MagnifyMoney 
It can be difficult to choose a financial advisor in Jacksonville, Fla., especially given the number of advisors in Florida’s most populous city. To find a good fit, you’ll need to understand your financial needs and goals, while also considering how much you’re willing to spend for an advisor’s services.
That being said, we understand it can be difficult to compare firms and data points, so we’ve compiled the most important information to help guide your decision. To determine the best advisors in Jacksonville, Fla., we only considered 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. And although it’s 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.
Our ranking is not indicative of which firm may be best for you, but it can help make the experience of finding a financial advisor in Jacksonville easier. Read on for our list of the top financial advisory firms in Jacksonville, Fla., and their key highlights:
| Firm | Minimum assets required | Fee structure |
|---|---|---|
| Paragon Wealth Strategies, LLC | Varies by service |
|
| Madden Advisory Services, Inc. | $250,000 for traditional wealth management |
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| Sanchez Wealth Management Group, LLC | $100,000 |
|
| Davis Capital Management | $500,000 |
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| Life Planning Partners, Inc. | None, but minimum quarterly fee of $2,500 |
|
| Riverplace Capital Management Inc | $100,000 |
|
| TrustWell Financial Advisors, LLC | $100,000 |
|
| MJP Financial | $10,000 |
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For our search, we looked at firms across the city of Jacksonville, Fla. 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 Jacksonville, Fla., 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 June 23, 2021, but we urge you to also evaluate these firms on https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/.
Paragon Wealth Strategies, LLC began operating as a business in 2008; before that, the firm was affiliated with another firm called The Householder Group. Paragon Wealth Strategies is owned by five employees: Jonathan Castle, chief investment officer; Michelle Ash, chief operating officer; Karen Rasmussen, vice president of client relations; and Scott Snider and Ian Aguilar, who are partners at the firm.
The firm offers individual investment management, wealth management, financial planning and educational workshops to individuals, including those who are high net worth. (For reference, the SEC defines a high net worth individual as someone with at least $750,000 under management or a net worth of at least $1.5 million.) The firm does not work with businesses or other entities beyond individuals.
Paragon Wealth Strategies is headquartered in Jacksonville and does not have any additional offices.
Paragon Wealth Strategies follows a three-part investment strategy: Recession Protocol, risk control through asset allocation and tactical overweights.
The firm describes the Recession Protocol as avoiding any investment in the stock market during recessions. Instead, the firm opts to move client accounts into assets that tend to be safer and perform better during economic downturns, such as Treasury bonds.
For the second part of its approach, Paragon Wealth Strategies seeks to control risk through adjusting the percentage of risky assets (stocks) with safer assets (bonds). As a client, you’ll determine the risk level you’re comfortable with that fits your financial goals and objectives, as well as your retirement timeline.
The last element of the firm’s strategy, tactical overweights, refers to weighting portfolios in favor of a sector or theme that analysis has shown to perform well. Examples of this include solar, cloud computing and robotics.
Paragon Wealth Strategies does not list any disciplinary actions on its Form ADV or in its firm brochure, meaning it has a clean record. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires registered investment advisors to disclose legal or disciplinary actions on their Form ADV paperwork. This includes any incidents involving the company, an employee or an affiliate that have occurred in the last 10 years.
For more information, visit Paragon Wealth Strategies’ IAPD page.
A registered financial advisor firm since 1998, Madden Advisory Services, Inc. was co-founded by the late Hank Madden. A certified financial planner, Madden also served as host of a popular Jacksonville radio show, Smart Money. Currently, the firm is owned by Michael Ellis, its president, CEO and chief compliance officer.
This small firm of five employees offers financial planning and consulting services, investment management and pension consulting services. Its clients include individuals, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations and other business entities. New clients will need $5,000 to invest using the firm’s robo-advising offering, or $250,000 for the custom wealth management option.
Madden Advisory Services operates out of its office in Jacksonville.
As a client of Madden Advisory Services, you have two options for portfolio management: F.O.C.U.S Wealth Management, for clients with $250,000 or more to invest, or S.A.I.L. Asset Management, which requires a $5,000 minimum investment.
F.O.C.U.S Wealth Management is a custom program, where investment strategies are tailored based on each client’s unique needs and objectives. These custom portfolios are managed by the firm, and are restructured and rebalanced depending on market conditions and client circumstances.
S.A.I.L. Asset Management is an online investment management platform sponsored by Schwab (read: robo-advisor). With this option, your money will be invested in ETFs. The answers you provide to an online investor profile questionnaire will guide which investment strategy and asset allocation is used.
Madden Advisory Services reports no disciplinary actions on its Form ADV. Disclosures include any civil judicial, criminal or regulatory actions involving the firm or its employees or affiliates over the last 10 years.
For more information, see the Madden Advisory Services IAPD page.
Chris Sanchez founded Sanchez Wealth Management Group, LLC in 2010, and the firm became a registered investment advisor in 2013. Sanchez serves as the firm’s sole owner and president.
Sanchez Wealth Management offers portfolio management, financial planning and consulting services. Clients include individuals (among them some who are high net worth), as well as corporations and other business entities, pension plans, profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates and charitable organizations. The minimum investment required for a customized portfolio is $100,000 — otherwise, it’s $10,000 for enrollment in a sponsored mutual fund investment management program.
Sanchez Wealth Management is located in Jacksonville, Fla., and has no additional offices.
For clients with $100,000 or more to invest, Sanchez Wealth Management creates custom portfolios based on the client’s investment objectives and financial situations. Portfolios may include mutual funds, ETFs, variable annuity subaccounts, real estate investment trusts (REITs), equities (stocks) and fixed income securities.
Unlike many financial advisory firms, Sanchez Wealth Management does not follow the tenets of modern portfolio theory for all clients. Instead, the firm uses a strategy it refers to as Advance and Protect, which emphasizes that cash is a viable asset during periods of severe market disruption. Further, the firm won’t add a position in a portfolio if it doesn’t establish a sell discipline. To put it simply, the firm doesn’t believe in passive, inactive (or reactive) buy and hold strategies; when it adds assets to your portfolio, it is done with a future sell strategy already in mind.
If you have at least $10,000 to invest — but not $100,000 or more — you have the option to open an optimum market portfolio. This type of portfolio is sponsored by LPL Financial, a dually registered investment advisor and broker-dealer, and will only contain mutual funds.
Sanchez Wealth Management Group does not have any disciplinary disclosures. For reference, disclosures refer to any civil, regulatory or criminal events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates over the last 10 years. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to disclose these actions on their Form ADV paperwork.
To view the firm’s Form ADV and to get more information, visit its IAPD page.
Davis Capital Management was founded by Troy Davis in 2008. Davis is the majority owner, and serves as the firm’s president and chief compliance officer. John Murphy, the firm’s chief investment officer, and Ronald Heyman, a wealth advisor at the firm, are also part owners.
New clients generally must have $500,000 or more to invest. Services offered by the firm include investment management, wealth management, tax planning, estate planning and retirement planning. In addition, it offers what it calls “business solutions,” services such as account management and succession planning. Typical clients include individuals (including high net worth individuals), banks or thrift institutions, trusts and estates, endowments and foundations, corporations and other business entities and pension and profit-sharing plans.
The firm’s headquarters are in Jacksonville; it has no additional locations.
As a client of Davis Capital Management, your portfolio could be a customized build or an automated model portfolio sponsored by Schwab. For custom portfolios, possible investments include bonds, equities, ETFs, mutual funds and alternative investments. Automated model portfolios consist of ETFs and cash, with the exact allocation determined by your investment objectives and risk tolerance.
The overarching investment philosophy at Davis Capital Management is to seek preservation of capital, manage risk and aim for asset appreciation. Risk is managed with portfolio diversification and through active management. For the most part, large capital equities are used to achieve short-term preservation of capital and long-term growth. Additionally, no individual sector will be greater than 25% of the total portfolio and no single security will exceed 3% of total assets.
Davis Capital Management has a record free of any reportable disclosures. Disclosures include any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to disclose any such events over the past 10 years.
For additional information, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Founded in 2004 by Carolyn McClanahan, a physician turned certified financial planner (CFP), Life Planning Partners, Inc. is a small financial advisory firm located in Jacksonville, Fla. McClanahan is the owner and president of the firm.
Life Planning Partners offers advisory services, advisory consulting services and pension consulting services to individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates and charitable organizations. Though the firm doesn’t have a minimum investment requirement, its minimum quarterly fees, set at $2,500, mean the firm’s services generally make the most financial sense for high net worth clients or those with complex financial needs.
Advisors at Life Planning Partners believe in passive, diversified investing, with a focus on tax efficiency, costs and asset allocation and diversification. Along with those elements, the firm believes in investing with a long-term focus, adjusting when need be.
As a client of Life Planning Partners, your portfolio would likely be comprised of globally-diversified assets — for the most part, this means low-cost, tax-efficient mutual funds and ETFs, though some portfolios will also include bonds. The firm may also invest in stocks, REITs and fixed income investments, depending on your financial goals and objectives.
Life Planning Partners reports no disciplinary actions listed on its Form ADV, meaning it has a clean record. The SEC requires registered investment advisors to detail legal or disciplinary actions, including any actions against the company, an employee or an affiliate that have occurred in the last 10 years.
For more information on the firm, visit Life Planning Partners’ IAPD page.
Peter Bower founded Riverplace Capital Management, Inc. in 1998. He serves as CEO and president, and is the majority owner of this small, fee-only firm, which is headquartered in Jacksonville with no additional offices.
Riverplace Capital Management offers financial planning and investment management to individuals and organizations including pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations and businesses. New clients are subject to the $100,000 minimum account size requirement, though the firm may accept smaller accounts if it believes the client can bring their account’s value to the $100,000 threshold within a reasonable amount of time.
Overall, River Capital Management’s investment philosophy is centered around dynamic asset allocation. This entails choosing investments from an extensive internal list, as well as weighting individual investments and sectors in anticipation of market conditions and rebalancing as needed.
Each client’s objectives help determine their respective investment strategy. The firm has three main investing strategies:
Riverplace Capital Management does not have any disciplinary events to disclose, including any criminal, regulatory or civil judicial actions from within the last decade involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates. More information about Riverplace Capital Management can be found on the firm’s IAPD page.
TrustWell Financial Advisors, LLC grew out of D. Gary Williams & Company, which was founded by Gary Williams in 1987. TrustWell Financial Advisors became an LLC in 2008. The firm is employee-owned: Williams serves as the managing member and majority owner, while members and fellow CFPs Christopher F. Daunhauer and Brett W. Freese also own shares.
TrustWell Financial Advisors primarily serves individuals and families with at least $100,000 to invest, offering investment management and financial planning. TrustWell Financial Advisors operates out of its Jacksonville headquarters.
Advisors at TrustWell don’t adhere to one specific investing strategy or ideology. Instead, the firm says it simply attempts to stay true to each client’s tolerance for volatility and will review their portfolio’s asset allocation frequently.
To build a portfolio and initial asset allocation, advisors will incorporate a client’s financial needs and investment objectives, as well as their time horizon and risk tolerance. The firm diversifies across multiple asset classes, and the portfolio will likely contain mutual funds and ETFs more so than individual stocks. Bonds, including mutual fund bonds and bond fund ETFs, as well as other investments, such as precious metals, commodities, real estate and natural resources, are also used in portfolios.
TrustWell Financial Advisors does not have any disclosures to report. For reference, firms registered with the SEC are required to provide information regarding any civil, regulatory or criminal infractions involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates in their Form ADV paperwork for prospective and current clients to review.
For more information, visit TrustWell Financial Advisors’ IAPD page.
MJP Financial (registered as Planning Solutions International LLC) was founded in 2013 by Mario Payne, a veteran of the U.S. Army. Payne serves as the firm’s sole owner and chief compliance officer.
Headquartered in Jacksonville, MJP Financial serves individuals (including those who are high net worth) and requires a minimum account size of at least $10,000. The firm provides its clients with investment management services — in addition, it also offers financial planning and consulting, on topics including retirement planning, estate planning, personal savings, education savings and insurance needs, among others.
As a client of MJP Financial, portfolios are customized and based on a client’s personal investment goals and objectives, risk tolerance and current financial situation. The portfolio can contain any of the following items: individual stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, CDs and structured notes.
Overall, MJP Financial believes in a long-term investment strategy and will generally hold securities for at least a year. However, depending on market conditions, the firm may adjust its approach and use shorter periods in order to rebalance weightings or meet a client’s cash needs.
There are no legal, regulatory or disciplinary events involving MJP Financial or any of its employees or affiliates from within the last 10 years. Investment advisory firms registered with the SEC must disclose any events material to existing or potential clients’ evaluation of the company and the integrity of its management team.
Find more information on MJP Financial by visiting its IAPD page.
Choosing a financial advisor comes down to personal preferences after you’ve weeded through obvious disqualifiers. For starters, you’ll want to make sure the advisor offers the services you need and that you can meet their minimum investment requirements. It’s also important to examine its disciplinary history and decide whether you’re comfortable with its fee structure. From there, consider meeting with a few final options to make your decision. There are a number of questions you should ask potential advisors to identify which one will be a good fit.
Florida is one of the nine states in the U.S. that doesn’t levy an income tax on residents. The state is popular with retirees because of the tax benefits, which also include the absence of both inheritance taxes and estate taxes. However, residents of the Sunshine State may still be subject to federal estate taxes.
Fee-only financial advisors earn money solely from the fees clients pay for their services. The benefit of this arrangement is that it minimizes potential conflicts of interest and allows for greater transparency. Because the advisor can’t earn money from selling products or recommending services, you know the recommendations your advisor makes aren’t incentivized by any financial gains they stand to earn from doing so.
Many financial advisors specialize in retirement planning and tailor their services to those getting ready to retire. However, not all firms offer these services or focus on helping their clients achieve retirement-specific goals. Instead, some firms exclusively offer portfolio and asset management and do not include retirement planning in their menu of services. If retirement planning is a priority for you, make sure to search for a financial advisor that offers these services and has experience advising clients in this area.
Nina SemczukNina Semczuk is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® (CEPF®), a member of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and an Army veteran with five years of active service.
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