Premier advisors of Utah.

• Position: NABCAP

Financial decisions can be among the most important decisions in an individual's life. Capable advisors serve an important role in facilitating those decisions. Separating and distinguishing the strongest practitioners from the industry's pool of advisors is a clear benefit to the investing public. The National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices (NABCAP) is an unaffiliated, nonprofit organization that was created to tackle the daunting challenge of identifying top practitioners. NABCAP promotes higher standards and transparency, which are vital to the long-term success of the investing public.

MAKING THE GRADE

NABCAP and its board of directors created an unaffiliated evaluation process in which 20 categories of practice management are assessed. Advisors are invited and/or nominated to participate by submitting an online questionnaire. The multi-step verification process utilizes independent resources to assess the accuracy and truthfulness of the information submitted by participating advisory practices. NABCAP's methodology is unique in deciphering advisors because it is primarily objective, not subjective, and helps add transparency for the investor's benefit. The NABCAP list of Premier Advisors is not merely defined by assets under management or revenues produced. Instead, NABCAP attempts to identify top advisors regardless of size, firm or affiliation.

USING THE LIST

The list of advisory practices is in alphabetical order. NABCAP suggests narrowing down the list of practices by average client size. Consider selecting practices that have an average client size of a quarter to a half the size client you would estimate yourself to be. For example, if you have $2 million of investable assets, then identify practices with an average client size of $500,000 - $1 million. This way, you fall within the top 20 percent of the practice's entire clientele, increasing the probability you'll receive the greatest care and attention. Also look at the practice's top five specialties and designations to ensure they are capable of handling your needs. For best results, select at least three practices to interview for different personalities, service models and practice methodologies.

NABCAP'S FOCUS IS TO PROVIDE OBJECTIVE DIFFERENTIATION between financial advisory practices and through their evaluation process to help add transparency to the Financial Services Industry. Even though the NABCAP Premier Advisors' list is comprehensive it should not be considered exhaustive and the following disclaimers should be considered:

[a] To ensure the best interests of the investing public, NABCAP docs not accept financial support from advisory practices, financial institutions or the media in exchange for beneficial reviews, rankings or industry insight. NABCAP is not affiliated with any advisor or financial institution participating in the survey.

[b] Selecting a NABCAP Premier Advisor is no guarantee as to future investment success nor is there any guarantee that the selected financial advisory practice will be designated as a Premier Advisor by NABCAP in the future.

[c] The inclusion of a financial advisory practice on the NABCAP Premier Advisor's list should not be construed as an endorsement of the financial advisory practice by NABCAP or Utah Business Magazine.

[d] Although NABCAP invites all advisors in a market to participate, the final decision lies with the advisor and as such there may be advisors who would qualify but do not appear on the list as they chose not to participate and if they were included some advisors on this list would not have been included.

[e] NABCAP screens candidates for regulatory compliance issues: checks and balances are imposed to limit the inclusion of an advisor with a negative regulatory history or multiple client complaints. These checks ana balances include:

(i) NABCAP requires financial advisors to be registered/licensed financial advisors in good standing with state and federal regulatory bodies. In addition NABCAP requires financial advisors to be in compliance with their respective broker/dealer or affiliated representation

(ii) NABCAP reviews each financial advisor and support staff's U-4 or ADV to verily their employment and compliance record.

(iii) If an advisory practice makes the list with a settlement on their record we recommend that investors inquire with the advisory practice as well with their supervisor for the nature of the settlement.

[f] The supervisor survey is structured to make it equally easy for a respondent to give negative or positive responses and the method of calculating results incorporates both negative and positive survey responses

[h] NABCAP does not perform subjective analysis of the...