To be eligible for consideration, firms must meet all of the following criteria:
- Must be in business a minimum of one year
- Have a minimum of three employees in the United States. All employees in your company should be included in your employee count, not just your financial advising department.
- Be a financial advice or wealth management firm providing direct financial advice to households or organizations. This includes registered investment advisers (RIA), those affiliated with an independent broker-dealer (IBD), a hybrid/dually-registered firm affiliated with an IBD and doing business through an RIA, and wealth management teams.
- Nominees must be in good standing with state and federal securities regulators.
Home offices and firms that support the financial advice profession are not eligible.