MagnifyMoney 
If you’re looking for a financial advisor in Indiana, this list rounding up the best financial advisors in the Hoosier State is here to make your search easier. Before you dive into comparing firms, however, it’s always important to take a step back and consider your personal financial situation, including your financial goals and how much you can afford to pay for assistance with your portfolio.
Once you’re ready to begin comparison shopping, this list can help you narrow it down through our compilation of the most pertinent data points on Indiana’s top advisors. To determine the best advisors in Indiana, we solely looked at firms that manage individual accounts and offer financial planning services. We then ranked these firms based on assets under management (AUM), which serves as a general metric for a firm’s size. Although not formally part of our ranking, we encourage readers to take note of each firm’s client-to-advisor ratio, as this indicates how much attention you may get as a client. All data used in our methodology is taken from each firm’s most recent Form ADV filing with the SEC so as to ensure the accuracy and reliability of our rankings.
Although our ranking cannot tell you which firm may be best for you, it hopefully can help make the shopping experience easier. Check out our list below for an in-depth look at the top firms in Indiana:
| Firm name | City | Minimum Assets Required | Investor to Advisor Ratio | Fee Structure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford Financial Group, Ltd | Carmel | $5 million | 21:1 |
|
| Valeo Financial Advisors, LLC | Carmel | No set minimum | 27:1 |
|
| Sanctuary Advisors, LLC | Indianapolis | No set account minimum | 24:1 |
|
| ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors, LLC | Carmel | No set account minimum | 4:1 |
|
| SYM Financial Advisors | Winona Lake | Not specified | 26:1 |
|
| Donaldson Capital Management LLC | Evansville | $500,000 | 45:1 |
|
| Windsor Wealth Management, Inc. | Indianapolis | Not specified | 80:1 |
|
| Bedel Financial Consulting Inc | Indianapolis | Varies by age | 69:1 |
|
| Axia Advisory | Indianapolis | Not specified | 18:1 |
|
| Winthrop Capital Management | Indianapolis | $500,000 | 38:1 |
|
For our search, we looked at firms across the state of Indiana. All of the firms considered are bound by fiduciary duty, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and offer individual account management and financial planning services. Information used for our methodology criteria is taken directly from each firm’s most recent Form ADV filing and brochure, found on the IAPD database.
To localize our results for this list, we exclusively looked at firms that met the above criteria and had their headquarters in Indiana, as per the address provided in the Form ADV. Of those firms, we only considered those that offer financial planning services and portfolio management to individual investors. To be considered for this list, firms also could have no more than one disciplinary disclosure in the past 10 years. From there, the remaining firms that met all of the above stipulations were ranked in order of highest to lowest AUM, as this is an indication of a firm’s size and how many assets it has been entrusted to manage.
In our reviews, we have also listed several other key features that will help you determine which financial advisor may be most fitting for your investing style and financial needs. While our ranking system and methodology is designed to help you compare firms, it does not indicate which firm may be best for you. All information here is accurate as of January 26, 2021, but we urge you to also evaluate these firms on https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/.
Jeffrey Thomasson founded the Oxford Financial Group, Ltd. in 1981 after graduating from business school. He remains the firm’s majority shareholder, serving as a managing director, as well as its CEO. The firm is headquartered in Carmel, Ind., with additional offices in Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Oxford Financial Group provides family office services as well as financial planning and wealth management. High net worth individuals, who the SEC defines as those with at least $750,000 under management or a net worth of at least $1.5 million, account for most of the firm’s clients; however, the firm also works with individuals who do not meet this definition, as well as various types of institutional investors. In general, the firm requires a minimum account size of $5 million, though it may make exceptions.
Oxford Financial Group has an investment team responsible for evaluating investment strategies and making sure that associates are delivering consistent advice to clients. The firm creates customized portfolios for clients using third-party managers and funds selected after qualitative and quantitative research.
To determine the right asset allocation for a client, Oxford Financial Group takes into account the client’s financial profile and risk tolerance, as well as the long-term performance of asset classes and current market conditions.
Oxford Financial Group has no disclosures over the past 10 years, giving the firm a clean disciplinary record. For reference, disciplinary disclosures include criminal or civil actions in court and administrative proceedings before a regulatory agency involving either the firm or its employees or affiliates. The SEC requires that all registered investment advisors report these disclosures in their Form ADV paperwork.
For more information on Oxford Financial Group’s disclosure and to view its Form ADV, visit the firm’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) page.
Founded in 2006, Valeo Financial Advisors, LLC remains independently owned by several of the firm’s advisors. The firm offers investment management and financial planning services, advising on topics such as income and cash flow, risk management, education funding, estate planning and retirement. Valeo Financial Advisors works primarily with high net worth individuals, though it also serves individual investors without a high net worth, charitable organizations, pooled investment vehicles and businesses.
In addition to its Indianapolis office, the firm has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Edina, Minn; Littleton, Colo.; Lafayette, Ind.; and Richmond, Va.
Valeo Financial Advisors creates custom portfolios for individual clients with a focus on strategic allocation, based on a client’s objectives, risk tolerance and responses provided during consultations. However, the firm may move to tactical allocation if it sees opportunities within a specific asset class.
Investment strategies used by the firm vary but may include a range of investments: These include equity, fixed income, commodities, hedge funds and other alternative investments. Additionally, the firm may offer clients investments with their two exclusive, private investment funds. One of these invests in real estate investment properties, while the other invests in a portfolio of hedge fund of funds.
Valeo Financial Advisors reports no disclosures. For reference, all registered investment advisors must disclose any disciplinary history in their Form ADV paperwork filed with the SEC. This includes any civil, regulatory or criminal events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates over the past 10 years. For more information, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Launched in 2015 as Noyes Advisors, this RIA changed its name in 2019 to Sanctuary Advisors. The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanctuary Wealth, a network of independent advisors, many of whom have broken away from larger firms.
Sanctuary Advisors offers financial planning and portfolio management, primarily to individuals (including high net worth individuals), and can also provide services to professional investors. The firm has 24 offices in addition to its Indianapolis headquarters.
Sanctuary Advisors bases its investment approach on modern portfolio theory, an investment strategy that favors diversification in order to maximize returns while minimizing risk. The firm customizes its portfolio advice based on each client’s risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs and other factors.
The firm uses several strategies to analyze potential investments, including quantitative analysis, fundamental analysis and technical analysis; these methods which look at factors such as a company’s data, a security’s intrinsic value and price trends and sector movements.
Sanctuary Advisors does not disclose any legal or disciplinary history. This means it has a record free of civil, regulatory or criminal events within the last 10 years involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates. All registered investment advisor firms must report such incidents in their Form ADV paperwork, filed with the SEC. For more information, visit Sanctuary Wealth Advisors’ IAPD page.
Doug Prince and Brea Dantin co-founded the firm in 2012 as Praxis Fiduciary Advisors and remain as co-owners along with two other members of the firm. In 2013, Praxis Fiduciary Advisors was renamed to its current name, ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors, LLC.
The firm provides financial planning and investment advisory services to both individuals and high net worth individuals, but its primary business is serving as an advisor to company retirement plans. ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors has one office in Carmel, Ind.
ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors creates custom strategies for its wealth management clients based on their current financial situation, goals and risk tolerance. The firm analyzes investment managers to recommend to clients, though not individual securities.
These investment managers might include managers of mutual funds, commingled trusts, separate account managers, hedge funds, private equity managers or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors bases its analysis on both quantitative and qualitative research, which look at a company’s data and intrinsic value, respectively.
ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors reports no disciplinary history. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to report their disciplinary history — including any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates over the past 10 years — in their Form ADV paperwork. For more information, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Chuck Yeager and business partner Randy Swanson founded SYM Financial Advisors in 1968, and the firm became a registered investment advisor in 1985. Yeager’s son Jerald now serves as the firm’s CEO, and is a principal owner along with firm president Rodney Coleman.
SYM Financial Advisors offers wealth management and financial planning to individuals and high net worth individuals, including corporate executives, business owners and medical and dental professionals. The firm also works with institutional investors, including retirement plan sponsors and nonprofits.
In addition to its Winona Lake headquarters, the firm has three additional Indiana offices in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Mishawaka. It also has a location in Midland, Mich.
SYM Financial Advisors strives to create diversified, low-cost portfolios, composed mainly of no-load mutual funds and ETFs. It customizes portfolios for each client based on their financial situation, goals and risk tolerance.
To choose investments, SYM Financial Advisors uses top-down asset allocation strategies, making assessments from the macroeconomic level rather than from a per-asset basis. However, the firm may make tactical moves if it sees opportunities in the market.
An investment committee at the firm is responsible for monitoring its approved investments and evaluating potential new investment opportunities. The firm may use options strategies and margin transactions in some cases.
SYM Financial Advisors reports no legal or disciplinary history. That means it has had a record free of civil, regulatory or criminal events in the past 10 years involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates. All registered investment advisor firms must report such incidents on their Form ADV paperwork, filed with the SEC. For more information and to view the firm’s Form ADV, visit SYM Financial Advisors’ IAPD page.
Entrepreneur, fund manager and investment advisor Greg Donaldson founded Donaldson Capital Management in 1995. He remains the firm’s chairman and director of portfolio strategy; he is also a principal owner, alongside firm president Michael Hull.
The firm offers investment management services, which includes financial planning, but it does not offer standalone financial planning services. It works with individuals, including high net worth individuals, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations and businesses, among other institutions. It generally requires a minimum household value of $500,000 for its investment management services.
In addition to its Evansville headquarters, the firm has an office in Columbus, Ind.
Donaldson Capital Management has four main investment strategies, which it customizes for clients based on their income needs and risk tolerance. The strategies are as follows:
Donaldson Capital Management does not have any disciplinary disclosures. This means the firm’s record is clean of any civil, regulatory or criminal events involving either the firm or its employees or affiliates. For more information, visit Donaldson Capital Management’s IAPD page.
Channing Mitzell and Randall Clark co-founded Windsor Wealth Management, Inc. in 1986, and remain its primary shareholders. The firm offers both portfolio management and comprehensive financial planning services, which covers areas such as taxes, insurance and estate, retirement and education planning.
Windsor Wealth Management offers its services to individuals, including high net worth individuals, as well as charitable organizations, pension and profit-sharing plans and businesses. It is based out of Evansville, Ind.
Windsor Wealth Management uses quantitative data and qualitative information to determine appropriate investments for client portfolios. It also uses that information to determine an appropriate asset allocation strategy to create portfolios with those investments.
Portfolios created by the firm may include mutual funds, private money managers, separate accounts and individual securities, though the majority of holdings are in mutual funds, individual stocks and bonds and ETFs. The firm aims to choose fund managers that have a long track record and consistent investment style.
Windsor Wealth Management reports no disclosures. All registered investment advisors must disclose any disciplinary history in their Form ADV paperwork filed with the SEC. This includes any civil, regulatory or criminal events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates within the last 10 years. For more information, visit Windsor Wealth Management’s IAPD page.
Elaine Kops-Bedel founded Bedel Financial Consulting Inc in 1989, and serves as the firm’s president, CEO and majority owner. Her son Evan joined the firm in 2009, serves as director of finance and strategy and is also a minority owner. The firm has one office, in Indianapolis.
Bedel Financial Consulting provides investment management, financial planning and consulting services to both individuals and high net worth individuals, including professional and executives, business owners, wealthy families, those planning for retirement and young affluent professionals. The firm’s account minimum requirements uniquely vary by age group: There’s no minimum for those between the ages of 25 to 40, a $500,000 minimum for those ages 40 to 55 and a $1 million minimum for those age 55 and over.
Bedel Financial Consulting has an investment committee that works together to evaluate potential investments, using data analysis, on-site visits and calls with management teams to make its assessments. The firm also has an external investment committee that provides third-party perspective on some potential investments.
Bedel Financial Consulting aims to invest for the long term, and typically does not try to time the market. Portfolios typically include investments in mutual funds, chosen based on the experience and track record of those funds’ managers.
Bedel Financial Consulting reports no disciplinary history. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to report their disciplinary history — including any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates over the past 10 years — in their Form ADV paperwork. For more information, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Keith Shadrick founded Axia Advisory in 1992 and remains the firm’s owner and president, as well as a senior consultant. Axia Advisory provides private wealth management and consulting on investment management and retirement planning. Though it works primarily with individuals and high net worth individuals, it also provides its services to a range of institutional investors, including pension and profit-sharing plans and pooled investment vehicles.
The firm’s headquarters and only office is in Indianapolis.
Axia Advisory approaches investing using modern portfolio theory, which favors diversification to maximize returns while minimizing risk. The firm also follows the Prudent Investor Rule, which holds that you must consider every investment in the context of a portfolio, rather than individually.
Each client’s portfolio reflects their specific circumstances, financial goals and investment preferences. Axia Advisory bases its recommendations on a variety of methods of analysis with a bias toward value investing, which involves choosing securities that the firm believes are worth more than their current market value.
Axia Advisory reports no legal or disciplinary history. This means that it has a record free of any civil, regulatory or criminal events within the last 10 years involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates. All registered investment advisor firms must report such incidents on their Form ADV paperwork filed with the SEC. For more information and to view the firm’s Form ADV, visit Axia Advisory’s IAPD page.
Owner Gregory Hahn founded Winthrop Capital Management in 2007, and currently serves as the firm’s president and chief investment officer. The firm operates out of its Indianapolis office.
Winthrop Capital Management provides investment advisory services, model portfolios, investment consulting services, sub-advisory services and unified management account programs. Its clients are individual investors, including high net worth individuals, as well as institutional investors (charitable organizations, businesses, pension and profit-sharing plans and insurance companies). The firm’s minimum account size requirement for its discretionary management services is $500,000.
Winthrop Capital Management offers clients a dozen different value-based investment strategies, meaning the firm selects investments that it believes are worth more than the amount at which the market has currently valued them. The assets selected are dependent on each client’s goals and risk appetite.
The firm measures risk using both quantitative factors and qualitative factors. The former analyzes data found on a company’s balance sheet, while the latter includes more subjective elements, such as the experience of management and the firm’s competitive advantage. Winthrop Capital Management takes a top-down approach to asset allocation, meaning it considers macroeconomic factors, and a bottom-up approach to security selection, focusing on the fundamentals of each company.
Winthrop Capital Management reports no disclosures. All registered investment advisors are required to disclose any disciplinary history in their Form ADV paperwork, filed with the SEC. This includes any civil, regulatory or criminal events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates over the past decade. For more information, visit Winthrop Capital Management’s IAPD page.
Your planning should take into account Indiana income taxes, which the state levies at a flat rate of 3.23%. The state does not have estate or inheritance taxes, though residents may be subject to federal estate taxes.
No, not all financial advisor firms specialize in retirement planning, though it’s a service that many firms offer. If you know that this is an area where you’ll need help, be sure to shop around for an advisor and ask whether it’s an area of focus for their firm before you engage their services.
A fiduciary financial advisor has a legal and ethical obligation to put your interests first when making an investment recommendation. This means that they’re not allowed to recommend an investment on which they’ll earn a commission if there’s another investment that better fits your situation. Typically, fiduciaries are fee-only planners, which means they get paid based on fees only and do not earn commissions at all.
The amount that advisors earn from their clients depends on the services they’re providing and how they get paid. Most advisors charge clients based on a percentage of assets under management, with rates typically ranging from 0.50% to 1.25%, with the rate often going down as the client’s account balance goes up. The average RIA charged a fee of 1.17% of assets under management, according to a 2019 study by RIA in a Box.
Beth BravermanBeth Braverman is a freelance writer covering personal finance, careers and parenting. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications, including CNN Business, CNBC.com and USNews.
Read More
