The Top Financial Advisors in South Carolina

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Apollon Wealth Management is the top-rated financial advisory firm in South Carolina. This fee-based practice has a large team of advisors managing the accounts of nearly 5,000 clients. As for the firm’s client types, it primarily serves individuals, high-net-worth individuals, families, family offices, estates, trusts, businesses, charitable organizations and retirement plans.

Apollon’s compensation arrangements include asset-based fees, hourly fees, fixed fees and commissions. Conflicts of interest can arise when advisors sell investment products and/or insurance for commissions, but Apollon says it abides by a fiduciary obligation to work in each client’s best interests.  

Apollon Wealth Management begins its investment process by thoroughly understanding each client’s financial situation, goals and risk tolerance, often through customized financial planning. The firm primarily employs fundamental analysis, supplemented with tactical strategies that can involve market-timing. While hypothetical back-testing informs model development, Apollon Wealth actively monitors and adjusts portfolios in real time. The firm may draw upon third-party model allocations but retain discretion over final implementation.

Overall, Apollon Wealth emphasizes a long-term, diversified approach, with flexibility to adopt shorter-term positions as needed, tailoring recommendations to each client’s unique objectives and constraints.

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South State Advisory is a large fee-only firm that works with both high-net-worth and non-high-net-worth individuals, banking or thrift institutions, pension and profit-sharing plans, charities, local governments, insurance companies and corporations. South State Advisory, on its own, provides clients with financial advisory services such as investment advisory and financial planning. It also provides retirement plan consulting services to institutional clients.

Given its status as a subsidiary of a large, national bank, South State Advisory has a number of resources at its disposal to help provide clients with financial advisory services. The firm may utilize proprietary investment strategies and allocation approaches as well as sub-managers, but it still aims to provide tailored solutions to clients based on their individual investment goals and financial situations.

The firm and its advisors use a variety of different investments in client portfolios, such as mutual funds, alternative investments, options, warrants, real estate investment trusts (REITs), exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other securities.

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Foster Victor Wealth Advisors is a fee-based practice located in Greenville. It works with high-net-worth and non-high-net-worth individuals, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, insurance companies and corporations. The minimum account size requirement at the firm varies based on the type of account you open.

The firm provides its clients with financial planning services, consulting services and investment management services. Assets are mostly managed on a discretionary basis, though some assets are managed on a non-discretionary basis.

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors tailors its advisory services, including its investment strategies and philosophies, to the individual needs of its clients. It may use model portfolios and third-party advisors to do so. Advisors at the firm typically use a mix of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), debt securities, and individual equities when constructing client portfolios. Portfolios are ultimately managed in a way that reflects the investment objectives and financial situation of each client.

Advisors at Foster Victor use fundamental analysis to evaluate potential investments, focusing on the financial condition and competitive position of a fund or company. They also look to properly diversify client portfolios as a way of increasing returns while hedging against risk.

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Colonial Trust Advisors, located in Spartanburg, is a fee-based practice that works primarily with high-net-worth and non-high-net-worth individuals. The firm also serves pension and profit-sharing plans, charities and corporations. Colonial Trust Advisors provides its clients with investment portfolio management services as well as financial planning and educational services. Assets are mainly managed on a discretionary basis.

Like many financial advisory firms, Colonial Trust Advisors works with clients to develop tailored investment strategies that work for their own financial situations. This process involves meeting with clients to determine such information as a client's tolerance for risk or their liquidity needs. Upon gathering the necessary information, advisors can begin to manage the client's money an in individualized manner.

Advisors may use a wide range of securities to include in client portfolios. Such investments may include corporate debt, mutual funds, certificates of deposit (CDs), government bonds, stocks and more. The firm and its advisors primarily use fundamental analysis, qualitative analysis and asset allocation techniques to inform investment decisions.

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Greenwood Capital Associates in Greenwood works with high-net-worth and non-high-net-worth individuals, as well as pensions and profit-sharing plans, charities, state governments and businesses. Greenwood provides investment advice and investment management to its clients, along with financial and retirement planning services. The firm manages assets on a discretionary basis. In addition to the office in Greenwood, the firm has an office in Greenville. 

When it comes to investment strategies, Greenwood Capital Associates looks to tailor its approach to the needs of each client. This involves getting to know each client on an individual level and meeting to discuss such factors as a client's time horizon, liquidity needs and general investment objectives. Greenwood Capital combines fundamental, technical, cyclical, and active risk analyses to guide asset allocation and security selection. The firm's investment committee meets weekly to evaluate economic indicators, interest rates, corporate earnings, as well as monetary and fiscal policies, adjusting sector and company weightings accordingly.

For fixed income portfolios, the firm uses a top-down approach emphasizing duration, credit quality and industry exposure. Advisors aim to preserve capital and maximize returns through investment-grade corporate bonds, government and agency bonds, and municipal bonds. Greenwood Capital may also use long-term trading, short-term trading, and options writing to implement their strategies.

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Anchor Investment Management is a fee-based firm headquartered in Columbia. It works with both high-net-worth and non-high-net-worth individuals, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, charities and corporations. Anchor provides both investment management and financial planning services to its clients. It also provides individual retirement advice and consulting services for retirement plan fiduciaries. 

All investment decisions are guided by the client’s investment policy statement — a document that oulines the client's investment objectives and guidelines. Anchor Investment Management primarily allocates assets to both value and growth equity securities, with an emphasis on large-cap companies and selective use of small- and mid-cap stocks, mutual funds and ETFs for diversification. The firm's fundamental analysis includes factors like financial strength ratios, price-to-earnings ratios, dividend yields and growth rates. Anchor may overweight sectors deemed to have above-average earnings potential.

Fixed income securities — generally investment-grade bonds, including corporate, municipal and government debt — are used for income, capital preservation  and liquidity. For short-term needs, they utilize money market funds. 

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Verity Investment Partners in Beaufort is a fee-only advisory firm with a significant minimum account size requirement: $1 million. The majority of the firms clients are high-net-worth individuals, but it does serve non-high-net-worth individuals, as well as pensions and profit-sharing plans and charities.

Services offered by Verity Investment Partners include both financial planning and investment management. Specific arrangements may vary between clients. 

Verity Investment Partners uses both fundamental and technical analysis — examining financial statements, industry trends, historical price patterns and market movements — to identify investment opportunities. The firm generally purchases securities for longer holding periods and tailor allocations to each client’s objectives, risk tolerance and time horizon, acknowledging unique tax implications but not prioritizing tax efficiency.

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Curran Financial Partners in Daniel Island concludes our list of the top financial advisory firms in South Carolina. This fee-based practice does not have a minimum account size requirement, and as a result, works primarily with individuals below the high net worth threshold. However, Curran also serves high-net-worth individuals and at least one investment company. Otherwise, the firm charges asset-based fees for ongoing portfolio management, as well as fixed and hourly fees for financial planning. 

Curran Financial Partners offers both passive and active portfolio management based on clients' goals, risk tolerances and time horizons. The firm's comprehensive financial planning services address cash flow, debt management, college and retirement planning, estate and tax strategies, insurance reviews and investment analysis. Additionally, the firm serves as sub-adviser for the God Bless America ETF (YALL), selecting securities based on specific investment criteria.

As mentioned above, Curran Financial Partners utilizes both passive and active investment approaches. The firm's active management relies on technical analysis — examining chart patterns, momentum and relative strength to identify sectors that may outperform market benchmarks — while acknowledging the unpredictability of market trends. Curran's passive strategy emphasizes diversification through low-cost index funds or ETFs, carefully balancing distinct asset classes to achieve targeted relationships among correlation, risk and return.

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Dividend Assets Capital is an SEC-registered RIA that focuses on separately managed accounts for individuals and high-net-worth households, and also serves investment companies, pension/profit-sharing plans, trusts/estates, bank trust funds, charities/non-profits, and other business entities. The firm provides discretionary advisory services to private clients, as a sub-adviser, and via dual-contract arrangements.

For portfolio management, the tiered annual schedule is 0.85% on the first $2M, 0.70% on the next $3M, 0.60% on the next $5M, and 0.50% over $10M; separately managed fixed-income accounts are 0.40% on the first $500k, 0.30% on the next $1.5M, 0.20% on the next $2.5M, and negotiable above $4.5M (with a $1,500 annual minimum). Fees are generally billed monthly or quarterly on period-end market value; partial-period fees are prorated and any prepaid amounts are refunded at termination.

The firm is a dividend-growth specialist: its Investment Committee builds a “master universe” of companies with consistent dividend increases, then applies fundamental analysis (cash flow, balance sheet, leverage, management assessment) to measure intrinsic value. Portfolios may also incorporate investment-grade fixed income, and, where appropriate, mutual funds/ETFs as proxies or for diversification, all tailored to client goals, tax considerations and risk tolerance.

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Headland works with retail investors (individuals and high-net-worth households) as well as family offices, trusts/estates, donor-advised funds, corporations, foundations and qualified retirement plans. Core offerings include ongoing portfolio management and comprehensive financial planning (retirement, education, estate, cash-flow, insurance analysis), plus retirement plan advisory services.

Investment management is delivered through a wrap arrangement, billed quarterly in advance. The stated maximum schedule is 1.75% on the first $1,000,000, 1.50% on the next $500,000, and negotiable above that (householding of related accounts is available). Financial planning is offered as a fixed fee ($1,500–$40,000) or hourly (up to $350); retirement plan advisory fees run up to 0.75%.

Headland employs a planning-led, fundamental research approach with a generally long-term orientation, while allowing for tactical trades where appropriate. Portfolios most often use mutual funds and ETFs, and can incorporate individual equities/bonds, REITs, structured notes, and private/alternative funds for suitable clients; the firm can also engage External Managers for specific sleeves.