---

Five Star Professional, as a third party research firm, identified pre-qualified award candidates based on industry data and contacted all identified broker dealers, Registered Investment Advisor firms and FINRA-registered representatives in the Washington, D.C. area (includes the District of Columbia and Montgomery county in the state of Maryland; Arlington, Fairfax and Loudon counties in the state of Virginia; and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church in the state of Virginia) to gather wealth manager nominations. Self nominations were not accepted.
Award candidates were then evaluated against 10 objective eligibility and evaluation criteria associated with wealth managers who provide quality services to their clients such as client retention rates, client assets administered, firm review and a favorable regulatory and complaint history. Five Star Professional finalized the list of 2012 Five Star Wealth Managers to be no more than 7% of the approximately 17,100 wealth managers in the area. 449 award candidates in the Washington, D.C. area were considered for the award, of which 97 were named 2012 Five Star Wealth Managers.
• Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers.
• The Five Star award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance.
• Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their client's assets.
• The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by Five Star Professional or DC magazine.
• Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by Five Star Professional in the future.
For more information on the Five Star award and the research/selection methodology, go to: fivestarprofessional.com