This award was issued on 2/1/25 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 5/15/24 through 11/29/24. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 3439 Seattle-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 106 (3% of candidates) were named 2025 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2024: 3,339, 260, 8%, 1/1/24, 5/15/23 - 11/30/23; 2023: 2,994, 268, 9%, 1/1/23, 4/18/22 - 10/21/22; 2022: 2,938, 267, 9%, 1/1/22, 5/10/21 - 11/30/21; 2021: 2,938, 284, 10%, 1/1/21, 4/27/20 - 10/30/20; 2020: 2,735, 273, 10%, 1/1/20, 4/1/19 - 11/13/19; 2019: 2,752, 290, 11%, 1/1/19, 4/23/18 - 11/9/18; 2018: 2,452, 266, 11%, 1/1/18, 4/25/17 - 11/6/17; 2017: 1,785, 436, 24%, 12/1/16, 3/26/16 - 11/18/16; 2016: 1,678, 412, 25%, 12/1/15, 5/12/15 - 10/30/15; 2015: 2,023, 530, 26%, 1/1/15, 5/12/14 - 10/30/14; 2014: 2,649, 424, 16%, 3/1/14, 5/12/13 - 10/30/13; 2013: 2,732, 664, 24%, 1/1/13, 5/12/12 - 10/30/12; 2012: 2,697, 682, 25%, 1/1/12, 5/12/11 - 10/30/11.

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Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.  CRC4003970 12/24

 

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 to gather wealth manager nominations. Self-nominations are not accepted. Award candidates are then evaluated against 10 objective eligibility and evaluation criteria associated with wealth managers who must have a minimum of five years’ experience as an investment adviser representative or other accepted credentials, client retention rates, client assets administered, firm review and a favorable regulatory and complaint history as defined by Five Star. Five Star Professional determines the final list of Five Star Wealth Manager Award winners. The Award does not evaluate the quality of services furnished to clients and it is possible that the recipient may have received unfavorable ratings from those surveyed. Five Star Professional collected the information for this Award through surveys it conducted.

 

-Wealth managers and/or their firms 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 clients’ assets.

-The inclusion of a wealth manager on the list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by Five Star Professional.

-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.

 

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria – required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP’s consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP’s consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client’s experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria – considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The 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 clients’ 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 FSP or this publication. 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 FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.