This award was issued on 9/1/20 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 12/23/2019 through 07/10/2020. 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. 3314 Atlanta-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 268 (8% of candidates) were named 2020 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2019: 3197, 285, 9%, 9/1/19, 12/10/18 - 7/23/19; 2018: 3248, 287, 9%, 9/1/18, 12/29/17 - 7/24/18; 2017: 2378, 301, 13%, 9/1/17, 12/30/16 - 7/14/17; 2016: 2210, 526, 24%, 8/1/16, 2/4/16 - 7/22/16; 2015: 3620, 546, 15%, 9/1/15, 2/4/15 - 7/22/15; 2014: 4433, 560, 13%, 9/1/14, 2/4/14 - 7/22/14; 2013: 2852, 592, 21%, 9/1/13, 2/4/13 - 7/22/13; 2012: 2660, 607, 23%, 9/1/12, 2/4/12 - 7/22/12.
Baird associates awarded The FIVE STAR Wealth Manager Award received it in the Wealth Management Category. It is important to note that potentially thousands of advisors are considered for the award and historically less than 20 percent received the award in any one of 45 major markets. Crescendo Business Services (Crescendo) created and conducted the survey. The recipient is credentialed as an investment advisor representative or a FINRA registered representative, is currently accepting new clients and has fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards. For more information about the award, please visit https://www.fivestarprofessional.com/public/wmresearch.
Consideration for inclusion in The FIVE STAR Wealth Manager Award program is based on an evaluation that considers one-year client retention rate, five-year client retention rate, non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered, number of client households served and education and professional designations. Only wealth managers with five years of experience in the financial services industry are considered. Additionally, the wealth managers who have made the list must qualify as having a favorable regulatory and compliant history review. To qualify as having a favorable regulatory and compliant history for this award, the wealth manager cannot have (1) been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine, (2) had more than a total of three customer complaints filed against them (settled or pending) with any regulatory authority or Five Star Professional’s consumer compliant process, (3) individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer compliant filed with a regulatory authority, (4) filed for bankruptcy, or (5) been convicted of a felony.
The inclusion of a wealth manager on The FIVE STAR Wealth Manager Award list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by Crescendo nor should it be inferred that the responses used from the survey represent the experience of any clients. This award does not evaluate the quality of service provided and the wealth manager may have had unfavorable ratings. The rating is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance. Additionally, while a recipient of the award is not compelled to pay Crescendo for consideration or to receive the award, the recipient may have to compensate Cresendo for the use of their proprietary material. Cresendo is a for-profit entity.
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.
