Among other accolades, Tom was named one of the top financial advisors in the country by the Financial Times 400 award* for 2018, 2019, and 2020, and the Barron’s Top Financial Advisor 1,200 award for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Tom has also been rated as one of the top 10 Advisors in Maryland in the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Forbes Magazine Best-in-State Wealth Advisor rankings.* In the latest Forbes edition, he is ranked #5. Tom is one of only a handful of financial advisors in the Greater DC area to achieve all three distinctions simultaneously, being ranked as one of the top 10 advisors in Maryland by all three publications. In addition, Tom has appeared on Dow Jones, Financial-Planning.com, and FedLife. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College, and his investment approach is steeped in academia, utilizing principles from Nobel Prize winners, Harry Markowitz, Daniel Kahneman and Eugene Fama. Tom also has a personal connection with the Federal Government— his father served 35 years with the Department of Commerce after completing a BA and MA in Economics from Yale University. Tom regularly teaches all the financial advisors at Serving Those Who Serve and is quick to admit that he learns more from the advisors than they do from him.
*Financial Times Top 400 Financial Advisors (2020)
The Financial Times 400 Top Financial Advisors is an independent listing produced annually by Ignites Research, a division of Money-Media, Inc., on behalf of the Financial Times (April 2020). To qualify for the list, advisers had to have 10 years of experience and at least $300 million in assets under management (AUM) and no more than 60% of the AUM with institutional clients. The FT reaches out to some of the largest brokerages in the U.S. and asks them to provide a list of advisors who meet the minimum criteria outlined above. These advisors are then invited to apply for the ranking. Only advisors who submit an online application can be considered for the ranking. In 2020, roughly 1,040 applications were received and 400 were selected to the final list (38.5%). The 400 qualified advisers were then scored on six attributes: AUM, AUM growth rate, compliance record, years of experience, industry certifications, and online accessibility. AUM is the top factor, accounting for roughly 60-70 percent of the applicant’s score. Additionally, to provide a diversity of advisors, the FT placed a cap on the number of advisors from any one state that’s roughly correlated to the distribution of millionaires across the U.S. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. The FT, Ignite Research, and Money-Media, Inc. are not affiliated with Raymond James.
** Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors (2022).
Source: Barron’s “Top 1,200 Financial Advisors,” March 2022. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. The rankings are based on data provided by 6,186 individual advisors and their firms and include qualitative and quantitative criteria. Factors included in the rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. Investment performance is not an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients’ risk tolerance than by an advisor’s investment picking abilities. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Barron’s is not affiliated with Raymond James.
***Best-In-State Wealth Advisors (2022)
The Forbes ranking of Best-In-State Wealth Advisors, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on an algorithm of qualitative criteria, mostly gained through telephone and in-person due diligence interviews, and quantitative data. Those advisors that are considered have a minimum of seven years of experience, and the algorithm weights factors like revenue trends, assets under management, compliance records, industry experience and those that encompass best practices in their practices and approach to working with clients. Portfolio performance is not a criteria due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Out of approximately 34,925 nominations, more than 6,550 advisors received the award. This ranking is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients’ experience. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors or RIA firms pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Raymond James is not affiliated with Forbes or Shook Research, LLC. Please visit https://www.forbes.com/best-in-state-wealth-advisors for more info.
These rankings may not be representative of any one client’s experience, are not an endorsement, and are not indicative of the advisor’s future performance. Portfolio performance is not a criteria due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for these awards/ratings. The FT, Ignite Research, Money-Media, Inc., Forbes, SHOOK Research, and Barron’s are not affiliated with Raymond James.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP® (with plaque design) and CFP® (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.