*Ranking Criteria: The Winner’s Circle^® is an organization independent of the firms involved and does not receive compensation from the over 100 participating firms or is affiliates, financial advisors, or the media in exchange for ranking purposes. The Winner’s Circle team vetted each nominated advisor through a host of quantitative and qualitative criteria, including assets managed, revenues, experience levels, compliance records, discussions with management, and more. The Winner’s Circle focuses on customer satisfaction and client retention. Portfolio performance is not a criteria.
Minnesota Law & Politics sent a survey in November 2008 to more than 7,000 lawyers, asking them whom do they trust with their investments and whether, given the market meltdown, they still had enough trust to recommend their advisers to family and friends. The lawyers were also invited to submit comments about their advisers. From those comments and responses, they created a list of more than 200 trusted advisers.

FIVE STAR award recipients were nominated by either their broker/dealer or peers or were prequalified. They satisfied objective eligibility and evaluation criteria associated with providing quality services to clients. The criteria includes: active credentialed financial professional for a minimum of 5 years, favorable regulatory and complaint history, fulfillment of firm’s internal review, accepting new clients, client retention rates, client assets administered, number of client households, education and professional designations. No fee is paid to be included in the research or on the final list. The award is not indicative of the wealth managers’ future performance. No more than 7 percent of the wealth managers in a market receive the Five Star award. For more information please visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.

The 2019 ranking of the Forbes' Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person and telephone due-diligence meetings to evaluate each advisor qualitatively and on a ranking algorithm that includes client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations, and quantitative criteria (including assets under management and revenue generated for their firms). Overall, approximately 30,000 advisors were considered, and 3,500 (11.6 percent of candidates) were recognized. This recognition and the due-diligence process conducted are not indicative of the advisor's future performance. Your experience may vary. Winners are organized and ranked by state. Some states may have more advisors than others. You are encouraged to conduct your own research to determine if the advisor is right for you. Portfolio performance is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. SHOOK does not receive a fee in exchange for rankings. The full methodology that Forbes developed in partnership with SHOOK Research is available here