New York City is known for its abundance of options, and it’s no different when it comes to choosing a financial advisor. Narrowing down your options in the Big Apple to the right financial advisor for you largely comes down to understanding your financial needs and goals and how much you’re willing to spend for an advisor’s guidance.
Still, we understand that comparing firms and data points can be as overwhelming as navigating the subway during rush hour, so we compiled the most pertinent information to help guide your decision. To determine the best advisors in New York City, we solely looked at firms that manage individual accounts and offer financial planning services. We then ranked these firms according to assets under management (AUM), which serves as a general metric for the firm’s size. All data used in our methodology comes from each firm’s most recent Form ADV filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Our ranking is not meant to indicate which firm may be the best choice for you, but it can hopefully make your search for an advisor in NYC overwhelming. Take a look at our list below for the top firms in New York City and their key highlights.
Firm name | Minimum assets required | Fee structure |
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Cerity Partners LLC | $2 million |
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Rockefeller Capital Management | Generally none, though the firm targets those with $5 million |
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BBR Partners, LLC | $30 million |
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Summit Rock Advisors, LP | $100 million |
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Tiedemann Advisors, LLC | $25 million |
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Summit Trail Advisors, LLC | None, though some strategies may require a minimum |
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Wealthspire Advisors | None, though the firm may recommend certain parameters |
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Evercore Wealth Management, LLC | None |
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Betterment | None for the digital plan; $100,000 for premium |
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Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC | Not specified |
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Betterment, a company that’s well-known in the robo-advisor space, is also a registered investment advisor. While the firm does primarily offer its services online, its premium option, which requires a $100,000 minimum investment, includes contact with Betterment‘s financial consultants. Communication occurs either over the phone or via email. Beyond investment management through a wrap fee program, these consultants can also assist with personalized financial planning or advice for clients in the premium program.
The firm’s client base is predominantly individual investors without a high net worth, though it does also work with high net worth individuals, which the SEC defines as those with at least $750,000 under management or a net worth of at least $1.5 million. Its clients also include trusts and estates, pension and profit-sharing plans, businesses and charitable organizations.
Betterment is headquartered in New York City and has an additional location in Denver. Launched in 2010, the company is owned primarily through Betterment Holdings, though executives at the firm also hold stakes.
The investment advice Betterment provides to clients, including those in Betterment Premium, is based on the online survey that clients fill out at the start of the relationship. Though clients can work with financial consultants, the information they relay to them will not be included in their investment strategy unless it was also solicited in the online application.
Based on the information the client provides, Betterment‘s algorithm generally will recommend a portfolio comprised of cash and/or funds for each of the client’s goals and account types. Each portfolio will have a distinct target allocation of investment types and/or asset classes.
Clients have the ability to impose reasonable restrictions on their accounts. They can also opt to build their own portfolio or select a third-party portfolio strategy that complements Betterment‘s approach.
Betterment reports no disciplinary disclosures from within the last 10 years. As a registered investment advisor, the SEC requires the firm to report any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates.
For further information on Betterment, visit its Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) page.
Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC was founded in 2001 as a firm focused on serving the needs of the ultra wealthy, as well as some institutional investors. Though it does not specify an account minimum requirement, all of the individual investors the firm serves are considered high net worth individuals. Services offered by Silvercrest include asset management and family office services.
Headquartered in New York City with seven other office locations in the U.S., the firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Silvercrest L.P., which is a general partner with a publicly traded C corporation, Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc.
Clients of Silvercrest Asset Management will generally have one of three types of portfolios: equity, fixed income or balanced. Portfolios are tailored based on clients’ unique needs, and portfolio managers may use additional objectives and guidelines specific to each client portfolio.
The firm divides its employees into teams, depending on the type of investment, which include equity, fixed income or outsourced investments. Clients also have opportunities for alternative investments, as Silvercrest acts as an advisor to certain of the alternative investment products, including a private fund and funds of funds. Silvercrest Asset Management Group uses in-house proprietary investment capabilities and strategies aimed at delivering quality-oriented, value-based and disciplined investing for its clients.
Silvercrest Asset Management Group does not have any disciplinary disclosures to report. Firms registered with the SEC are required to report information that would be material to clients evaluating the firm, including any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates from within the past 10 years.
For more information on Silvercrest Asset Management Group, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Cerity Partners, formed in 2009, is headquartered in New York City with additional offices in Texas, California, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Massachusetts and Florida. The firm primarily offers comprehensive financial management to wealthy individuals, businesses and nonprofits, with a typical minimum account requirement of $2 million. Services offered by Cerity Partners include investment advisory, wealth planning, tax preparation and planning, executive financial counseling and retirement plan services.
Cerity Partners is owned by a holding company that is in turn owned by an investment fund, Lightyear Fund, which is advised by an affiliate of the registered investment advisor, Lightyear Capital LLC.
Advisors at Cerity Partners create asset allocation strategies for each of their clients. Strategies are grounded in Modern Portfolio Theory, which upholds the idea that broad diversification across asset classes spreads risk in the event of changing economic conditions.
To help clients better understand their risk tolerance, Cerity Partners aligns them with one of five investment risk profiles — conservative, moderate, balanced, growth and aggressive —that then help shape portfolios. The firm uses the following six major asset classes for investing: cash and cash equivalents, global fixed income, global equity, real return, hedge funds and private equity, with 16 additional subcategories nesting within these major asset classes.
Additionally, Certify Partners offers the Special Opportunities Strategy, which focuses on three areas of opportunity: macroeconomic opportunities, market technical opportunities and stock specific opportunities. These strategies try to take advantage of short-term opportunities, but they can be volatile and have a high potential for risk. Thus, the firm does not recommend the strategy as a replacement for its regular asset management, but as a possible supplement.
Cerity Partners does not have any disclosures to report. When a firm is registered with the SEC, it is required to publicly disclose all disciplinary information, including civil, criminal and regulatory infractions.
For more information on Cerity Partners, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Rockefeller Capital Management traces its origins to its namesake, John D. Rockefeller, who established a New York office to manage his family’s investments in 1882. The current iteration of the company was established in 2018. The company is majority owned by Viking Global Investors, a global investment firm.
Services offered by Rockefeller Capital Management include asset management, strategic advisory and family office service. The firm works with a variety of client types, including individuals (both high net worth and not), businesses, foundations and more. Additionally, the firm’s affiliate, Rockefeller Financial, LLC, can offer clients investment advisory services and a wrap fee program as a dually registered broker-dealer.
Rockefeller Capital Management has six additional offices beyond its New York City headquarters, including an additional New York office in Saratoga Springs, as well as locations in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Rockefeller Capital Management highlights two main strategies: equity and fixed income. Each strategy also includes dedicated environmental, social and governance (ESG) offerings for investors who are interested in impact investing.
The firm emphasizes using a long-term investment horizon and fundamental research, which is focused on finding the intrinsic value of a company to determine fair market value.
Rockefeller Capital Management has not had any legal or disciplinary events in the last 10 years. SEC-registered investment advisories must report events material to the evaluation of the firm’s integrity on public brochures filed online for current and potential client review. This may include any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm or its employees or affiliates.
For more information, visit Rockefeller Capital Management’s IAPD page.
BBR Partners became a registered investment advisor in 2000. Headquartered in New York City, with additional offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Charlestown, Mass., BBR Partners provides investment advisory services to wealthy families and individuals, as well as trusts, estates, charitable organizations, family partnerships and foundations. Notably, the firm generally requires a minimum investment of $30 million, though its client base currently does include some individual investors who do not qualify as high net worth.
BBR Partners is owned by a holding company that is controlled by the co-CEOs of the firm, Brett Barth and Evan Roth.
BBR Partners uses what’s known as fundamental investment strategies to build client portfolios. These strategies include the following, though the first three listed below are its primary strategies:
Advisors at BBR Partners work with clients to create a specific asset allocation plan based on their financial objectives and wealth management needs. The firm mainly allocates client assets among equity and fixed income accounts overseen by third-party investment managers, as well as mutual funds, ETFs, exchange-traded notes and private investment funds, including those created and overseen by BBR Partners.
The firm has no disciplinary events to disclose. All firms registered with the SEC are required to report any legal, civil judicial or criminal incidents regarding the firm or associated employees in their Form ADV paperwork filed with the SEC.
To view that paperwork and learn more about BBR Partners, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Founded in 2007 by David Dechman and Nancy Donohue, Summit Rock Advisors, LP is an exclusive, independent advisory firm serving select clients who have over $100 million in investable assets. The firm offers financial advice and portfolio management to U.S.-based families and charitable institutions.
Dechman, the firm’s current CEO, and Donohue, chief investment strategist, remain the primary owners of the company. Summit Rock Advisors is located in New York City and has no additional offices.
Each client of Summit Rock Advisors has a customized asset allocation plan that is based on their financial situation. Factors that influence portfolio construction can include risk tolerance, time horizon, tax position and liquidity requirements, among others.
Many Summit Rock Advisors clients hope to preserve their capital and reduce volatility; the firm approaches this objective by using diversification across geography, sector, manager and more. Summit Rock Advisors also offers SRA portfolios, which are privately-pooled investment vehicles generally exclusively available to clients of the firm.
Registered financial advisory firms are required by the SEC to disclose legal and disciplinary events material to a client’s evaluation of the advisory business or management integrity in their Form ADV paperwork. Summit Rock Advisors does not have any applicable events to disclose.
For further information on the firm and to view its Form ADV, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Tiedemann Advisors, LLC was formed in 2007, growing out of Tiedemann Trust Company, which was founded in 1999 by the late Carl Tiedemann. Before founding his business, Tiedemann worked on Wall Street for years and served as a governor of the American Stock Exchange from 1969 to 1972.
The firm is an independent investment and wealth advisor serving high net worth individuals (notably none of its current individual clients qualify as high net worth), as well as trusts, foundations and endowments. Additionally, the firm manages or advises a number of private investment funds that it may recommend to its clients.
Headquartered in New York City, the firm has additional offices in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Tiedemann Advisors is owned by Tiedemann Wealth Management Holdings, LLC.
Financial advisors at Tiedemann Advisors are focused on avoiding permanent loss of capital. The firm values diversified portfolios, spreading assets across risk factors, geographies and classes. Tiedemann Advisors generally uses what’s known as a “manager of managers” approach, which means the firm will source and select third-party investment managers to service your portfolio.
Tiedemann Advisors describes its research as starting with an evaluation of macroeconomic trends, and then moving on to several types of analysis. Clients have the option to choose impact investing, with offerings including environment, social and governance strategies (ESG), values-aligned strategies and private impact strategies. The firm also has private investment funds available to clients.
Firms registered with the SEC are required to disclose disciplinary events that would be material to a client’s evaluation of the firm. Tiedemann Advisors does not have any such information to disclose involving either the firm or its affiliates or employees from within the last 10 years.
For more information on Tiedemann Advisors, visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Summit Trail Advisors, LLC is an independent financial advisory company that serves individuals, high net worth individuals, businesses, trusts, estates, charitable organizations and pension and profit-sharing plans. Services offered by Summit Trail Advisors include investment advisory services, family office services, financial planning, consulting services and outsourced chief investment officer services.
The firm was formed in 2015 and is owned by Summit Trails Holdings LLC, which is operated by members of the firm. The firm’s headquarters are in New York City, and it has additional offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Harrisburg, Pa., and Chevy Chase, Md.
Summit Trail Advisors categorizes asset classes into three groups: growth, preservation and inflation hedging. Each category has its own risk and value and inherent purpose; advisors at the firm use these categories to help align a client’s objectives for their portfolio with an allocation strategy.
The firm uses what’s called open architecture when creating client portfolios. This means that rather than choosing individual securities, Summit Trail Advisors will select specialists in each asset class to then focus their research on a specific area. Most portfolios will consist of a combination of mutual funds, ETFs, separate accounts and limited partnerships.
Summit Trail Advisors has not been involved in any events requiring disclosure. SEC-registered investment advisors are required to report disciplinary actions — including any civil, criminal or regulatory events involving the firm, its employees or its affiliates —in their Form ADV paperwork.
For more information on Summit Trail Advisors, you can visit the firm’s IAPD page.
Wealthspire Advisors was founded in 1995 by Howard Sontag, who is currently the firm’s chairman. It’s been under the ownership of NFP Corp., an insurance company, since 2015. Wealthspire Advisors has undergone numerous acquisitions and mergers over the years, assuming its current name in 2020.
Today, the firm has its headquarters in New York City, with 13 additional offices throughout the U.S. in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia. It can provide investment advisory services, financial planning, consulting and reporting services for individuals. While most of the firm’s clients are individual investors — with a roughly equal split between those who are and are not high net worth —it also works with some institutional investors.
Wealthspire Advisors begins the asset management process by determining each client’s financial circumstances and investment objectives, which inform the creation of the investment policy for the account. In general, the firm strives to provide each client with an asset allocation that aligns with their investment profile as closely as possible.
To do this, Wealthspire Advisors has developed a range of portfolio guidelines, ranging from ultra-conservative to aggressive, to fit their clients’ profiles. For clients in the firm’s traditional comprehensive service model, their assets will primarily be invested in a mix of active and passive mutual funds, ETFs and separate account managers; those in the firm’s robo-advisor program are limited to ETFs.
Wealthspire Advisors has a clean disciplinary record, meaning that neither the firm nor its employees or advisory affiliates have encountered any issues within the past decade. This includes any civil, criminal or regulatory actions.
For additional information, visit Wealthspire Advisors’ IAPD page.
Evercore Wealth Management, LLC provides investment advisory services to individuals, foundations and endowments located in the U.S. It can also provide financial planning, investment consulting and educational services. Though Evercore does not require an account minimum requirement, the majority of the individual investors it serves qualify as high net worth.
The firm was founded in 2008 and operates primarily out of its New York City-based office, with four other offices located in San Francisco; Minneapolis; Tampa, Fla.; and West Palm Beach, Fla. Evercore Wealth Management is part of Evercore Inc., a publicly traded financial services firm.
Advisors at Evercore Wealth Management build custom portfolios for clients that emphasize after-fee, after-tax, risk-adjusted returns. The firm relies on an investment platform called Efficient Architecture® that helps with determining global asset allocation, using a wide range of asset classes including cash, defensive assets, credit strategies, diversified market strategies, growth assets and illiquid assets.
What assets your portfolio will include and in which amounts, will depend on your goals and other factors, such as your liquidity needs, risk tolerance and tax considerations.
Evercore Wealth Management does not have any legal, criminal or civil judicial events to disclose. Financial advisory firms registered with the SEC must report any facts material to the business’s integrity for client evaluation in firm materials, such as their brochure or Form ADV.
For more information on Evercore Wealth Management, visit its IAPD page.
New York City residents are subject to both a state income tax as well as a personal income tax. The tax rate is segmented by income brackets, with higher tax rates for higher income earners. New York state also has estate taxes for residents and nonresidents with real or tangible property located in New York. Residents may also be subject to federal estate tax.
Not necessarily. While many, if not most, financial advisor firms offer retirement planning as a keystone service, some firms are more concerned with wealth management or family office services or are solely focused on portfolio management. If retirement planning is a priority, you will want to ask if your financial advisor offers the service and how experienced they are in providing it to ensure you end up working with an advisor who meets your needs.
Not exactly. Free financial advice and counseling, mainly targeting debt management and basic financial skills and taxes, is offered by a number of organizations, such as the city’s Financial Empowerment Center and Financial Coaching Corps of the Community Service Society of New York. That being said, free financial services generally do not include investment management or advice concerning brokerage accounts, which are two key areas for financial advisors. Most financial advisors work for a fee based on a percentage of assets under management or a flat rate.
As mentioned above, all of the NYC firms on this list are bound by fiduciary duty, which means advisors have to work in the best interests of their clients. If you find a New York City-based financial advisor you’d like to work with that is not on this list, you can ask them if they are a fiduciary. In general, all registered investment advisors must abide by fiduciary duty.
In our search for the best financial advisors in New York City, we looked at firms throughout the city. All the firms considered are bound by fiduciary duty, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and offer individual account management and financial planning services. Information for our methodology criteria is taken directly from each firm’s most recent Form ADV filing and brochure, found in the IAPD database.
To localize our results for this list of the best financial advisors in New York City, we exclusively looked at firms that met the above criteria and had their headquarters in New York City, per the address provided in the Form ADV. We only considered those firms 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.
Our reviews 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 can help you compare firms, it does not indicate which firm may be best for you. All information here is accurate as of March 7, 2022, but don’t hesitate to check out any firm’s Form ADV for yourself on the SEC’s Investment Advisor Public Disclosure site.