Some say we go to extremes when evaluating Advisors… but with over 6 million Forbes readers, 116 million unique monthly visitors to Forbes.com, and 5.9 million Canadians rely on the Globe and Mail, there are countless individuals and families trusting our research.
Nominations received, based on high thresholds
Invited to complete online survey
Total telephone interviews
Total in-person interviews at advisors’ locations
Total virtual interviews
Unlike other rankings we will not recommend Advisors based on the numbers, such as how much money someone makes. We want to evaluate both qualitative and quantative criteria. When considering a surgeon, there are qualitative traits like education, reputation, credentials and is this person someone that is trustworthy; and quantitatively, how many operations has this surgeon performed—is it her first or thousandth…and what is the surgeon’s success rate?
Evaluating Advisors is a similar process, whether Wealth Advisors or Financial Security Professionals (FSPs).
We interview Advisors by telephone, Zoom and in-person, in the Advisors’ offices. After receiving 33,000 nominations—from banks, securities firms, custodians, insurance companies, clearing firms and others—based on our high thresholds, we check compliance records and review every 140-question survey, paying attention to such details as team structures, credentials, expertise and community involvement.
The next step is understanding business models and measuring best practices through telephone, Zoom and in-person meetings. We are measuring best practices, such as client service models, investing process and team structures. We may be old-fashioned, but there’s nothing like in-person meetings. It’s not easy visiting thousands of Advisors, but there’s no substitute for looking someone in the eyes, meeting teams and better understanding the client experience.
In short, every client and family is entrusting their Advisor with their family’s wealth and even health. That’s a pretty big responsibility! So we believe Advisors will be ultimately valued based on how they are impacting their clients’ lives.
There are countless ways we have found in which Advisors are impacting their clients’ lives. And while portfolio performance is important, this is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data—almost every client has different objectives, risk profiles and, consequently, portfolio performance.
Quantitative factors include revenues, revenue trends, and assets under management. (For FSPs, we also look at premiums, persistency rates and death benefits on the books.)
Our deep due diligence and attention to data verifications is especially vital because data for all rankings are self-reported.
Every Advisor is assigned values on key quantitative and qualitative metrics, including a SHOOK Impact rating.
The quantitative and qualitative criteria we measure are assigned numerical values. Mathematically, each Advisor is indexed against all other Advisors, and an algorithm assigns ratings for each Advisor, and a ranking is modeled.
SHOOK engages in discussions among various levels of management about each advisor. Further discussions are made with individuals in the Advisor's office and close geographic proximity, as well as competing advisors in the local market—competitors often provide some of our best intel.
The following conditions will be considered in order to lessen weightings infractions:
Once an advisor's compliance rating falls into a tenable category, the following conditions must be met.
The algorithm is designed to fairly compare the business practices of a large group of advisors based on quantitative and qualitative elements. Data are weighted to ensure priorities are given to dynamics such as preferred "best practices", business models, recent business activity, etc. Each variable is graded and represents a certain value for each measured component. These data are fed into an algorithm that measures thousands of advisors against each other.
SHOOK is completely independent and objective and does not receive compensation from the advisors, Firms, the media, or any other source in exchange for placement on a ranking. SHOOK is funded through conferences, publications and research partners. Since every investor has unique needs, investors must carefully choose the right advisor for their own situation and perform their own due diligence. SHOOK’s research and rankings provide opinions for how to choose the right financial advisor and not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Portfolio performance is not a criteria due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Remember, past performance is not an indication of future results.