This award was issued on 10/15/2025 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 01/15/2025 through 08/01/2025. 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. 3811 Washington D.C.-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 156 (4 % 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: 3,408, 172, 5%, 10/16/24, 1/9/24 - 8/9/24; 2023: 2,627, 160, 6%, 10/17/23, 1/9/23 - 7/31/23; 2022: 2597, 159, 6%, 10/17/22, 1/10/22 - 8/26/22; 2021: 2091, 129, 6%, 10/17/21, 1/4/21 - 7/23/21; 2020: 2535, 115, 5%, 9/1/20, 1/27/20 - 8/21/20; 2019: 1956, 122, 6%, 10/1/19, 12/31/18 - 8/9/19; 2018: 1975, 100, 5%, 10/1/18, 2/1/18 - 8/24/18; 2017: 1417, 106, 13%, 10/1/17, 2/8/17 - 8/22/17; 2016: 1665, 208, 12%, 8/1/16, 3/2/16 - 8/30/16; 2015: 1837, 227, 12%, 9/1/15, 2/14/15 - 8/10/15; 2012: 449, 97, 22%, 10/4/11, 2/14/11 - 8/10/11.
2025 Five Star Professional (FSP) Five Star Wealth Manager’s award was issued on 10/15/2025 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 01/15/2025 through 08/01/2025. A twenty-five hundred dollar fee was 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. 3,811 Washington D.C.-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 156 (4% of candidates) were named 2025 Five Star Wealth Managers.
2025 Newsweek’s Top Financial Advisory Firms list is based upon an independent survey of Plant-A Insights Group, LLC ("PAI") including the analysis of 2020-2024 data for 15,000 SEC-registered firms (sourced in September 2024). In order to use the Intellectual Property and badge of this third-party rating, Heritage Financial, LLC ("HF") paid PAI seventy-five hundred dollars for its use for two years. The list was published on November 19, 2024.
2024 Money’s Best Financial Planners list is a collaboration between Money magazine and the Financial Planning Association (FPA), a trade association and membership organization that represents more than 17,000 financial planners across the United States. Each planner answered a 35-question survey. The responses were scored using the methodology outlined here: https://money.com/best-financial-planners/methodology/. The list was published on 9/19/2024.
2025 Washingtonian Magazine, DC’s Top Financial Advisors list is based upon a survey of local financial industry peers and was published on 2/13/2025. Washingtonian Magazine currently grants its Washington, DCs Best Financial Advisers: Fee-Only Financial Planners designation based upon other participating investment advisors responses to the following question about their peers: Whom would you trust with your own money? The specific question that Washingtonian promulgates in this respect may vary from year-to-year. Washingtonian also indicates that before granting the award/designation, it: conducted its own research and consulted industry publications; and that the professionals listed received the strongest recommendations from all sources.
Aaron Clarke, CFP®, AIF® was also named a Washingtonian Magazine, DC’s Top Financial Advisor in 2022 (published on 3/22/2022) and 2024 (published 1/15/2024).
2023 Northern Virginia Magazine Top Financial Professionals in NoVA list is based upon a survey of all Northern Virginia Financial Professionals and was published in the September 2023 magazine. Northern Virginia Magazine (NOVA) currently grants its Top Financial Planners designation based upon other participating investment advisors responses to the following question about their peers: “If you had a close friend or relative who needed financial planning advice, and you could not handle the case yourself, to whom would you refer them?” The specific question that NOVA promulgates in this respect may vary from year-to-year.
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.
