Five Star award winner Sharon L. Hobaugh

Why You Should Consider a Financial Advisor

An experienced advisor can create a plan to help you pursue your financial goals.

We all have financial goals we'd like to reach-A financial advisor can help you be realistic about those goals and formulate a plan to help you work toward them. But disciplined financial advisors aim to do more than simply provide guidance on how to pursue your goals. They also give you the information you need to understand how your investments support your goals and help choose the appropriate options. This support can help give you greater confidence as you and your advisor collaborate to create a plan that's designed to work towards your investment goals-one that evolves along with your life circumstances.

who needS a financial advisor?

Think of a financial advisor as your guide, helping you chart a path towards your financial goals. For example, a financial advisor can help with:

• Planning for short- and long-term goals, such as buying a home, funding a child's college education, or saving for retirement
• Determining how much to invest
• Matching investment options to your personal goals
• Saving the time and energy required to develop, execute, and monitor an investment plan on your own

Investing can be intimidating, but a trusted financial advisor can make the process more straightforward and create a plan designed to help you work towards your goals more quickly.

What to look for in an advisor

Your advisor may help you make some difficult decisions, so it's important that you find someone you can trust. Look for an experienced advisor who will get to know you and thoroughly understand both your current financial situation and your objectives. Goals-based investing starts with realistic goals, so a knowledgeable advisor will help you sort out the difference between what you need and what you want. An experienced advisor will also take time to understand the two main factors that typically form the basis for a comprehensive investment plan: the amount of time available to reach your goals, and your comfort level with the risks involved in investing.

With all this in mind, your advisor can create a comprehensive investment plan that matches your specific goals. That's especially helpful during periods of market volatility when it can be unsettling to watch your account balances shift. During these times, your advisor can help you keep an eye on your long-term goals and guide you toward some of the most appropriate choices for your situation. Investors who leverage an advisor's guidance may be less likely to make rash, untimely mistakes during periods of market volatility.

Perhaps most importantly, your advisor can also help you determine if it's time to adjust your investment strategy when your situation changes. For instance, income shifts may require a change in your goals or the length of time to pursue them. Similarly, major life changes in your family-births, deaths, marriage or divorce-may require tweaks to your approach. A trusted financial advisor will sit down with you to discuss these changes and help determine how you can best keep moving toward long-established and new goals.

Why Choose Wilmington Advisors @ M&T

Wilmington Advisors@ M&T experienced financial advisors can help you make sense of the financial choices available to you and help guide you toward your financial goals. Advisors are located at M&T branches, and can be reached by phone to offer appropriate, responsible recommendations to help you:

• Build an investment plan that fits your needs, now, and in the future
• Analyze your retirement plan to balance your medium-term goals with your long-term financial needs
• Plan ahead for a child's education
• Identify the advantages of tax-efficient investments
• Review your life insurance and disability benefits to make sense in light of your overarching financial goals
• Manage retirement and health benefits for your employees
• Develop a succession plan as you grow your business

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This award was issued on 11/01/2024 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 02/13/2024 through 08/30/2024. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 585 Delaware-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 57 (10 % of candidates) were named 2024 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2023: 522, 55, 11%, 11/1/23, 2/13/23 - 8/31/23; 2022: 509, 60, 12%, 11/01/22, 02/21/22 - 08/19/21; 2021: 523, 57, 11%, 11/01/21, 01/18/21 - 09/03/21; 2020: 521, 51, 10%, 11/01/20, 02/10/20 - 09/11/20; 2019: 507, 59, 12%, 11/01/19, 12/6/18 - 07/19/19; 2018: 485, 66, 14%, 11/01/18, 10/19/17 - 07/11/18; 2017: 393, 73, 19%, 07/01/17, 10/19/16 - 05/04/17; 2016: 359, 145, 40%, 06/01/16, 11/30/15 - 05/05/16; 2015: 555, 186, 34%, 07/01/15, 11/30/14 - 05/05/15; 2014: 615, 188, 31%, 07/01/14, 11/30/13 - 05/05/14; 2013: 831, 202, 24%, 07/01/13, 11/30/12 - 05/05/13; 2012: 608, 193, 32%, 07/01/12, 11/30/11 - 05/05/12.

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Financial Advisors are investment advisor representatives of, and offer securities and advisory services through, LPL Financial (LPL), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC). Insurance products are offered through LPL or its licensed affiliates. Wilmington Advisors @ M&T is a brand name used by LPL representatives to offer securities, advisory, and insurance services and is not a separate legal entity. Registered representatives of LPL using the Wilmington Advisors @ M&T name are employees of M&T Bank. LPL and its affiliates are entities separate from, and not affiliates of, M&T Bank. Securities and insurance offered through LPL or its affiliates are:

Not Insured by FDIC or Any Other Government Agency | Not Bank Guaranteed | Not Bank Deposits or Obligations | Subject to Investment Risks, Including Possible Loss of Principal Amount Invested

The recommendation by M&T Bank of LPL is made pursuant to an agreement that allows LPL to pay M&T Bank for these referrals. This creates an incentive for M&T Bank to make these referrals, resulting in a conflict of interest. M&T Bank is not an investment advisory client of LPL. Please visit www.mtb.com/wilmington-advisors/disclosure for more detailed information.

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria – required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP’s consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP’s consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client’s experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria – considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients’ assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.