Revealed: The InvestmentNews Top Advisors for 2025

Revealed: The InvestmentNews Top Advisors for 2025
Driven by long-term vision and a steadfast commitment to client service, the top-ranking advisors are reaching new heights of success.
FEB 10, 2025

Whether it’s through organic expansion or positive investment performance, growth is the goal for any professional looking to survive and thrive in wealth management. But to advance the industry and raise the bar of client service, the top advisors in the US hold themselves to higher standards.

That’s the resounding takeaway from the 2025 Top Advisors special report by InvestmentNews, which recognizes dozens of elite financial professionals who’ve stood out with exceptional business performance over the course of a 12-month period.

Achieving 19 percent AUM growth and 10 percent client growth on average is remarkable on its own, but those numbers tell just part of the story on how these top-ranking advisors have stepped up for their clients.

To find the top advisors across the USA in 2025, InvestmentNews drew nominations from a spectrum of respondents including advisors, industry professionals, and clients.

Information submitted on the nominees was verified by compliance teams at their respective firms. From there, a final list of top advisors was generated based on a weighted ranking of qualified advisors, which distilled factors including overall AUM, AUM growth, and client growth between August 2023 and August 2024.

Among the outstanding professionals recognized in this year’s list is Wayne McCormick, whose “clients for life" mindset serves as his north star.

“I measure potential clients not necessarily by their assets,” McCormick said. “I tell clients up front, I expect to be working with you for years, if not decades to come.”

Ted Lauzen, whose professional ethos is informed by his experience as a light attack helicopter pilot in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, fulfills his duty as an advisor by “taking care of people spectacularly well and far exceeding expectations on a day in and day out basis.”

“These aren't knickknacks being sold, these are the hard-earned assets of a lifetime, and often multi-generational lifetimes of effort,” he said. “So, it's a distinct privilege to be able to shepherd growth over time.”

Another top advisor, Jeff Dehaan, strives to make sure the clients of his firm’s private wealth business never become casualties of its success.

“Managing growth is one of the hardest things that any business has to do,” he said, highlighting the importance of “making sure that we can maintain the standard that we expect of ourselves, let alone what our clients expect.”

For the 2025 Top Advisors special report, InvestmentNews is focusing the spotlight on a select circle of leading advisors:

Latest News

Advisor moves: RBC swipes $1.7B UBS team, Baird duo departs for LPL's Linsco channel
Advisor moves: RBC swipes $1.7B UBS team, Baird duo departs for LPL's Linsco channel

RBC Wealth Management's latest move in New York adds an elite eight-member team to its recently opened Westchester office.

Stifel star broker, Chuck Roberts, leaves firm under cloud of investor complaints
Stifel star broker, Chuck Roberts, leaves firm under cloud of investor complaints

Stifel – so far - is on the hook for more than $166 million in damages, legal fees and settlements in investor complaints involving Roberts, a 35-year industry veteran.

iCapital secures $820M in latest funding, hits $7.5B
iCapital secures $820M in latest funding, hits $7.5B

The giant alt investments platform's latest financing led by T. Rowe Price and SurgoCap Partners, along with State Street, UBS, and BNY, will fuel additional growth on multiple fronts.

Merrill Lynch on the hook for $3.7M after clients claimed sale of unsuitable private equity
Merrill Lynch on the hook for $3.7M after clients claimed sale of unsuitable private equity

Some investors recently have seen million dollar plus decisions by FINRA arbitration panels involving complex products decisions go their way.

What does it take to feel 'financially comfortable' or 'wealthy' in 2025?
What does it take to feel 'financially comfortable' or 'wealthy' in 2025?

New report shines a light on how Americans view wealth today.

SPONSORED How advisors can build for high-net-worth complexity

Orion's Tom Wilson on delivering coordinated, high-touch service in a world where returns alone no longer set you apart.

SPONSORED RILAs bring stability, growth during volatile markets

Barely a decade old, registered index-linked annuities have quickly surged in popularity, thanks to their unique blend of protection and growth potential—an appealing option for investors looking to chart a steadier course through today's choppy market waters, says Myles Lambert, Brighthouse Financial.