Top Financial Advisors in Arlington, VA

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Evermay Wealth Management leads off our list of the top financial advisors in Arlington. As a fee-only practice, compensation for individual advisors comes solely from the fees that clients pay for portfolio management, financial planning and consulting services. This differs from a fee-based firm, whose advisors may also receive commissions on top of advisory fees.

There is a $1 million account minimum necessary to start working with Evermay, though the firm may be willing to accept those with less than that amount.

A handful of advisors hold the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations. These advisors help serve the firm's clients, who are individuals, both with and without a high net worth. Other types of clients include charitable organizations and business entities.

Evermay Wealth Management was founded in December 2008 by three partners: William Pitt, Damon White and Biljana McKinley. All but McKinley still works with the firm. Pitt, who serves as president, is the majority owner of the firm.

Evermay provides two main services for clients: investment management and wealth planning. Investment management includes the creation and management of an investment portfolio, while wealth planning focuses on understanding a client’s individual needs and helping the client meet financial goals. Examples of wealth planning are creating a financial plan, making an estate plan, planning to reduce taxes and analyzing insurance needs.

The firm builds portfolios around each client’s unique goals, risk tolerance and tax situation. The firm combines top-down economic analysis with bottom-up company research to select equities, fixed income, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and private investments. Portfolios may also include third-party managers for specialized strategies. Evermay emphasizes diversification, ongoing monitoring and long-term growth, while offering tax-loss harvesting and avoiding speculative assets like cryptocurrencies.

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The second firm on our list is Omega Wealth Management. The firm's team includes Certified Financial Planners™ (CFPs®) and certified financial transitionists (CeFTs), a designation that requires five years of face-to-face client service experience. Advisors hold a handful of other certifications, including the certified investment management analyst (CIMA) and certified private wealth advisor (CPWA) designations. 

The firm offers services to individuals both with and without a high net worth. It does not serve other institutional clients and it does not specify a set account minimum. This is a fee-only firm, as it does not earn compensation in ways other than the fees its clients pay. Omega provides non-advisory consulting services to clients on topics like business successions, for which it will earn separate compensation.

Founded in 1999, Omega Wealth Management is the oldest practice on this list. It's founder Lisa Kirchenbauer is still with the firm.  

The firm offers its clients a number of ongoing life and wealth planning services, including personal financial planning, tax and cash flow planning, education funding, investment risk analysis, insurance risk management, retirement planning, estate planning, portfolio monitoring and financial life planning issues and advice.

It also offers pro-bono financial planning services for individuals or couples below a certain income threshold. 

Alongside its array of financial planning services, the firm offers investment management. The firm offers a couple of programs to choose from, including its own Mutual Fund Models and a management program offered by SEI Investment Management. The latter offers a few options, such as Managed Account Program and the Private Client Model Program.

Omega Wealth Management describes its investment philosophy as "goals-based," with focus on long-term growth and capital preservation. The firm works with each client to identify his or her goals and objectives. It then creates portfolios based on the time horizon of each goal and objective, as well as the client's risk tolerance and tax bracket.

The firm typically offers advice on exchange-listed securities, mutual fund shares and bonds.

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Opulen Financial Group is a fee-based firm whose client base is made up of individuals and high-net-worth individuals. The firm is also open to working with corporations. 

Opulen Financial Group offers a wide range of services including discretionary and non-discretionary asset management. They also provide comprehensive and ongoing financial planning and consulting, covering areas such as retirement, tax, estate, insurance, college and cash flow planning. In addition, they sponsor a wrap fee program that combines investment management and transaction costs into one fee.

As a fee-based firm, however, some of the firm's revenue comes from third parties as commissions for the sale of insurance products like annuities. But as a fiduciary, Opulen Financial Group is obligated to always act in its clients' best interests.

The firm was founded in 2009 and in 2014 began offering investment advisory services. Thomas J. Cymer is the managing member and sole advisor. He holds numerous professional certifications, including Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), chartered retirement planning counselor (CRPC), chartered market technician (CMT) and Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®).

Opulen Financial Group primarily uses fundamental analysis to evaluate investments, focusing on company value and expected earnings. Investment strategies are tailored to each client’s objectives, risk tolerance and time horizon, documented in an investment policy statement.

Portfolios may include long-term and short-term purchases, trading and options strategies, with assets such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, closed-end funds, unit investment trusts and cash. The firm emphasizes diversification while monitoring risks like market, interest rate, inflation and liquidity. 

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Founded in 2019, Cope Connelly registered as an investment advisor the follwoing year. This fee-based firm provides a range of financial services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, pooled investment vehicles and business entities. The firm offers portfolio management tailored to each client’s goals, risk tolerance and time horizon. 

Clients may also engage the firm for comprehensive financial planning covering areas such as investment allocation, retirement readiness, tax considerations, college savings, insurance needs and debt management. In addition, Cope Connelly advises on private placements, including due diligence and ongoing monitoring, and distributes a newsletter with market recommendations at no added cost. The firm has no account minimum, though it charges either fixed or asset-based fees depending on the service.

Cope Connelly is fee-based, as its professionals may receive commissions from the sale of insurance products in addition to charging advisory fees. While this is a conflict of interest, the firm must act in your best interests as a fiduciary. Cope Connelly's small team of advisors includes one Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and one Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

The firm’s investment philosophy centers on creating individualized investment policy statements to guide asset allocation and security selection. It typically invests in mutual funds, equities, ETFs, fixed income securities, annuities, real estate funds, and occasionally private placements, with the aim of diversification. Its strategies include long-term trading and the use of charting and technical analysis to evaluate securities. 

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Glover Park Wealth Management is the fifth and final firm on our list of the top advisors in Arlington. Founded in 2020 by Michael Jobe, Glover Park provides investment management, financial planning, and retirement plan advisory services. The firm's client base is made up of individuals, high-net-worth individuals and retirement plans. 

It does not impose a minimum account size, but financial planning services are billed separately, either hourly or as a fixed project fee. Clients may also pay an annual percentage of assets under management for ongoing investment oversight.

The firm assists clients with a range of needs including retirement planning, estate and trust planning, tax and cash flow strategies, education planning, risk and liability management, charitable giving, business succession and concentrated stock or option hedging strategies. 

However, in addition to charging advisory fees, the firm is also a licensed insurance agency that can receive commissions when selling insurance products, creating a potential conflict of interest. When acting as a your financial advisor, Glover Park must abide by its fiduciary duty to disclose conflicts of interest and act in your best interests. 

Glover Park manages portfolios on a discretionary or non-discretionary basis and emphasizes a long-term investment approach. Portfolios typically consist of ETFs and mutual funds, with the option to include individual stocks, bonds and other securities when appropriate. The firm uses both fundamental and technical analysis and adjusts allocations based on client goals, risk tolerance and market conditions.