Top Financial Advisors in Cherry Hill, NJ

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At the top of the list is Pine Valley Investments. Its team includes many advisors who cut their teeth at Merrill Lynch. Some advisors may also be brokers or insurance agents, making the firm fee-based. Any potential conflicts of interest that originate from these roles are mitigated by the firm's fiduciary duty, though.

Pine Valley’s client base consists of both high-net-worth individuals and individuals who do not have a high net worth. The practice also serves pension and profit-sharing plans. The minimum ranges from $250,000 for individual advisory services to $5 million for comprehensive family office services, though Pine Valley may waive or lower minimums at its discretion.

Pine Valley Investments Background

Harry Morad and Joseph Duncan founded the firm in 2014 after working together at Philadelphia Investment Partners. Morad owns the firm.

Pine Valley’s main business is providing discretionary investment advisory services, which may include recommending a third-party advisor. It can also assist with trust and estate planning, insurance products and investment banking (if, say, you want to sell your business). Additionally, it does pension consulting and may act as a sub-advisor to unaffiliated third-party advisors. 

Pine Valley Investments Strategy

Like most advisories, Pine Valley will customize its investment advice to client goals, time horizon and risk tolerance. In analyzing securities, it uses fundamental, technical and quantitative methods of analysis, and according to its website, it manages “portfolio overlays around various asset classes that deliver attractive, less-correlated and improved risk-adjusted absolute returns.”

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Wealth Management Associates, Inc. (WMA) is headquartered in Cherry Hill and has another New Jersey office in Haddonfield and a branch in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. Most advisors are also brokers and insurance agents. Advisory certifications in the Cherry Hill office include MBA, certified financial planner (CFP), accredited asset management specialist (AAMS) and more.

High-net-worth clients make up a minority of this firm's clients, as more individual clients do not have a high net worth. This makes sense, since the minimum investment is a relatively low $50,000. WMA also serves pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations and businesses.

Some of the advisors at this fee-based firm can sell insurance products and securities on a commission basis. Despite the potential conflict of interest this creates, the firm abides by fiduciary duty.

Wealth Management Associates Background

After working at brokerages for more than a decade, James Johnston set up his own shop, WMA, in 1998. He was soon joined by his friend and former colleague David Hess (they started their careers at Smith Barney together).

WMA offers discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services, financial planning on a stand-alone or consulting basis, qualified retirement plan services (to plan sponsors) and seminars. In the management of assets, the firm may recommend using a third-party advisor, and it may recommend insurance products (for which it receives commissions from the insurance company).

Wealth Management Associates Investing Strategy

The firm does not do tactical investing, which involves trying to time the market. Instead, it takes a long-term approach, holding positions for at least a year. Its primary strategy is asset allocation and its main method of securities review is fundamental analysis.

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Wealth Creation Management and Transfer, more commonly called Wealth CMT, is a boutique firm. The advisory team includes MBAs, a chartered life underwriter (CLU) and a chartered financial consultant (ChFC). The firm is fee-based, and may receive third party commissions.

The minimum to open an investment account is $600,000, though the firm may waive the requirement at its discretion. The firm works with individuals both with and without a high net worth, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates and charitable organizations. 

Wealth CMT Background

Andrew Barnett founded Wealth CMT in 2008, and then reformed it with equal partner Eric Feder a year later. Today, they are the sole owners.

The firm stands out for its emphasis on financial planning. It requires it as a first step before it will provide investment advisory services. Fees for financial planning (which includes portfolio design) range from $3,500 to $25,000, while portfolio management fees are asset based, starting at 1.17% annually for the first $500,000 invested. Portfolio design is part of management services at most firms, and Wealth CMT says it will allow part of the cost of financial planning to offset some of its management fee.

Wealth CMT Investing Strategy

Wealth CMT has five basic asset-allocation approaches: conservative, moderate, balanced, growth and aggressive growth. It will custom-design a client’s portfolio using a mix of these approaches and then implement it generally using mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and third-party investment managers. Because of its holistic approach, the firm will include and review investments that can not be transferred in kind to the account with Wealth CMT, such as securities in a 401(k) plan.

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Last but not least is Cypress Financial Planning, a fee-only firm. This means that its advisors only sell advice - and do not sell products that would earn them commissions from third parties. The team at Cypress includes certified financial planners (CFPs).

Cypress Financial has no asset requirement. Not surprisingly, the majority of investment advisory clients are not high net worth. The firm also serves high-net-worth individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans and charitable institutions.

Cypress Financial Planning Background

Founder Jeff Jones’ career path started at Lockheed Martin, where he worked as an engineer. But an encounter with a financial advisor who was really an insurance salesman opened Jones’ eyes to the need for a “sales-free environment” for financial advice. As a result, he switched tracks, earning a master’s degree in financial engineering and taking a job in the private wealth management division at Goldman Sachs. He started Cypress Financial in 2009, where he is majority owner. The firm's minority owners are Benjamin J. Pitts and Evan Powers.

The boutique shop’s main business is financial planning and investment advisory services. It also offers educational seminars and publishes newsletters about personal finance and economic topics. Additionally, it provides consulting or advisory services to employer-sponsored retirement plans. 

Cypress Financial Planning Investment Strategy

Cypress Financial applies modern portfolio theory (MPT) and fundamental and technical analyses when designing and implementing portfolios. It says that it frequently recommends exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The majority of the firm's assets are held in stocks.