Top Financial Advisors in Saratoga Springs, NY

Find an Advisor

Shade Tree Advisors, LLC was established in 2017. According to its SEC-filed Form ADV, the firm currently works with just a handful of high-net-worth individuals and pooled investment vehicles.

The fee-only firm provides a plethora of services, such as investment advice, family office services, financial planning and estate planning. Shade Tree normally offers non-discretionary investment advice, but it may provide discretionary management, as well.

The firm doesn’t have any official account minimum. However, it prefers to work with wealthy individuals and families that are looking for the best long-term investment approach rather than the cheapest.

Management fees at Shade Tree Advisors are typically fixed and negotiable. They usually come out to between $40,000 and $700,000 annually. The fees are usually paid quarterly, but other arrangements can be made depending on your situation.

Shade Tree Advisors relies on modern portfolio theory (MPT) among other methods of analysis, to guide its investment advice. MPT is the idea that expected return can be optimized for a given level of risk, typically through broad asset allocation.

The firm uses each client’s long-term investing goals, time horizon, liquidity needs, comfort with risk and other financial factors to come up with the proper asset allocation for their portfolio. Each portfolio is diversified globally and across many different markets. Shade Tree doesn’t usually limit the types of securities or investments for which it will provide advice to clients.

Find an Advisor

Minich MacGregor Wealth Management, LLC has been around since 2009. Today, the firm’s clients include a mix of non-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans.

The firm offers financial planning and consulting, investment portfolio management, independent advisor selection and consulting for retirement plan sponsors and participants. The firm doesn’t have a minimum account size for new clients.

This firm is fee-based, as some advisors are separately licensed to sell insurance products and securities on a commission basis. While this creates the potential for a conflict of interest, the firm is bound by fiduciary duty to always act in its client’s best interests.

The firm's team includes accredited investment fiduciaries (AIF) and Certified Financial Planners™ (CFPs®).

A key aspect of the Minich MacGregor Wealth Management investment process is fitting its strategy to individualized factors like your time horizon, need for liquidity, risk tolerance and investment goals. For most clients, the firm will construct a portfolio consisting of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and investments with third-party advisors.

When analyzing potential investment options for client portfolios, Minich MacGregor will employ a wide range of methods, including examining historical price and volume data, looking at a fund manager’s past performance or a company’s financial statements and examining cyclical price data in an attempt to discern predictable patterns.

Find an Advisor

Quartz Partners, LLC is a fee-based registered investment advisor headquartered in Saratoga Springs, New York. The firm serves a broad mix of clients, including individuals, retirement plans, charitable organizations, foundations, endowments, business entities and institutions. Clients typically include business owners, professionals, trusts and estates.

While Quartz Partners operates as a fee-based firm and receives most compensation through asset-based advisory fees, some affiliated professionals are also licensed insurance agents or registered representatives with Etico Partners, LLC, a broker-dealer affiliate. This allows them to earn commissions on insurance products and certain securities transactions, though the firm emphasizes its fiduciary duty to always act in clients’ best interests.

The firm requires a $10,000 minimum account size for new and existing client relationships, though exceptions may be made at its discretion. Accounts falling below this level due to market fluctuations may still be maintained.

Quartz Partners offers a range of investment solutions through its Quartz Partners investment management division and its Etico private wealth management division. Its services include model-based investment strategies, separately managed accounts, turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) access, employer retirement plan services, digital investing and outsourced CIO programs.

The team employs multiple methods of analysis including fundamental, technical, cyclical and quantitative approaches while utilizing exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, equities and other pooled vehicles. Portfolios are tailored to each client’s goals, time horizon, risk tolerance and liquidity needs. Investment strategies range from tactical asset allocation models to focused equity portfolios and multi-strategy blends.

Crescent Hill Partners is a fee-only firm that serves a mix of both non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals.

Services include asset allocation, portfolio management, risk assessment, financial planning and investment management.

Clients typically have a minimum account size of $100,000. And depending on needs and goals, pay between $5,000 and $50,000 in fees. The firm's brochure says that fees are negotiable.  

Crescent Hill Partners fundamental analysis and technical analysis methods to determine the general financial health of potential investments and identify management and competitive advantages.

Investment strategies are tailored to client needs and goals, which are outlined in the Investment Policy Statement.

In addition to long-term trading, portfolio strategies may also include short-term trading, margin transactions and options writing (which could combine covered options, uncovered options or spreading strategies). 

Crescent Hill Partners invests in a mix of mutual funds, equity, treasury-protected inflation and inflation-linked bonds, fixed incomes, debt securities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate, hedge funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other financial investments.

Find an Advisor

Continuum Wealth Advisors is a small financial advisor firm that was founded in 2010. It has a mixed client base of non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals, as well as pension and profit sharing plans.

The firm provides financial planning services, along with investment management, consulting for retirement plans and selection of external advisors. There is a $100,000 minimum relationship size at Continuum, though this is a waivable requirement.

As a fee-based firm, some advisors here may earn commissions from selling insurance products, thus creating a potential conflict of interest. Despite this, the firm is legally required to act in the best interests of clients due to its overarching fiduciary duty.

The team includes chartered retirement plan specialists (CRPS), accredited asset management specialists (AAMS), certified public accountants (CPA) and chartered financial analysts (CFA). 

Management fees at the firm tend to fall between 0.3% and 1% of your overall assets under management (AUM). These fees cover both investment management and financial planning services. Only in limited circumstances will the firm charge a separate fee for financial planning.

Continuum Wealth Advisors primarily invests client assets in some combination of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), debt securities, equity securities and independent investment managers.

Continuum invests assets with a long-term perspective most of the time, although it may oversee short-term transactions per a client’s request or for the purposes of rebalancing a client’s portfolio to its target asset allocation.

Find an Advisor

Sterling Manor Financial has been an investment advisor in New York state since 2006. Its clients are a mix of non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals, as well as charitable organizations.

The firm provides portfolio management services through a wrap fee program, meaning all brokerage, administrative and advisory fees are combined into a single rate. The firm also offers a selection of financial planning and consulting services, including retirement planning. The firm doesn’t typically impose a minimum account size for new clients.

Certain Sterling Manor advisors are registered representatives of a broker-dealer, which means they may earn commissions for conducting securities transactions. Additionally, some advisors are separately licensed to sell insurance products, which may also generate commissions. These commissions create the potential for a conflict of interest, but the fee-based firm is still bound by fiduciary duty to always act in your best interest.

The team includes those with the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®), certified long-term care (CLTC) and accredited asset management specialist (AAMS) designations.

Sterling Manor Financial’s investment approach for each client uses the tenets of modern portfolio theory (MPT), which espouses that the best way to optimize a portfolio for a given risk level is through broad diversification across many different asset classes.

Securities used in Sterling Manor’s portfolios may include mutual funds, fixed-income securities, insurance products like annuities, equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or treasury inflation-protected/inflation-linked bonds.

Find an Advisor

Founded in 1986, Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning, Inc. serves a mix of non-high-net-worth individuals and high-net-worth individuals.

The firm offers financial planning, investment management and consulting services for individuals. Typically, the firm expects new clients to have at least $500,000 in investable assets.

Vahanian is a fee-based firm, meaning its advisors may earn commissions on top of standard advisory fees, either through certain securities transactions or the sale of insurance products. While this may create a potential conflict of interest, the firm has a fiduciary duty to always act in your best interest.

The team includes several Certified Financial Planners™ (CFPs®).

For investment management services, the firm charges a percentage of your assets under management (AUM), which is typically 1.25%. For financial planning and consulting services, the firm will charge an hourly fee of $250. These fees are non-negotiable, except in very limited circumstances.

Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning usually invests in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), provided that these securities fit in with a client’s risk tolerance and overall investment goals. The firm may also invest in individual equities and fixed-income securities to a lesser extent.

When deciding on what to invest in, the firm will examine a fund’s historical performance, management and investment style, as well as other fundamental factors. To determine the proper asset allocation, advisors will consider the client’s risk tolerance, investment objectives, time horizon, income needs and tax circumstances.

Find an Advisor

Sage Hill Advisory and Management, LLC has been providing investment advice to clients in the Saratoga Springs area since 2009. All of its individual clients have a high net worth. At $1 million, Sage Hill also has the highest account minimum of any firm on this list, though this requirement is waivable.

The firm provides financial planning and consulting services to its clients, on top of investment management. On occasion, the firm may also offer consulting services to various types of pension plans.

Some Sage Hill advisors are separately licensed to sell financial products on a commission basis, which creates a potential conflict of interest. However, it remains that this fee-based firm has a fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests at all times.

The firm's team includes a chartered financial consultant (ChFC). 

Fees for investment advisory services are charged as a percentage of your assets under management (AUM). Rates can vary from 0.6% to 1.35%. Financial planning services typically come with a fixed fee that can be anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000.

Sage Hill Advisory and Management primarily invests in a mix of mutual funds, equities, bonds, fixed-income, debt securities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate, hedge funds, third-party money managers, real estate investment trusts (REITs), insurance products including annuities, private placements and government securities.

Sage Hill advisors employ fundamental analysis when it comes to evaluating securities. Fundamental analysis is the attempt to discern a company’s intrinsic economic value by analyzing things like its balance sheet, management and other financial documents, rather than focusing only on the movement of its stock price.

Family CFO is a fee-only advisor firm that was founded in 2002. Clients include both non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals, as well as charitable organizations.

The firm provides investment management and investment planning services.

As a fee-only firm, advisors do not earn commissions from selling insurance products, and therefore avoid creating potential conflicts of interest.

Management fees at the firm tend to fall between 0.35% and 1% of your overall assets under management (AUM). Fees for financial advice are billed at an hourly rate of $375 (principal) and $200 (associate). 

Family CFO uses both fundamental and quantitative analysis. Asset allocation strategies are based on the client's overall financial goal while minimizing risk.

Portfolio assets are spread across diverse investment categories. These could include stocks, bonds, foreign and domestic investments, as well as small and large cap investments. 

Find an Advisor

Lee Investment Management, LLC has been doing business in Saratoga Springs since 1998. Like many of the firms on this list, its clients are a mix of non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals.

This firm primarily provides asset management, financial planning and consulting services to its clients. Typically, a minimum of $500,000 in investable assets is required to work with the firm, though clients with less may be accepted. This is a fee-only firm.

The team includes a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®).

This firm charges its investment management fees as a percentage of your AUM, with rates ranging from 1% to 1.2% depending on the value of your portfolio. For clients with more than $500,000 in assets, the exact percentage is negotiable. For financial planning services, the firm will charge an hourly fee of $250, with a minimum of $500.

Lee Investment Management creates investment strategies that are tailored to each client and are centered around strategic asset allocation. The goal of strategic asset allocation is to invest across many different asset classes so you can minimize risk exposure while maximizing chances for long-term success.

The firm advises clients on equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), corporate debt securities, commercial paper, certificates of deposit (CDs), municipal securities, investment company securities and United States government securities.