NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Barron's magazine and R.J. Shook, author of "The Winner's Circle" books rating America's top financial advisors, today kicked off a three-day "Top Advisors Summit" at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Attending are 91 of the Top 100 financial advisors in the U.S., as ranked by R.J. Shook and published in Barron's April 24, 2006 issue. These elite financial advisors will lead the event's breakout and "Superstar" sessions on the business of delivering wealth management for high-net-worth individuals and institutions.
Also in attendance are nearly 400 financial advisers who were designated as the top 1% of their firms. Firms sending attendees include Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., Smith Barney, LPL Financial Services, and Wachovia Securities, among others.
The Barron's/Winner's Circle Top Financial Advisors Summit is designed as an exclusive, invitation-only event for the opinion leaders and influentials of the financial industry. Attendees enjoy a unique opportunity to interact, discuss and debate the best practices in wealth management with their peers.
"Our inaugural Summit last year was an experiment, and a resounding success," said Ed Finn, editor and president of Barron's. "Competing firms came together for the first time, for frank discussions and information-sharing, all with the common goal of improving the quality and performance of the financial services industry."
R.J. Shook noted that, "Scores of Winner's Circle advisors have told me that once they've reached the top of their firms, there are fewer people -- oftentimes no one -- to share ideas with. For this reason, we're bringing the 'best of the best' together to share ideas and help each other -- and the industry as a whole -- move to a higher level of performance."
Sessions at the Top Financial Advisors Summit will address a range of industry issues -- from avoiding the land mines in alternative investment vehicles, to mega trends in the corporate services market, combining non-correlated assets to achieve financial goals, and evolving expectations of high-net-worth customers.
The Summit is sponsored by the following institutions: AIG Private Client Group, AIM Investments, American Century Investments, American Funds, Barclays iShares, Credit Suisse, Dow Jones Newswires, Franklin Templeton Investments, Frenkel & Co, Inc., The Hartford, IXIS Asset Management Advisors Group, Janus, John Hancock Mutual Funds, Lazard Asset Management, Lord Abbett, MFS Investment Management, Nuveen Investments, the Options Industry Council, Putnam Investments, Vanguard, and Van Kampen Investments.
About Barron's
Barron's magazine, published by Dow Jones & Company since 1921, is America's premier financial weekly. Barron's reaches an influential audience of corporate decision makers, institutional investors, individual investors and financial professionals.
Each issue provides readers with a complete market wrap-up of the previous week's activity, plus in-depth, sophisticated news reports and an outlook on the week to come. Barron's covers what happens when money and markets come together - who wins, who loses and for what reasons.
Each weekend, Barron's is read by people eager to prepare for the market's opening bell on Monday morning. Barron's comprehensive combination of reporting and statistics aptly arm these readers for the shocks and turmoil of market battles to come.
Barron's is read intensely -- cover-to-cover, week-after-week -- by some of the most powerful people in the world, people who need this information delivered in a timely, accurate and reliable manner for their professional success and their personal, financial well-being.
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About R.J. Shook
Through exhaustive, in-depth studies in the financial services industry, R.J. Shook has developed a unique expertise in identifying success patterns and characteristics of the industry's top producers. Since September 2002, he has published a yearly ranking of the top advisors in America. A frequent contributor to business periodicals and the author a numerous books on the subject, Mr. Shook is a recognized authority on best practices in the financial services industry. He frequently gives speeches, conducts workshops and leads panel discussions on topics and issues of concern to financial services professionals and their organizations to which they belong.