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Just as choosing the best beach along the Jersey Shore is a personal decision based on many factors, so, too, is selecting the best financial advisor in New Jersey. Choosing a financial advisor can be challenging given the number of financial advisors in the Garden State, but it really comes down to understanding your financial needs and goals and how much you’re willing to spend.
That being said, we understand it can be difficult to compare firms and data points, so we compiled the most important information to help guide your decision. To determine the best advisors in New Jersey, 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. 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.
Our ranking is not indicative of which firm may be best for you, but it can make it easier to sort through the options Take a look at our list below for the top firms in New Jersey and what you need to know about them:
| Firm | Headquarters | Minimum assets required | Fee structure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pathstone | Englewood | $2 million |
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| RegentAtlantic | Morristown | Not specified, but minimum annual fee based on AUM applies |
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| Palisade Capital Management LLC | Fort Lee | Varies by account type |
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| Simon Quick Advisors, LLC | Morristown | None, but minimum annual fee of $10,000 |
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| Beacon Trust | Morristown | $500,000 |
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| Advisors Capital Management, LLC | Ridgewood | Varies by account type |
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| Modera Wealth Management, LLC | Westwood | None, but minimum annual fee based on services applies |
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| Circle Wealth Management, LLC | Summit | Not specified |
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| Hallmark Capital Management Inc | Wayne | $500,000 for investment management |
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| CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC | Totowa | $500,000 |
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For our search, we looked at firms across the state of New Jersey. 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 New Jersey, 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 18, 2021, but we urge you to also evaluate these firms on https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/.
Wealth management executives Steve Braverman, Matt Flessig and Allan Zacharaiah launched Pathstone in 2010. All three men remain partners at the firm, with Braverman and Zaccariah serving as co-CEOs, and Flessig as president. Pathstone is owned by Checkmark Holdings, LLC, which is owned by Pathstone employees and clients.
Pathstone offers financial planning, wealth management and tax services to wealthy families and individuals as well as family office services, such as bill pay and philanthropic management. It also serves as a fiduciary and consultant to private foundations and public charities. To start and maintain a relationship with Pathstone, a portfolio of at least $2 million is generally required.
In addition to its Englewood headquarters, Pathstone has 12 other offices located throughout the country.
Pathstone takes a long-term approach to investing, creating portfolios that aim to achieve a client’s projected rate of return, without taking on more risk than the client is comfortable with, over at least a 20-year period. The firm uses a proprietary investment structure, known as P-Cubed, that engages in continuous tax-loss harvesting on behalf of clients.
Typically, the firm invests client money with third-party managers, who may in turn invest in a wide range of securities. For clients who want to invest in line with their values, Pathstone offers an environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy that allows them to do so.
Pathstone has a clean disciplinary record. That means it does not disclose any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or affiliates in the past decade that might be material to a client evaluating the firm or its management.
To learn more about Pathstone, visit its IAPD page.
RegentAtlantic’s successor firms EB Advisory Corp and Individual Asset Planning were founded in 1982 and 1983, respectively. They merged in 1997 to form Bugen Stuart Korn & Kudaro, which in 2001 changed its name to RegentAtlantic Capital, which now does business as simply RegentAtlantic.
The firm offers financial planning and wealth management to individuals, including business owners, corporate executives, food and beverage entrepreneurs and women in finance. It also serves as a financial consultant to nonprofits. Other clients of the firm include private funds, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, corporations and business entities.
In addition to its Morristown headquarters, the RegentAtlantic has a New York City office.
When investing client funds, RegentAtlantic develops a target allocation based on the client’s individual objectives and the firm’s model portfolios. Securities in these portfolios typically include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), U.S. large-cap stocks, fixed-income securities, municipal bonds, treasury securities and private funds.
To buy those securities, RegentAtlantic uses a mix of long-term purchases, short-term purchases, margin transactions and short sales. In general, the firm aims to create diversified portfolios that emphasize value investments, which are those that appear to be trading for less than their true value.
RegentAtlantic lists no disclosures over the past 10 years. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to disclose on their Form ADV paperwork any disciplinary actions against the company, its employees or its affiliates that a client might find material to their evaluation of the firm or its management.
For more information on RegentAtlantic, visit its IAPD page.
Martin Berman, Steven Berman and Jack Feiler launched Palisades Capital Management in 1995. Steven Berman and Feiler are vice chairmen at Palisades Capital Management, which is owned by the firm’s senior management team.
The firm offers financial planning and asset management to individuals and families, including those who are high net worth. It also offers a number of strategies to institutional investors. The firm serves clients out of its Fort Lee office, which is its sole location.
Advisors at Palisades Capital Management typically work with clients to select one one of the following objectives based on their goals and risk tolerance:
From there, the firm builds an appropriate portfolio to meet the objective. Portfolios generally include individual securities but may also utilize mutual funds, ETFs and third-party investments.
Palisades Capital Management lists no disclosures over the past 10 years on its paperwork, giving the firm a clean disciplinary record. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to disclose on their Form ADV paperwork any disciplinary actions against the company, its employees or its affiliates that a client would find material to their evaluation of the firm or its management team.
For more information, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Simon Quick, LLC launched in 2004 as the result of a merger between the family offices of Leslie Quick and William E. Simon & Sons. Firm founders Peter Simon and Leslie C. Quick III remain managing partners at the firm, which is owned by Quick, managing partner Joseph Belfatto, William E. Simon & Sons LLC and QIII Family Enterprises.
The firm offers wealth management, investment consulting and financial planning services, primarily to individuals, including corporate executives, business owners and the newly wealthy. Simon Quick also provides services to some pooled investment vehicles, pension and profit-sharing plans and charitable organizations.
The firm is headquartered in Morristown, N.J., and it has additional offices in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Denver.
Simon Quick typically invests client money with eight to 10 investment managers that the firm has carefully vetted and found suitable for client investments. To select managers, the firm looks at many factors, including historical returns and portfolio turnover, as well as impressions from in-person meetings and statistical screenings.
Investment strategies used by the firm include long- and short-term purchases, trading, short sales and options. Occasionally, the firm will recommend that clients purchase individual stocks or bonds for their portfolio.
Simon Quick Advisors has a clean disciplinary record. That means it does not have any civil, criminal or regulatory events in the past decade to report involving the company, its employees or its affiliates that would be material to the evaluation of Simon Quick Advisors or its management team.
For more information, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Launched in 1988 as a trust firm focused on preserving family wealth, Beacon Trust and its sister firm, Beacon Global Asset Management Inc., were purchased in 2011 by The Provident Bank. Through a subsidiary, The Provident Bank remains the owner of Beacon Trust, which has been a registered investment advisor since 2015.
Beacon Trust offers a full suite of financial planning services and tax preparation along with investment and wealth management services. Its clients are primarily individuals who both are and are not considered high net worth, though it also works with charitable organizations, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, corporations and businesses. A minimum portfolio size of $500,000 is typically required.
In addition to its Morristown headquarters, Beacon Trust has an office in New York City.
Beacon Trust tailors its advice to the specific needs of individual clients, based on their risk tolerance, time horizon and other factors. Rather than focus on traditional asset allocation, Beacon Trust aims for diversification with an emphasis on risk exposure, which is how much risk an investor is potentially assuming through a certain investment. The firm also strives to be tax aware.
Portfolios created by Beacon Trust may include stocks, international bonds and high-yield securities. In addition to its own portfolio strategies, Beacon Trust may also invest client money with third-party investment managers. If appropriate, the firm may also use alternative investments like unaffiliated hedge funds and funds of funds.
Beacon Trust does not report any disciplinary disclosures. If a registered investment advisor has any issues on their record from the past 10 years — such as a criminal action, a regulatory infraction or a civil lawsuit involving the company, its employees or its affiliates — the firm must report the information on the brochure and Form ADV that it submits to the SEC.
For more information, visit Beacon Trust’s IAPD page.
After a career that included stints as an academic economist, a staffer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and roles at several high-profile financial institutions, Charles Lieberman founded Advisors Capital Management in 1998. Lieberman remains the firm’s chief investment officer and is a principal owner of the company.
Advisors Capital Management offers asset management, financial planning, charitable gift fund advising and pension consulting. The firm serves individuals, including high net worth individuals, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, sovereign wealth funds, foreign official institutions and other investment advisors.
The firm has two offices in Ridgewood, N.J., and a number of other smaller offices throughout the country.
Advisors Capital Management offers three levels of portfolio management to clients, each with a different minimum investment requirement:
In addition, the firm offers ACM Pathfinder, which is a mutual fund program using the firm’s funds that has no minimum investment requirement.
Alongside selecting the portfolio type, the firm will also choose an investment strategy for each client based on their objectives, risk tolerance time horizon and liquidity needs. To select potential investment opportunities, Advisors Capital Management starts with a big-picture analysis of the business cycle, interest rates and other factors to narrow down potential industries on which to focus. Then, the firm uses a bottom-up analysis, looking at the characteristics of specific companies, to select individual securities.
Advisors Capital Management reports no disciplinary disclosures on its Form ADV filing. This indicates that the firm and its employees and affiliates have had a clean record for the past decade.
For more information on Advisors Capital Management, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Gary Greenbaum launched Greenbaum and Associates in 1984, which then became Greenbaum and Orecchio in 1998 and Modera Wealth Management, LLC in 2008, when Greenbaum retired. Tom Orecchio remains a principal and the CEO at the firm, and owns it along with 19 other wealth managers.
Modera Wealth Management offers portfolio management, wealth management and standalone financial planning and consulting to individuals and families, including surviving spouses; divorced couples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer individuals; and families whose members have special needs or chronic illness. In addition, the firm assists executives with choosing and optimizing equity compensation and employee benefits, works with doctors and dentists on practice-related financial issues and helps business owners with succession planning and retirement plans for their employees.
In addition to its Westwood, N.J. headquarters, Modera has two offices in Charlotte and one each in Boston, Atlanta, Inverness, Fla., and Wayne, Pa.
Modera Wealth Management follows Modern Portfolio Theory, which holds that the markets are efficient and prioritizes diversification. The company does not believe in market timing and aims to remain fully invested, when possible.
The firm aims to create tax-efficient, low-cost portfolios that deliver long-term returns that meet client’s individual goals. In addition to traditional asset classes, Modera Wealth Management’s portfolios may contain alternative investments, such as commodities, real estate, currencies and other strategies with returns unrelated to stocks and bonds.
Modera Wealth Management does not report any disciplinary disclosures. That means it has not experienced any civil, criminal or regulatory events over the last decade involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to report any such information that may be relevant to a potential client’s evaluation of the firm or its management.
To learn more about Modera Wealth Management, visit its IAPD page.
Former Goldman Sachs executive Maria Chrin created Circle Wealth Management, LLC in 2006, and remains its managing partner, investment committee chair and principal owner. The firm works with high net worth individuals, families and trusts, providing financial planning, liquidity and investment management, reporting and multi-generational engagement and education.
In addition to its headquarters in Summit, N.J., the firm has a small office in New York City.
Circle Wealth Management creates customized portfolios for its clients based on their individual needs and goals, as well as any constraints and preferences they have and their tax status.
The firm uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis to select securities for client portfolios. It then manages these portfolios with strategies that include both long- and short-term investments, margin transactions, option writing and short independent managers.
Circle Wealth Management reports no disciplinary disclosures, meaning it has a record free of any civil, criminal or regulatory events within the last decade. The SEC requires all registered investment advisors to report this information in their Form ADV paperwork.
For more information, visit Circle Wealth Management’s IAPD page.
Former E.F. Hutton executives founded Hallmark Capital Management Inc. in 1986, and the firm started offering financial planning services in 1999. In 2000, Valley National Bank, a subsidiary of the publicly held Valley National Bancorp, purchased Hallmark Capital Management.
Hallmark Capital Management offers investment management and financial planning to individuals, requiring a minimum of $500,000 for investment management services. The firm also works with institutional investors such as retirement plans, corporations and charities.
Headquartered in Wayne, N.J., Hallmark Capital Management has additional offices in New York City; Tampa, Fla.; Jericho, N.Y.; West Palm Beach, Fla. and Orlando, Fla..
Advisors at Hallmark Capital Management build asset allocations tailored to each client, taking into account their risk profile, goals and objectives. The firm invests client money in a portfolio composed of stocks, bonds and cash reserves, varying the percentages depending on a client’s objectives. It may also use mutual funds and ETFs to gain exposure to other areas.
To choose stocks for investment, the company considers large and mid-sized companies in the Russell 1000 Index or the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Portfolios may use a variety of strategies, including long- and short-term purchases, trading, short sales, margin transactions and option writing.
Hallmark Capital Management has a clean disciplinary record, disclosing no legal or disciplinary events in the prior 10 years that clients would find material to their opinion of the firm or its leaders.
Learn more about Hallmark Capital Management by visiting its IAPD page.
Firm founders Harris Nydick and Gregory Makowski remain the primary owners of CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC, which was formed in 1998. It has offices in New Jersey in Totowa and Holmdel.
CFS Investment Advisory Services offers financial planning, consulting and wealth management services to individuals, including those who are high net worth. It also assists employers with their 401(k) plans. A minimum portfolio value of $500,000 is generally required for portfolio management.
CFS Investment Services centers its investment philosophy on what it calls “common financial sense.” This outlook emphasizes that the following matters when it comes to investing: your objectives, the risk involved, the way you invest, the expenses involved and the associated taxes.
Based on a client’s financial situation and risk profile, the team at CFS Investment Services creates a portfolio composed of mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks and bonds, as well as independent managers. Clients can choose to have their portfolios with CFS Investment Services managed on either a discretionary or a non-discretionary basis. With discretionary accounts, CFS Investment Services can decide when and how to make trades without client approval for individual transactions.
CFS Investment Services has a clean disciplinary record. It has no disclosures of marks against the company, its employees or its affiliates in the past 10 years that a potential client might find material to their evaluation of the firm or its leaders.
To learn more about CFS Investment Services, view the firm’s IAPD page.
Financial advisors can offer a variety of services that allow you to take better control of your current financial situation and make progress toward your future money goals. Those services often include retirement planning and investment management, but financial advisors may also offer assistance with everything from budgeting and debt reduction to estate planning and tax-efficient charitable giving.
No. While many financial advisors firms specialize in retirement planning, it’s not the main focus for every firm. Others might specialize in portfolio management, tax planning or rebuilding finances after a divorce. If you’re most interested in retirement planning, make sure to find an advisor who has experience in that area.
To select a financial advisor in New Jersey, start by thinking about what type of services you need from a financial advisor. Then, make sure that potential advisors have experience working with clients similar to you, and that you understand their fee structure. Finally, take the time to interview advisors at a few firms to find one with whom you feel comfortable.
New Jersey’s income tax rate depends on a resident’s income, ranging from 1.40% on those making less than $20,000 to 10.75% for those who earn more than $1 million per year. New Jersey does not have an estate tax, but it does have an inheritance tax that can range from 11% to 16% on inheritances worth more than $25,000. Residents may be subject to federal estate tax depending on the size of the estate.
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.
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