any client additions in the last 12 months
  • An analysis of any client losses in the last 12 months
  • The quality of client references
  • A review of any outstanding lawsuits, grievances and/or complaints against the firm/professional
  • The firm’s/professional’s key differentiators