In 2007, Ed Mahaffy founded ClientFirst Wealth Management, a Fee-Only RIA and fiduciary managing over $140 million for Arkansans. The firm does not sell products or accept commissions. Prior to launching ClientFirst, he spent six years as a branch manager and portfolio manager with Raymond James, six years as a vice president and portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch and 11 years as a financial advisor and portfolio manager at Stephens Inc.
Designated as a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Consultant, Mahaffy holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The Citadel, and he earned his MBA from the University of Arkansas. His articles have been published in Barron’s, the Arkansas Banker and others. He also is the author of How to Select a Financial Advisor: The Least You Should Know. He is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the Financial Planning Association.
“The wealth management experience at ClientFirst begins with a comprehensive financial plan,” Mahaffy said.
Mahaffy is on the AMP 2020 Best Financial Advisors list and ClientFirst was named one of 2020’s Top Financial Advisor Firms by investor.com.
“I started ClientFirst to provide clients with a transparent, cost-effective wealth management solution founded on a full-time fiduciary legal obligation to always place clients’ interests first.” ‘The fiduciary standard is the gold standard of client care requiring full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest and all sources of compensation.” “ The first question to ask any financial advisor is: Are you a fiduciary? The second question is: Are you a fiduciary 100 percent of the time? The advisor may be a fiduciary but their employer may not be. Or the advisor is dually-licensed as a broker and only acting as a fiduciary part of the time.”
A complete list of other questions to ask a financial advisor can be found in Mahaffy’s book, How to Select A Financial Advisor–The Least You Should Know, which was updated in 2020.
How to Select a Financial Advisor: The Least You Should Know (Visit the ClientFirst website to download the book.)
How to Select a Financial Advisor: The Least You Should Know (Visit the ClientFirst website to download the book.)
“A solid financial plan and the right advisor are the key to staying the course during market turbulence,” he said.
ClientFirst provides financial planning services either for an hourly rate or as part of broader wealth management services, including investment management. The firm manages separate accounts of stocks and bonds for individuals.
Account sizes range from $250,000 to over $10,000,000. Mahaffy has managed municipal bonds for over three decades. Thus far in 2020, he has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal three times about the municipal bond market.
Mahaffy’s most recent initiative is the ClientFirst Planning Network—an outreach to tax professionals, including enrolled agents (EAs), smaller CPA firms and sole practitioners interested in expanding services to include comprehensive financial planning and/or investment management. “The Network provides mentorship, supervision and turnkey state-of-the-art support from our resource partners including Charles Schwab, Vanguard, JP Morgan, Raymond James and many others. The tax professional’s fiduciary mindset, attention to detail and work ethic are well-aligned with ours and those of the Fee-Only business model.” ClientFirst is a certified CPE Sponsor by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
In June, ClientFirst announced that it would donate the gross revenue from all new accounts to the Arkansas Food Bank through the year’s end.
ClientFirst Wealth Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor. Additional information, including management fees and expenses, is provided on Form ADV Part 2, available upon request or at the SEC’s Investment Advisor Public Disclosure Site at https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/120286. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.”
READ MORE: AMP’s Best Financial Advisors
