William Merriam of Jacksonville, FL Makes Barrons Top List Again

Bill Merriam makes it to FT 400 list again

2018 was a great year for the Merriam Team as Bill Merriam made it to the Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors list again. It is the 9th consecutive year for Bill’s name to appear in the Top 1,200 Financial Advisors list. Bill has consistently been making it to the list of top financial advisors for almost 4 years now in Top 400 Financial Advisors of US and 2018 witnessed the same. Recognized as Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors, Bill is working consistently towards a client’s interests.

The role of financial advisors has evolved from being brokers as they are spending more time to manage client relationship with quality advice. US Department of Labor is in its first phase of creating the Fiduciary rule. According to the rule, the retirement plan advisors will be required to guide the clients in a manner that is more profit reaping for the clients primarily.

A fiduciary standard is being developed by The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that will ensure the advisors meet minimum set criteria of investment advice to the clients. These regulations are focused on lower-cost fewer risk investments to protect the client’s interest.

An increase of 26% investments in passive funds is a clear indication of FT 400 advisors nudging the client investments into index-tracking funds. The FT 400 advisors are selected from some of the Wall Street’s biggest companies. For the year 2018, the 20% of the FT 400 advisors are at Merrill Lynch while 19% are at Morgan Stanley.

William Merriam's Competition in Florida is Steep

The competition to make it to the FT 400 list is cut throat for all advisors, including William Merriam. The advisors are judged on the basis of how well they meet client demand that is broken down into elemental segments and each advisor receives a score based on that. Some elite advisors missed being on the FT 400 list in years 2018. Let us have a look at the factors that contribute to the cumulative score:

1. Management of Assets: The way an advisor manages the assets and maintains the relationship.
2. AUM growth rate: Performance of the advisor and how well they are able to retain the asset of the client despite the market condition. The new business generation is also measured on the scorecard.
3. Experience versatility: Experience in managing assets that are spread across different market segments.
4. Compliance stats: A clean record is a big thumbs up if there are no disputes and complaints from clients.
5.  Certifications: As an indicator of the progressive inclination of the advisor, certificates like CFA reflect his technical expertise as per changing trends.
6. Online services: being available on online platforms makes sure the advisors can be contacted easily and quickly.

Based on the above 6 factors the score based ranking is done to find out the advisors who make it to FT 400 list.

For more information on Bill Merriam or the Merriam team at Merrill Lynch, please get more info here.