Five Star Quality Rating

Paladin uses a proprietary methodology to rate the quality of financial advisor credentials, ethics, and business practices one to five stars. Paladin only profiles five star rated advisors in the Registry.

Paladin ratings are based on data that are submitted by advisors. We validate the accuracy of certain data if advisors subscribe to Paladin's Financial Advisor Due Diligence (FADD) service. If advisors do not subscribe to the FADD service Paladin publishes data as submitted by advisors.

Paladin's five star quality rating and FADD service do not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, guarantee, or favoring by Paladin of any advisor and do not constitute a claim by Paladin, whether explicit or implicit, that advisor credentials, ethics, business practices, products, services, opinions, advice, recommendations, or claims are reputable, honest, competent, or will result in exceptional financial returns. Investors are solely responsible for advisor selection decisions that may be based on information that is published in the Paladin Registry. Investors are encouraged to request additional, current information from advisors that validates their competence, ethics, business practices, and services.

Who is Profiled in the Registry?

Paladin uses an objective, disciplined methodology for determining who is profiled in the Registry and who is rejected. We focus on credentials, ethics, business practices, and services because financial advisors do not provide audited track records and they do not have mandatory disclosure requirements.

Advisors receive quality ratings of one to five stars
We only profile five star rated advisors because investors have told us they do not want to waste time talking to lower rated advisors

Who is Profiled in the Registry
Financial professionals must meet the following requirements to be profiled in the Registry. There are no exceptions. They must:

Be Registered Investment Advisors or Investment Advisor Representatives
Acknowledge they are fiduciaries when they provide financial advisor or services
Be compensated with one of the three types of fees
Have clean compliance records (subject to review by Paladin)
Have clean criminal records
Have at least five years of financial service experience (Registry average is 16 years)
Have college degrees and/or industry certifications
Be willing to provide full disclosure for compensation and potential conflicts of interest

Who is "not" Profiled in the Registry
Advisors with the following characteristics are not qualified to be profiled in the Registry.