RJ and Makay

Registered Investment Advisors vary greatly depending on the type and nature of their practice. Cerulli Associates quantifies and measures various practice types through in-depth practice-type analysis. Through this methodology, money managers, investment planners, financial planners and wealth managers are brought into sharper focus.

Typically, the key aspect that differentiates RIAs on up the food chain is their level of investment management vs investment advice that they dispense.

The CFP Board conducted a survey of over one thousand Americans they released yesterday. The margin of error is a +/-3.1%. The survey shows that almost two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the AIG bailout, Americans are slowly regaining confidence in the national economy.  Americans however, are keeping their optimism in check and preparing for a long and slow recovery.

Here are some of the interesting findings:

Boston Private Bank, Bernstein and Rockefeller took the top 3 spots respectively in the Luxury Institute survey released Tuesday. LI surveyed 505 investors that had at least $5 million in net worth. Wealth managers were rated on quality of service, exclusivity and their social standing and status.

The complete list is only provided to firms purchasing the full report but I've been able to identify about half the firms through press reports and from my own personal conversation with the nice folks at the Luxury Institute.