By Matt Barthel

The nation's Top 1,200 Financial Advisors grew their way to a new milestone.

The advisory teams that made it into this year's ranking reported total assets under management of $6.1 trillion, for an average of $5.1 billion per team -- both record highs for the dozen years during which Barron's has ranked the Top 1,200. Last year's ranking had $5.6 trillion in total AUM and $4.6 billion average AUM per team. In the past decade, the 1,200 cohort has increased its total AUM by 135% and its average revenue by 147%.

Amid all the growth, several advisors made big moves in this year's rankings, including W Janet Dougherty of Cresset in Chicago, who re-entered the ranking at No. 37 in Illinois after moving from J.P. Morgan. Meanwhile, Ash Chopra of Syon Capital in San Francisco jumped 47 spots in California to No. 47; Hillary Cullen of UBS Private Wealth Management in New York rose 20 spots to No. 77; and Jon Neuhaus of Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management in Los Angeles moved up 14 spots to No. 6 in California. Fourteen percent of the Top 1,200 advisors didn't appear in the ranking last year.

Teams Are a Trend

Top advisory practices have ridden a wave of healthy markets, but that is only part of the growth story. Whereas a decade ago many of the best advisors were sole practitioners with modest support staff, now advisors are working in increasingly complex team configurations.

These teams are allowing advisors to provide an array of wealth management services in addition to the investing expertise that usually sits at the heart of their offerings. As teams acquire more skill in estate planning, taxes, lending, and other value-adds, they are attracting and retaining more business.

For investors looking for a new financial advisor, the trend toward expansive teams is good news. For starters, larger teams have built-in redundancy that helps with succession in the event that advisors depart the practice. A team structure also creates a great training environment for younger, more diverse wealth managers -- a wellspring of workers who will be sorely needed in the coming years.

As many of the advisors who built the nation's best teams enter the late innings of their careers, an advisor shortage is brewing. A recent McKinsey study says the advisor workforce may be short 100,000 advisors by 2034.

How We Do It

The Top 1,200 is Barron's largest advisor ranking, and it's actually 51 individual rankings -- one for each state plus Washington, D.C., with the number of advisors represented in each determined by its relative population and wealth. Advisors who wish to be considered for the ranking complete a 100-plus-question survey about their businesses, and this year's ranking had more than 7,600 applicants, up 16% from last year.

Like all of Barron's advisor rankings, this Top 1,200 list uses both quantitative and qualitative measures. Client assets managed by an advisor, along with the growth of those assets, are a good signifier of the general health of a practice. We also use advisors' revenue numbers as a proxy for client satisfaction -- clients vote on the way advisors are serving them with the fees they're willing to pay. Last, we evaluate a range of qualitative elements, including regulatory records, advanced credentials and designations on a team, and the nature and structure of an advisor's team.

We hope this year's list will give investors a great starting point for finding the best advisor for their needs.

Write to Matt Barthel at matthew.barthel@barrons.com

Corrections & Amplifications: Jack Taylor of Truist Investment Services is No. 6 in North Carolina in Barron's 2025 Top 1,200 Financial Advisors ranking. The advisor originally listed in that spot was removed from the ranking. All the other advisors ranked in that state moved up one place, and R. Neil Stikeleather of Merrill Wealth Management was added to the list at No. 30. Read more about our ranking and see a link to the corrected list at barrons.com/AdvisorRanks.

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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March 11, 2025 12:28 ET (16:28 GMT)

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