Best financial advisors, top firms for 2025

Amid economic uncertainty, the very best monetary advisors can present a gradual hand to buyers in any stage of life or with any stage of wealth.

Whether or not you are early in your profession or nearing your golden years, monetary advisors may help you meet key milestones and tackle planning wants akin to saving for retirement, investing a windfall, funding college education, managing portfolio income or shaping your legacy.  

However discovering a superb monetary advisor is not simple. 

To determine monetary advisors who might finest meet your wants, you possibly can ask folks for referrals and use assets akin to CNBC’s Monetary Advisor 100. Confirm advisors’ credentials and examine for complaints by way of the Monetary Business Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission‘s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, then interview these in your brief checklist.

We created CNBC’s Monetary Advisor 100 in 2019 to acknowledge the nation’s finest monetary advisors and prime monetary advisory companies. CNBC accepts no fee for placement. 

Our crew makes use of information evaluation, with information associate AccuPoint Options, and editorial assessment to compile CNBC’s Monetary Advisor 100 checklist. For 2025, the method started with 40,563 registered funding advisor companies, or RIAs, and that checklist was decreased to 1,015 that met CNBC’s necessities. CNBC surveyed the finalists for extra particulars about their follow and verified responses towards publicly obtainable assets. Then AccuPoint used CNBC’s weighted standards to rank the companies. (Read more about the methodology under.)

For 2025, CNBC’s prime advisors collectively handle $223 billion. The companies have a mean of 32 years in enterprise.

A fiduciary financial advisor acts in the very best curiosity of the consumer, no matter how that impacts their enterprise or backside line.

Some monetary advisors, akin to RIAs, are sure by the fiduciary standard. Nonetheless, funding brokers should observe a suitability standard, which signifies that suggestions could also be applicable however not essentially the most suitable choice.

Discovering the right financial advisor might require some homework, however you can begin with referrals from trusted colleagues, buddies or relations.

Relying in your wants, you possibly can examine for advisors’ energetic credentials, akin to certified financial planner, or CFP; certified public accountant, or CPA; or chartered financial analyst, or CFA.

You may also examine for regulatory violations and buyer complaints, additionally known as disclosures, by way of BrokerCheck from FINRA, and the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure web site from the SEC. State regulators might present extra data for smaller companies.

Earlier than selecting a monetary advisor, you must meet and interview potential candidates. These 10 questions from the CFP Board may assist slender down your checklist:

1. What are your {qualifications} and credentials?
2. What providers do you supply?
3. Will you’ve gotten a fiduciary obligation to me?
4. What’s your strategy to monetary planning?
5. What kinds of shoppers do you sometimes work with?
6. Will you be the one advisor working with me?
7. How will I pay on your providers?
8. How a lot do you sometimes cost?
9. Do others stand to achieve from the monetary recommendation you give me?
10. Have you ever ever been publicly disciplined for unethical or illegal actions in your profession?

Earlier than hiring a monetary advisor, it is essential to know their compensation structure and the way it may affect their suggestions.  

Sometimes, monetary advisors are paid by way of fee, charges or a hybrid of the 2. Fee-only means the advisor doesn’t obtain a fee from merchandise. Some fee-only examples might embrace flat quantities for one-time tasks, hourly charges, month-to-month retainers or property below administration, or AUM.

Fee-based recommendation stands out as the lowest-cost possibility for recommendation a few particular monetary product. Nonetheless, commission-based recommendation can current a conflict of interest in some instances. 

By comparability, AUM is mostly a set share every year, however the quantity paid varies based mostly on the scale of your portfolio. Some advisors paid by way of AUM have minimal asset necessities, which may be much less inclusive to buyers with a smaller portfolio.  

Robo-advisors are algorithms developed by corporations to mechanically make investments your cash based mostly in your danger tolerance. Some robo-advisors supply further options, akin to entry to a human advisor and tax-loss harvesting, which makes use of losses to offset different portfolio good points.  

Against this, a human monetary advisor can supply tailor-made, complete monetary planning to fulfill particular objectives. This will embrace steerage on investing, taxes, insurance coverage, retirement planning, property planning and different areas.

In 2024, the median robo-advisor payment was round 0.25% of assets per year, based mostly on 16 U.S.-based platforms, in keeping with Morningstar’s 2025 Robo-Advisor Report. Nonetheless, charges may be considerably increased, relying on the platform. To match, monetary advisors sometimes cost round 1% of property below administration, or 100 foundation factors, relying on the scale of your portfolio.   

If you happen to’re new to investing, most specialists advocate beginning along with your office 401(k), relatively than a robo-advisor, and contributing at the least as much as your employer’s matching contribution. With out a office plan, you possibly can take into account a Roth individual retirement account, which gives tax-free development, amongst different advantages.

Constancy recommends aiming for at the least 15% of pretax income for retirement, together with your employer match. The most well-liked 401(okay) funding, target-date funds, additionally supply automated asset allocation, relying in your deliberate retirement date.  

You may study extra by studying our full methodology for figuring out the very best monetary advisors.

CNBC private finance reporters Jessica Dickler, Gregory Iacurci, Lorie Konish, Annie Nova and Ana Teresa Solá contributed to this story. 

CNBC receives no compensation from inserting monetary advisory companies on our Financial Advisor 100 list. Moreover, a agency’s or advisor’s look in our rating doesn’t represent a person endorsement by CNBC of any agency or advisor.