As seen in
Rhode Island Five Star award winners

15 Ways Your Advisor Adds Value

Your Financial Advocate


In this day and age, many services that once required the expertise of a professional can be accomplished through your computer or an app on your smart phone.

With the availability of automated investment advice (aka. Robo-Advisors), this may include managing your investments. So, with all of these technological resources available, why should you work with an advisor?
 
 
15 Things a Financial Advisor Does for You

1. Helps you formulate realistic goals, and prioritize them
2. Provides guidance and accountability to help keep you on track
3. Guides you to consider areas of your financial life that you may have overlooked, like analyzing your Social Security claiming strategy
4. Helps you manage the challenge of competing financial goals, like saving for retirement while reducing debt
5. Prepares a personalized asset allocation that balances your need for return with your ability to tolerate risk
6. Helps convert your investments into income, offering alternatives to maximize your income during retirement
7. Monitors your investments, providing analysis and making changes when needed
8. Provides reminders about key financial planning activities to avoid penalties, such as taking your required minimum distribution
9. Offers advice on your company benefits, and reviews investments in your company sponsored retirement plans
10. Reviews your insurance and identifies areas where you may be exposed to risk
11. Works with your tax and legal advisors to help you meet your financial goals
12. Provides a holistic approach to managing your financial life, offering referrals to other trusted professionals
13. Stays up to date on changes in the investment world, providing personal investment analysis with independent, unbiased research
14. Proactively keeps in touch with you, monitoring changes in your life and family situation
15. Acts as a sounding board, offering an objective perspective, as you consider important decisions

AND MANY MORE...
 
When you hire an advisor, you aren't just looking for information, you can easily get that yourself. You hire an advisor for their experience.

With experience weathering challenging markets, your financial advisor helps you adapt your plan appropriately as your life evolves, and makes suggestions about areas of your financial life that you may not be considering.

Even though an airplane comes equipped with autopilot, we still need an experienced pilot to ensure that we get to our destination safely. We place our trust in financial professionals because our journey to retirement is too important to be put on autopilot.

This award was issued on 12/01/2023 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 02/13/2023 through 08/31/2023. 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. 703 Rhode Island-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 120 (17% 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: 637, 136, 21%, 12/1/21, 3/29/21 - 10/1/21; 2022: 648, 130, 20%, 12/1/21, 3/29/21 - 10/1/21; 2021: 624, 151, 24%, 11/1/21, 2/8/21 - 9/10/21; 2020: 614, 132, 21%, 11/1/20, 3/2/20 - 9/25/20; 2019: 568, 131, 23%, 11/1/19, 2/25/19 - 10/7/19; 2018: 545, 131, 24%, 11/1/18, 3/16/18 - 10/4/18; 2017: 476, 189, 40%, 11/1/16, 0316/16 - 11/1/16; 2016: 495, 173, 35%, 10/1/16, 5/6/16 - 10/4/16; 2015: 637, 194, 30%, 12/1/15, 5/6/15 - 9/30/15; 2014: 677, 204, 30%, 11/1/14, 5/6/13 - 9/30/13; 2013: 553, 185, 33%, 10/1/13, 5/6/12 - 9/30/12; 2012: 287, 111, 39%, 11/1/12, 5/6/11 - 9/30/11.
Click to access BrokerCheck

This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the states of AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IN, KS, MA, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state regulations and registration requirements regarding investment products and services.

The financial professionals of Sowa Financial Group, Inc. offer securities through Commonwealth Financial Network®, member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Advisory services offered through Sowa Financial Group, Inc. are separate and unrelated to Commonwealth. Fixed insurance products offered through Sowa Financial Group, Inc. or CES Insurance Agency.

*Winners appearing on this page do not pay a fee to be considered or to win the Five Star Award. Professionals with a digital profile have paid a promotional fee.
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.