Barron’s Top 100 Financial Advisers 2023
The ranking is a guide to those looking for an adviser and a scorecard that advisers can use to measure themselves against one another.
The Top 100 Financial Advisers list is a collaboration between The Australian and its corporate cousin, Barron’s, a 102-year-old American magazine for investors.
The ranking is both a guide to consumers looking for an adviser and a scorecard that advisers can use to measure themselves against one another.
The formula used to calculate the ranking is based on three general categories: client assets managed by the adviser, fees and revenue generated by their business, and the quality of the adviser’s business.
The asset and revenue numbers are proxies for client satisfaction. The quality-of-practice category includes a number of factors including an adviser’s experience, credentials and client-service resources.
The listing is based on a survey of 55 questions.
Morgan Stanley’s Garth Hu is once again the “winner” in the list – the fourth year in a row that he has been placed at the top.
Hu’s success is mirrored by others in the top 10 placements where several of those ranked highly in 2022 make a return appearance. It’s perhaps not surprising in an era when many smaller players have left the profession with the bigger shops thriving as the numbers of advisers shrinks.
But there are a couple of exciting exceptions in the top ranks with Paul Burgon of Lipman Burgon & Partners leaping from 13 to six; and Tim Eustace of Mercury Private, who did not enter the ranking process last year, coming in at number nine.
Six of the top 10 places are taken by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Pitcher Partners and Macquarie Private Bank with other exceptions being at number two, where Apt Wealth Partners’ Andrew Dunbar holds on to his 2022 placing as does Frank Macindoe of Koda Capital, who stays at number eight.
The seventh annual list confirms last year’s trend to consolidation of the market at the top end where many advisers mandate that investors have at least between $1 million to $5 million to invest. And the list also features a number of “partner pairs” – where two partners have the same ranking because in Barron’s view they share equal responsibility for the operation.
This year there are six pairs, which means there are 106 people listed in the 100 spots.
The leaders are Bernie Connolly and Patrick Regan of Morgan Stanley,who are at 10 – down slightly from their number 9 slot last year. The other equal partnerships sit at number 18, at 28, at 30, at 52 and at 60.
Another trend confirmed this year – which is one that many in the industry want to turn around – is the low number of women in the Top 100.
There are only 12 women this year,down from 17 in 2022.
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