Award Disclosures

The USA TODAY’s 2025 Best Financial Advisory Firms list was researched in
partnership with Statista.  Firms had to meet the following six criteria:

• The firm is registered as an RIA firm with the SEC or at state level for at least one year.
• The firm has a principal office in the United States
• The firm has a clean disciplinary record
• The firm offers financial planning services or portfolio management for individuals and/or small businesses
• The firm’s AUM must be greater than $500,000.
• The firm achieved an overall score among the top 500.

The ranking of the best registered investment advisory firms is based on two
dimensions: recommendations by clients, industry experts, and financial advisors, and a
firm’s development of Assets under Management (AUM).  Recommendations were
collected via an independent survey among over 30,000 individuals.  Clients, industry
experts, and financial advisors working for an RIA firm could recommend the RIA firms
they find commendable.  Self-recommendations were prohibited and were therefore not
included in the evaluation.  AUM development was analyzed both in the short- and long-
term using publicly available data.  Short-term AUM development was calculated over a
twelve-month period from January 2024 to January 2025, while long-term development
spanned a five-year period from 2020 to 2025.  The final score was calculated by
weighting recommendations at 20% and AUM development at 80%.  Within the AUM
growth metric, short-term and long-term growth were each weighted 30/70. The
selection of the firms and the definition of the evaluation criteria were based on
independent journalistic criteria of USA TODAY and Statista.  The evaluation was
carried out by the statistics and research company Statista.  USA TODAY and Statista
make no claim to the completeness of the firms examined.  The ranking only includes
firms that qualify according to the criteria described in this disclaimer.  A position in the
ranking is a positive recognition based on research of publicly available data sources at
the time and extensive surveys.  In addition, events after February 13, 2025 were no
longer considered in the analysis.  As such, the results of this list should not be
considered in conjunction with other available information about a financial advisory
firm.  The quality of financial advisory firms that are not included in the ranking is not
disputed.

The RIA Edge 100 list was developed by Wealthmanagement.com's WMIQ research
team in partnership with ISS MI using data from its Discovery Data MarketPro platform.
Qualifying firms were limited to SEC-registered investment advisory firms that provide
financial planning services, have high-net-worth individuals as more than half of their
client base, and manage at least $500 million in assets. Analyzing that subset of RIAs,
WMIQ ranked firms by several other metrics, including AUM growth over both one- and
five-year periods, the ratio of employees to total clients, the percentage of employees
with the CFP certification, and average client account size, among other factors. Each
metric was given an equal weighting and, on balance, is intended to provide a clear
picture of firm growth as it relates to client service and internal talent. RIA Edge 100
firms are those with the most impressive growth rates combined with the best
employee-to-client ratios and highest CFP certifications. The RIA Edge 100 is not a
ranking. Nor is it a subjective “best advisor” list based on business relationships,
influencer status or social media popularity. Firms cannot apply for the list, nor is there a
cost to be included. Instead, the RIA Edge 100 was designed to surface a premier
group of well-managed firms that reinvest in their businesses, maintaining a high level
of client service, and continuing to grow by design, not by default.

Worth Magazine’s 2025 Top RIA Firms uses a rigorous selection process using the
following stringent benchmarks:

1. AUM of Over $500 Million: Demonstrates substantial experience and trust in handling significant wealth.
2. Predominantly High-Net-Worth Clients: Shows specialized expertise in managing the complex financial situations typical of wealthier clients.
3. Substantial Planning Clientele: Indicates a focus on comprehensive financial planning rather than simple asset management.
4. Independence from Broker-Dealers: Ensures advice is unbiased and purely client-centric.

The rankings were developed in collaboration with Institutional Shareholder
Services (ISS), a proxy advisory firm that helps investors comply with SEC rules for
ADV Forms disclosure of proxy voting records. The Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) requires companies to compile and present financial and business
information, reports, and disclosures to provide transparency to investors and the
public.  Leading Advisor assessments are based on the data that firms submit to the
SEC in these disclosures. The public can review SEC filings through the commission’s
online database, EDGAR.