Top Financial Advisors in Madison, WI

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At the top of our list, Madison Investment Advisors, LLC specializes in managed account services. So this may be a more suitable firm for individuals who seek a strategically managed investment portfolio as opposed to general financial planning advice. 

Madison provides these services on a wrap-fee basis. Account minimums for its equity portfolio management are generally $500,000 while the minimum for its fixed-income portfolio is typically $1 million.  

Madison Investment Advisors Background 

Madison Investment Advisors, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Madison Asset Management, LLC which, in turn, is a subsidiary of Madison Investment Holdings, Inc. The parent company has been in business since 1974. 

Today, Madison Investment Advisors is privately held and its employees are shareholders. In addition to Madison, the firm has offices in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Toronto, Canada.

Madison Investment Advisors Investment Strategy

Unlike some of the investment managers on this list, Madison generally steers clear from index strategies. Instead, it uses its own research and knowledge to seek investment opportunities that may have potential for stronger returns. 

According to its website, its equity portfolios are built with companies that have a "wide competitive moat, attractive valuations." It generally constructs its fixed-income portfolios with “diversified positions of high-quality bonds, which allows us to actively manage interest rate and sector risk.”

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Baker Tilly Wealth Management, formerly known as Baker Tilly Financial, is a large financial advisor firm based in Madison. The firm does not have a specific minimum investment required of new clients, and it works quite heavily with individuals. High-net-worth individuals make up the largest portion of the firm's client base, with non-high-net-worth individuals coming in a close second. The firm also maintains advisory relationships with government entities and retirement plans.

Outside of its Wisconsin offices, Baker Tilly has advisors stationed in 17 other states, as well as Washington, D.C. The firm even has an international presence, with offices in Australia, the Cayman Islands, Chile, Germany, Singapore, Dubai and the U.K.

Certain advisors who work at Baker Tilly have the ability to receive commissions from insurance policy sales to clients. While this can induce a potential conflict of interest, the firm's fiduciary duty requires it to act in clients' best interests no matter what.

Baker Tilly Wealth Management Background

Baker Tilly Wealth Management was technically founded in 2013. However, the firm is owned by parent company Baker Tilly U.S., LLC, which has been in business since way back in 1931. Today, the firm is run by CEO Alan Whitman and executive managing director Alec Abbott.

Baker Tilly's services can be divided into two main categories: consulting and portfolio management. The former is focused on clients' various financial planning needs, like retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, education planning, insurance needs analysis and divorce planning. Portfolio management is obviously centered around investing and building a personalized portfolio for you.

Baker Tilly Wealth Management Investment Strategy

As soon as you become a client of Baker Tilly Wealth Management, the firm will build an investment policy statement for you. This will detail exactly what type of investor you are, how much risk you're willing to incur, what your time horizon is and more. Based on these insights, your advisor will construct you an investment strategy and asset allocation.

Just because your assets are invested doesn't mean your Baker Tilly advisor will stop looking at your portfolio. In fact, the firm consistently monitors client portfolios, making adjustments on an as-needed basis. These changes could be induced by market conditions or your changing needs.

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John F. Suby Wealth Management has more than $1 billion in assets under management and has four advisors. The company is fee-only, like several of the firms on this list. Clients at the firm must have at least $200,000 in investable assets.

The team at Suby has a number of certifications including certified wealth strategist (CWS) and certified public accountant (CPA).

Fees for investment management are based on a percentage of assets under management.

John F. Suby Wealth Management Background

The firm’s namesake, John Suby, has worked in Madison’s financial industry for the past 40 years. He has been a certified public accountant since 1972, and at Suby Wealth Management, he focuses on estate planning and business succession planning.

The firm is part of a larger company called The Suby Group, which offers financial planning, tax preparation and planning, retirement planning, restaurant and business bookkeeping services and corporate financial planning. You can find Suby Group offices in Madison, Wisconsin and Rockford, Illinois. Suby Wealth Management offers investment management and monitoring, retirement planning, estate plan review and financial statement review to clients

John F. Suby Wealth Management Investing Strategy

You’ll find that the advisors at Suby try to match “efficient, diversified portfolios” with your investment needs and risk tolerance. As a new client, you’ll answer questions such as your projected retirement year, cash-flow needs, investment objectives and risk tolerance. The firm uses sub-advisers and third party managers for investment management responsibility. Your portfolio will mainly consists of mutual funds, ETFs and individual stocks. 

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The minimum account size at this advisor varies based on account type, but it is at least $2 million. The team, which serves clients across the country out of an office in Madison, Wisconsin, includes advisors who are chartered financial advisors (CFAs) and certified financial planners (CFPs).

As you may suspect from the high asset minimum, the firm primarily works with high-net-worth individuals and families. The firm is fee-only, meaning advisors do not earn commissions. Fees are generally based on a percentage of assets under management.

Isthmus Partners Background

In 2014, David Hackworthy, Victor Rodriguez, Frank Gambino and Joel McNeil founded Isthmus Partners after working together for over a decade. They remain the owners of the firm.

Isthmus Partners offers portfolio management, investment advice, financial planning and institutional portfolios.

Isthmus Partners Investment Strategy

This firm has three main strategies for portfolio management: core equity, fixed income and international equity. Core equity has two sub-categories: large cap and small cap. Large cap targets 35 to 45 large-capitalization U.S. stocks that have a market cap greater than $2 billion at the time of initial purchase. This strategy uses the S&P 500 Index and is managed with tax efficiency in mind.

Small cap core equity will generally contain 55 to 65 small-capitalization U.S. stocks with a market cap between $100 million and $2 billion. The benchmark for small cap core equity is the Russell 2000 Index. 

Fixed income strategy invests in bonds, specifically U.S. Treasury and FDIC certificates of deposit (CDs), municipal bonds and corporate bonds. This portion of the portfolio is conservative and the risk is concentrated on the equity allocations.

International equity is the final strategy. This is the only strategy that uses mutual funds as the primary investment vehicle. Isthmus advisors don’t manage international stock allocations, instead, they select third-party money managers.

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Resonant Capital Advisors has a minimum account size of $5,000, so it will likely be an option for most people. Clients of the firm are actually mostly high-net-worth individuals, despite this low account minimum. Institutional clients include pooled investment vehicles, pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations and insurane companies.

Fees are generally either hourly or based on a percentage of assets under management. Some advisors do earn commissions, though, which may pose a conflict of interest. All advisors must act in the best interest of the client, though.

Advisors at the firm have earned various certifications including certified financial planner (CFP) and chartered financial advisor (CFA).

Resonant Capital Advisors Background

Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC is a fee-only firm that has a relatively small account minimum of $2,500. It has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets under management.

While clients at Walkner Condon are primarily individuals, the firm also has a small number of pension and profit-sharing plan clients.

Some members of the firm's relatively small staff hold professional designations such as certified financial planner (CFA) and certified financial planner (CFP).

Walkner Condon Financial Advisors Background

Walkner Condon was founded in 2011. The firm's principal owners are Clinton Thomas Walkner, Nathan Michael Condon and Jonathon Thomas Jordan.

Services that the firm offers are portfolio management services, a selection of other advisors, financial planning and pension consulting. Its ongoing portfolio management services are based on the individual goals, objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance of each client, and may include investment strategy, personal investment policy, asset allocation, asset selection, risk tolerance and regular portfolio monitoring.

Walkner Condon Financial Advisors Investment Strategy

The main analysis methods used by advisors at this firm are modern portfolio theory (maximizing a portfolio's expected return for a given amount of risk, or minimizing risk for a given level of expected return) and long-term trading. 

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RMR Financial Advisors, LCC (RMR) is an SEC-registered investment advisor focusing on holistic financial planning and investment management. The minimum account size is $250,000.

The team at RMR includes members with professional designations such as certified financial planner (CFP) and chartered financial advisor (CFA).

RMR is fee-only, so your advisor won't receive sales commissions from vendors for recommending certain products. Fees for advising are generally based on a percentage of assets under management.

RMR Financial Advisors Background 

RMR Financial Advisors has been in business since 2003. It is wholly owned by Erik Mikkelson. He co-founded the firm with Rich Mikkelson.

Depending on your needs, RMR can assist with the following: 

• Portfolio and cash flow management

• Investment manager search and monitoring

• Retirement plan consulting

• Family office services

RMR Financial Advisors Investment Approach 

RMR aims for a comprehensive investment policy statement for each client based on his or her individual financial situation and goals. Its overall investment management services can include the following: 

• Active management of investment assets and ongoing monitoring of mutual fund managers

• Regular meetings to ensure goals in the investment policy statement are being met

• Appropriate adjustments to investment portfolio based on changes in financial life or personal objectives

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Mendota Financial Group is a fee-only firm that does not have a set account minimum. Fees for investment management are based on a percentage of assets under management while financial consulting fees are charged on a fixed basis.

Clients at Mendota are nearly all individuals and mostly do not have high net worths. The only institutional clients are corporations. The firm includes professional designations such as chartered financial consultant (ChFC), certified public accountant (CPA), certified financial planner (CFA) and certified financial planner (CFP).

Mendota Financial Group Background

Mendota was founded in 2005. The principal owners are Kurt Ahrens, Daniel Gresch and Matthew Goetzke.

Services at the firm include wealth management, financial consulting education and asset allocation.

Mendota Financial Group Investment Strategy

The main analysis methods used by advisors at this firm are fundamental (evaluating a security based on historical and projected financial performance) and cyclical (using the state of a price cycle).

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This fee-based firm has a $250,000 asset minimum for new clients. EnRich Financial Partners offers investment management and financial planning (a combination they call “Family CFO”). The firm has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets under management. EnRich serves individuals, families and businesses.

Enrich Financial Partners Background

Christopher Rich and Elaine Rich founded the firm in 2003 and remain the sole owners. They serve as wealth advisors and are both certified financial planners (CFPs). Christopher is the firm’s chief compliance officer and has worked in the financial services industry since 1993. Elaine has worked in personal finance and investment management since 1997. She’s been featured in Family Money Magazine and Wisconsin Women Magazine.

They have five additional employees, some of whom also hold CFP designations.  

EnRich Financial Partners Investment Strategy

When working with EnRich, you choose between three levels of partnerships: full, strategic or portfolio management. A full partnership consists of financial planning and investment management. You’ll need a minimum of $250,000, and the firm will manage at least 80% of available assets. This combined service is what the firm calls Family CFO. EnRich sees it as taking care of the holistic financial picture of an individual or family.

A strategic partnership consists of financial planning only. You’ll pay a flat annual retainer fee, but you will not be subject to the $250,000 minimum. This is best for those without enough funds to invest or those who want advice from the firm but not active investment management.

The last option is just investment management by itself. You’ll need at least $250,000 for this option. The portfolio management option is best if you don’t require financial planning.

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Poehling Capital Management, a fee-based financial advisory firm, requires a minimum of $250,000 for core discretionary investment management services. If you have less than that amount, PCM can give you recommendations for no-load or load-waived mutual funds.

The advisory team at Poehling includes certified financial planners (CFPs). Fees are based on a percentage of assets under management, and clients are mostly individuals, the majority of whom do not high net worths. The only institutional clients are charitable organizations and corporations.

Poehling Capital Management Background

Thomas Poehling, president and chief investment officer, owns the firm. He has more than 25 years of experience in the investment industry. Patrick Poehling serves as the COO and vice president of the firm. He has more than 10 years of experience in the financial services industry.

Services offered include investment management, financial planning and estate planning.

Poehling Capital Management Portfolio Management

Pheling Capital Management uses model portfolios for managing client assets. Each model portfolio is a template for a certain set of criteria. This means you’re matched to a model portfolio based on a variety of factors, including risk tolerance, investment objectives, income, retirement timeline and cash-flow needs. The firm invests in large-capitalization companies and other assets for diversification. The firm prefers publicly traded equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual fund, fixed income and option contracts.