Best Financial Advisors in Houston – Only 8 Made the Cut

Houston is home to thousands of financial advisors, from two-person shops out in Katy and Kingwood to multi-family offices built around the region's industries. All that choice is a good problem to have, right up until you actually try to compare your options. Sorting the firms with real value-add from the ones that are merely well-marketed takes more digging than most people have time for.

So we did the digging. We went through SEC Form ADVs — the disclosure paperwork that registered investment advisors file with the Securities and Exchange Commission — and scored advisors based in Houston and the surrounding suburbs against measures we think matter most to ordinary investors.

Our full methodology is below, but the short version: Cost is a major component of our ratings; expensive advisors scored low in the cost areas of our rubric. Accordingly, the advisors that made the cut all tend to have AUM fees around 1.0% or better. But fees are far from the only thing we look at. Advisors without account minimums and without minimum fees get a nod, too, and we kept an eye on the breadth of service offerings, firm size and other characteristics.

» Not in Houston? See more of the financial advisors we've reviewed

IAS Wealth Management has a ton of things going for it, especially no account minimums, no minimum fees and a fee schedule that lets a smaller investor pay the same 1.00% rate that a $2 million client pays. On the flip side, there’s no AUM fee discount until $2 million, which means mid-sized accounts don’t see much of a rate break as they grow (and the next rate break doesn’t come until you have at least $10 million).

Trisperity Advisors is a small firm (by AUM size) compared to the other advisors on the list, but its fee structure makes it a hefty contender anyway. No account minimum means even small investors can get access to an advisor, and no minimum fee means those small investors aren’t effectively penalized for being small. But what we like the most is that the firm’s AUM rate falls to 0.75% after $1 million and 0.50% above $3 million. Although many advisors offer rate discounts on balances over certain amounts, the quarter-point discount is bigger than what a lot of other advisors offer. That can really add up for an investor whose balance is still growing.

Founded in 1995, Adell, Harriman & Carpenter is the largest firm (by AUM) on the list; its $2 billion of assets under management is objectively large — four times the size of some of the other advisors listed here. But with a 1.00% AUM fee on the first $2 million, the firm’s fees are still competitive even for smaller investors, though you’ll need at least $1 million to get in the door here. There’s also a $2,500 minimum annual fee, but given that the regular AUM fee on an entry-level $1 million account works out to $10,000 a year, a $2,500 minimum fee probably isn’t going to be an issue for most clients unless they somehow manage to get in with less than $250,000. We like the firm’s all-hands-on-deck approach to running portfolio decisions through a five-principal investment committee rather than through a single lead advisor.

MBR Financial has no minimum fee and charges a competitive 1.00% on the first $1 million of investment, with a break for amounts above that. The firm’s separate, lower fee schedules for municipal bonds and annuities means clients don’t pay a full equity-style rate on these relatively conservative holdings, which is a novel fee structure. However, the firm has a $1 million account minimum. MBR also charges management and performance-based fees on alternative investments. One thing that stuck out to us in MBR’s ADV:  Sometimes MBR employees invest in private investment funds alongside qualified clients. Our concern is that if advisors are recommending investments they personally have a stake in, this could create a conflict of interest. It’s worth asking about this practice and understanding the pros and cons.

Sure, Roth Financial Partners is relatively new compared to the SEC registration dates for the other advisors on this list, and it’s relatively small in terms of assets under management. But its high score on our rubric shows how scrappy and nimble a smaller firm can be. Roth has an AUM fee rate that competes with firms twice its size (note though, that investors don’t get a fee break until they hit $3 million). Plus, Roth has no account minimum, which is a nice welcome mat for smaller investors. We noticed in the filings that the firm has an AI policy, which few firms have right now and is a forward-thinking effort (the firm sets limits on how AI is used and says it doesn’t use AI as a substitute for professional human judgment).

Willis Johnson Wealth has a novel fee model that may be especially attractive to high earners who are beginning to accumulate some wealth. The firm has a $750,000 account minimum, which is substantial, but its Families Program lets the parents or children of clients come on board even if they don’t meet that account minimum. This creates an avenue for smaller investors to get financial advice without the $8,252 minimum fee. We think this is a thoughtful on-ramp strategy, though the 1.20% AUM fee on the first $500,000 is still high compared to other advisors on this list. We really like that the firm prepares taxes in house by its own CPAs, which is a rare find and a huge help for clients who don’t have the time or energy to find a tax preparer and get them up to speed on their entire tax plan.

Sequent Asset Management is a boutique firm that focuses on executives and business owners and their families. The firm also provides family office services, which can be really useful for investors whose wealth may eventually reach a level that warrants that (no need to switch firms). The firm has a respectable 1.00% fee on smaller balances and there’s no account minimum, which is valuable for newer investors, though it’s important to note that the firm says most clients have “well in excess of $1,000,000” invested. Another thing to note is that this firm has custody of client assets (it’s more common for advisors to use third-party custodians, but here certain firm principals are trustees on a number of client trusts). This means the firm is subject to an annual surprise examination from an independent public accountant to verify all client funds and securities.

People looking for an advisory firm that’s experienced more than a few market cycles may like Fruth Investment Management. Registered since 1992, it has the longest track record on this list. There is no minimum AUM fee, which is a big plus. Also, the firm doesn't use options, futures, hedge funds or commodities, and it doesn’t make margin trades. Some risk-tolerant investors may see this as a disadvantage, but risk-averse investors may like it. There are a couple things we don’t love: First, the firm has a $500,000 account minimum, though in Fruth’s defense, that’s lower than several other firms on this list. Second, at 1.25%, the AUM fee on the first $500,000 is about a quarter-point higher than most of the advisors on this list, which means that investors at the $1 million level could pay an extra $1,250 in AUM fees compared to an advisor that has a blended rate of 1.00%.