Top Financial Advisor Firms in St. Louis, MO

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Moneta Group Financial Advisors is a fee-based firm that works with individuals, though the majority of the individual clients have a high net worth. Institutional clients at Moneta include pension and profit- sharing plans, charitable organizations and corporations.

The advisor team at Moneta has earned a number of certificaions including certified financial planner (CFP), chartered financial advisor (CFA), certified public accountant (CPA), financial paraplanner qualified professional (FPQP), accredited wealth management advisor (AWMA), certified divorce financial advisor (CDFA), accredited investment fiduciar (AIF), accredited investment fiduciary analyst (AIFA), chartered life underwriter (CLU) and chartered financial consultant (ChFC).

Fees are generally based on a percentage of assets under management. Some advisors earn commissions for selling insurance. This is a potential conflict of interest, but advisors must act in the best interests of their clients.

Moneta Group Investment Advisors Background

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Buckingham Strategic Wealth has more than 6,000 individual clients, most of whom do not have high net worths. Beyond individuals, this firm also serves charitable organizations, businesses, foundations and qualified retirement plans. Buckingham does not institute a specific minimum account size, but rather has a variable requirement based on client type.

This fee-only firm boasts a large variety of advisor certifications. This includes certified financial planners (CFPs), certified public accountants (CPAs), chartered financial analysts (CFAs), chartered retirement plans specialists (CRPSes), chartered life underwriter (CLU), chartered financial consultant (ChFC), chartered retirement planning counselor (CRPC), accredited estate planner (AEP), certified divorce financial analyst (CDFA), certified plan fiduciary advisor (CPFA) and financial paraplanner qualified professional (FPQP).

The firm is fee-only, so no commissions are collected from vendors. Client fees are generally based on assets under management.

Buckingham Strategic Wealth Background

Buckingham Strategic Wealth was founded in 1994. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Focus Financial Partners, LLC, a financial services holding company that has a nationwide presence in the market at various levels.

There are a wide variety of different services you’ll find here, such as:

• Education/529 plan planning
• Cash flow planning
• Estate planning
• Tax planning/minimization
• Divorce financial planning
• Investment management
• Disability income analysis
• Retirement planning

Buckingham Strategic Wealth Investing Strategy

Buckingham does not believe in stock-picking and attempting to beat the market. Instead, it prefers to choose reliable investments that have low fees and are generally tax-efficient. For the most part, these are mutual funds and investment grade bond portfolios.

To avoid a static portfolio, the firm makes sure to diversify your investments not only domestically, but internationally as well. In addition to using diversification to reduce volatility, Buckingham uses fixed income investments to keep as constant an influx of return as possible into your account.

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Plancorp is a fee-only firm with a client list whose individual clients are nearly evenly split between those who do and don't have high net worths. Institutional clients include pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations and corporations. There is no set account minimum at Plancorp.

The firm is fee-only so advisors do not collect sales commissions on top of client fees. Fees for wealth management are based on a percentage of assets under management, though flat and hourly fees may be used instead.

Certifications earned by advisors at the firm include certified financial planner (CFP), accredited investment fiduciary (AIF), chartered financial advisor (CFA), financial paraplanner qualified professional (FPQP) and certified public accountant (CPA).

Plancorp Background

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RubinBrown Advisors, LLC provides a range of investment advisory services to a diverse group of clients including individuals, corporate profit-sharing plans, charities and endowments. If it deems appropriate, the firm may also recommend the use of one or more third-party investment advisors. 

RubinBrown Advisors is affiliated with RubinBrown Financial Services, an insurance agency. Its representatives may recommend insurance products and earn commissions. While RubinBrown Advisors doesn't receive compensation from such moves, the arrangement alone may create a conflict of interest. However, as a fiduciary, RubinBrown Advisors is obligated to always work in clients' best interests.

The firm’s network of advisors includes certified financial planners (CFPs), certified public accountants (CPAs), chartered financial analysts (CFAs) and personal finance specialists (PFS).

RubinBrown Advisors Background 

RubinBrown Advisors is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RubinBrown, LLP. The firm has been providing investment advisory services since 2002. Today, it manages offices in St. Louis, Denver and Kansas City, Missouri.

Services include investment advisory, strategic asset allocation and consulting.

RubinBrown Advisors Investing Strategy 

The firm can assist you in constructing an investment portfolio with an appropriate asset allocation based on your risk profile and financial goals. Its advisors can also create one for you utilizing mutual funds and exchange-traded funds based on your financial situation and outlook. The firm manages these portfolios on a non-discretionary basis, meaning it will request your permission before making trades in your accounts. 

Depending on your situation, RubinBrown Advisors may allocate assets to the following:

• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
• Mutual fund shares
• Investments held by the client at the start of the advisory relationship
• Separately managed accounts
• Certificates of deposit (CDs)
• Investment elections within variable life insurance
• Investment elections within variable annuities

If it deems the move appropriate, RubinBrown will suggest the assistance of third-party advisors. In these cases, you’d enter into a separate agreement with the third-party advisor, but RubinBrown would periodically monitor the performance of the outside manager. 

RubinBrown also offers a program in which it would manages your portfolio with the advisory assistance of SEI Asset Management. This program would utilize only mutual funds offered by SEI.

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Acropolis Investment Management, LLC is a fee-only financial advisory firm that provides clients with individual investment programs. Acropolis charges annual fees for these services based on a percentage of your assets under management. As a fee-only firm, it doesn’t collect commissions or other forms of revenue from third parties for recommending certain products or investments over others. 

This framework may reduce conflicts of interest as the advisor is not incentivized to make recommendations to earn more in compensation. 

To open an account with the Acropolis, you’d generally need a minimum investment of $1 million. The minimum drops to $500,000 for those introduced through the Schwab Advisor Network. However, SEC records show that the firm’s individual client base consists of mostly non-high-net worth individuals.  

The team includes 14 certified financial planners (CFPs), four chartered financial advisors (CFAs), three certified public accountants (CPAs) and one certified exit planning advisor (CEPA).

Acropolis Investment Management Background

Acropolis Investment Management has been in business since 2002. It is owned by four of the firm's managers. The two with principal ownership (between 25% and 50%) are Christopher Lissner and David Ott.

Services include investment management, institutional advisory and retirement plan advisory services.

Acropolis Investment Management Investing Strategy 

Acropolis begins its investment advisory process by holding meetings with individual clients. The firm utilizes this time to gather as much relevant financial information as it can to develop a comprehensive investment strategy. This would be detailed in your personalized investment policy statement. It will detail your asset allocation based on your risk appetite, financial objectives and more. 

Based on your financial profile, the firm may invest your assets in individual stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and separately managed accounts.

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For every one high-net-worth individual Krilogy Financial, LLC works with, it has five non-high-net-worth counterparts. This ratio reflects the firm’s more significant focus on clientele with lower net worths compared to other firms on the list. Its $250,000 minimum account size supports this. Estates, trusts, pension/profit-sharing plans, businesses and charitable organizations are clients of this firm as well.

This firms employs certified financial planners (CFPs), accredited investment fiduciaries (AIFs), certified public accountants (CPAs), certified trust and financial advisors (CTFAs), certified fund specialists (CFSs), certified investment management analyst (CIMA), certified IRA services professional (CISPs), certified income specialists (CISs) and chartered financial consultant (ChFCs).

This fee-based firm employs certain advisors that sell insurance policies for commissions. However, the firm is a fiduciary, meaning it is legally bound to act in your best interests.

Krilogy Financial Background

One of the younger firms on this list, Krilogy Financial opened in 2008. Although one leader, president Kent Skornia, runs it, it’s under the ownership of holding company Krilogy Partners.

This firm offers rather nonspecific advisory services, but personalizes them to its clients’ needs. Therefore you can subscribe to offerings like financial independence, money management, tax loss planning, estate planning, investment planning and risk management.

Krilogy Financial Investing Strategy

Risk tolerance and liquidity are two of the most essential factors that dictate what stocks will be in your investment portfolio. These can sometimes be incongruent, of course. For example, a high risk tolerance is not in sync with a need to maintain liquidity. Krilogy is prepared to handle issues such as these.

As far as investment choices go, this firm keeps things simple, utilizing mostly exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, bonds and equities. Krilogy uses these to keep your portfolio diversified.

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Fiduciary Advisors, Inc. primarily works with corporate retirement plan sponsors and other major profit-sharing plans. However, it also offers financial planning and investment advisory services to individual clients. According to SEC documents, the firm works with fewer than 100 individual clients. Most of these are high-net-worth individuals.  

The firm does not require a minimum asset level for financial planning services. However, it recommends an investment of at least $250,000 for ongoing portfolio management services. The current minimum annual fee for investment advisory services is $1,500. 

Fiduciary Advisors generally charges this fee as a percentage of assets under management. Depending on your balance, it can range from 0.50% to 1.00%. 

The firm’s team includes chartered financial analysts (CFAs), accredited investment fiduciaries (AIFs) and certified public accountants (CPAs).

Fiduciary Advisors Background 

Fiduciary Advisors was incorporated in 2000 by John Hefele, who remains the owner of the firm. Fiduciary Advisors primarily extends its services to pension, profit-sharing and 401(k) plans. But the company states: “Our firm will also offer these services, where appropriate, to individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations, other business entities, and government entities." 

Fiduciary Advisors Investing Strategy

The firm’s investment philosophy is driven by Modern Portfolio Theory. This means the firm prioritizes portfolio diversification and strategic asset allocation. Fiduciary Advisors states in its filing with the SEC: “Client assets are allocated among various asset classes in an attempt to capture the potential returns associated with groups of securities (asset classes) having certain characteristics.” 

Depending on your risk tolerance and other factors, the firm may invest your assets in the following: 

• Mutual funds
• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
• Certificates of deposit (CDs)
• Individual bonds

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Clayton Financial Group, LLC stands out for its use of a sectioned financial advisor staff, dividing its advisors into five teams. Each group is led by one of the members of upper management and is centered around a different area of financial advising. Across the firm, there are seven certified financial planners (CFPs), two accredited wealth management advisors (AWMAs), one certified public accountant (CPA) and one financial paraplanner qualified professional (FPQP).

This fee-only firm has just about an equal amount of individual clients with and without a high net worth. While individuals by far make up the majority of this firm’s accounts, it also works with businesses, retirement plans and their sponsors. There is no minimum amount of investable assets needed to join this firm.

Clayton Financial Group Background

Clayton Financial was created in 2015. Principals and managing directors Kenneth and Matthew Bower own the firm and have spent more than 30 years combined in financial services.

Retirement planning is the hallmark service of this firm, but it does have other offerings. Clayton Financial can also help you identify your appropriate asset allocation and investment strategies and advise on securities selection and personal investment policy.

Clayton Financial Group Investing Strategy

Modern Portfolio Theory, or MPT, informs all the investment decisions that Clayton Financial Group makes. The theory states that a portfolio’s risk exposure and return potential must be equal in a relative sense. In other words, if you’re going to increase your risk, there must be an expected and proportional jump in return.

Because MPT inordinately lends itself to a long-term investment approach, the firm generally favors long-term investing over a more short-term approach. The practice typically sticks to four core investment areas for its client portfolios: equities, mutual funds, annuities and fixed income.

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At Argos Investment Advisors, LLC, all the individual clients have ultra-high net worths. These clients number less than 40, though the firm also with their charitable organizations, trusts, partnerships and other business entities. There is technically no set account minimum at this fee-only firm.

Two chartered financial analysts (CFAs), one certified public accountant (CPA), one chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA), one chartered retirement planning counselor (CRPC) and one certified financial planner (CFP) work at this firm. Argos Investment is the sole firm on this list to charge performance-based fees if your account overperforms.

Argos Investment Advisors Background

Although Argos Investment Advisors is entirely its own financial advisor firm, another firm called Black Swan Investments, LLC actually owns it. Argos has been in business since 2008.

If you’re looking for very particular advisory services at your next firm, Argos probably isn’t your best choice. Instead its service selection is fairly small and fluid, including the likes of retirement analysis, third-party investment reporting, in-person investment planning, investment portfolio review and investment policy statement creation.

Argos Investment Advisors Investing Strategy

Argos mainly practices passive index investing. However, you will not be rigidly forced into a portfolio style based on this strategy. Rather your advisor will take the time to design and build an asset allocation that aligns with your liquidity needs, time horizon, tax situation and risk tolerance.

ETFs and index funds in general have become all the rage in the investment world, and for good reason. Argos has followed this strategy, although it supplements these investments with other mutual funds, private equity funds, stocks, bonds, REITs, hedge funds and separately managed accounts.

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At $1 million, Mosaic Family Wealth, LLC has a relatively high minimum account size. Despite this high bar, the firm has more clients who do not have high net worths than those who do. Businesses and their retirement plans are also clients.

The team of 12 of advisors includes seven certified financial planners (CFPs), one chartered financial consultant (ChFC) and one chartered life underwriter (CLU).

Some of the advisors at this fee-based firm separately sell insurance policies that could earn them  commissions. The firm is still a registered fiduciary, though.

Mosaic Family Wealth Background

CCO Duncan Highmark, CIO Larry Shikles and Director of Advisory Services Michelle Brown own the firm that has been open since just 2015.

Mosaic's services fall under three main categories: wealth management, financial consulting and retirement planning. Within these areas, there are more specialized service offerings. 

Mosaic Family Wealth Investing Strategy

Whereas some firms will strictly follow long-term investing principles, Mosaic is open to shorter-term investments, so long as a client’s needs call for them. For reference, a short-term investment is one that is held in a portfolio for less than a year.

For example, a need for liquidity could create a need for short-term investments. In rarer situations, a short-term investment opportunity may be utilized to help you meet your long-term goals if there is a significant return to be had.