Weiss, Hale & Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors Ranks 12th in Hartford Business Journal’s Annual Wealth Management Firms List
WHZ Is the Only Firm in Eastern Connecticut to Be Ranked
Weiss, Hale & Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors (WHZ) has ranked 12th in the Hartford Business Journal’s annual ranking of the top wealth management firms in the greater Hartford area. The rankings were assigned according to each firm’s number of local licensed financial advisors as reported to the Hartford Business Journal in a self-reported survey. The ranking includes 21 firms. WHZ was the only wealth management firm in eastern Connecticut (including Windham, Tolland, and New London counties) to be ranked.
(2023 Hartford Business Journal’s Annual Wealth Management Firms List , created by Hartford Business Journal. Presented in June 2023 based on data reported to HBJ in May, 2023. WHZ was ranked 12th on a list of 22 Hartford-area investment advisory firms, ranked by number of local advisors employed by the firm. Not indicative of advisor’s future performance. Your experience may vary. For more information, please visit https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/lists-data. )
There are five local, licensed financial advisors on the WHZ team: Principal, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Laurence Hale, AAMS®, CRPS®; Principal, Managing Partner and Chief Goal Strategist James Zahansky, AWMA®; Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor Leisl L. Cording, CFP®, CDFA®; Vice President, Associate Financial Advisor Michael Baum, CFP®, RICP®; and Holly Wanegar, CFP®, Associate Vice President, Wealth Advisor.
“We’re really proud of our advisory team and the comprehensive, long-term financial strategy and guidance we provide to our clients,” Hale said. “It’s a really hands-on, personalized approach and a long-term coaching relationship that we build with our clients and I think that’s what differentiates us from a lot of firms.”
Zahansky attributes the firm’s recent growth to those factors as well.
“We’ve been serving clients across the state and around the country from our office in Pomfret since 2006, and we were thrilled to expand our geographic footprint with the opening of our Tolland office earlier this year. Our team is growing, our presence is growing, but our relationships with our clients continue to grow too, and that’s really been the driver behind our success,” he said.
This ranking is the latest in a series of positive milestones and accolades for the firm and its advisors.
In March, Cording was featured as a “Five Star Wealth Manager Under 40” by FORTUNE and in January the firm announced that for the ninth consecutive year, all of its financial advisors eligible for the Five Star Wealth Manager Award1 (Laurence Hale, James Zahansky and Leisl Cording) were selected to receive it for 2022 – a distinction granted to just 10 percent of Connecticut wealth managers who were considered for the award.
The 2022 Five Star Wealth Manager Award is created by Five Star Professional and was presented in November, 2022 based on data gathered between February, 2022 and September, 2022. A total of 2,950 Connecticut-area advisors were considered; 290 (10%) of advisors were recognized. Advisors do not pay a fee for the award, but do pay a fee to hold out marketing materials. The award is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance, and your experience may vary. For more information, visit fivestarprofessional.com.
WHZ was founded in 2006 as an independent fiduciary asset management and investment firm. Today the firm offers wealth management and customized financial planning services to individuals, families, business owners, executives, and not-for-profit institutions in 25 states from its offices in Pomfret and Tolland, Connecticut. The firm is a partner of Commonwealth Financial Network®, one of the largest privately-owned independent Registered Investment Advisor/broker-dealers in the United States. (*As of 9/22, based on self-reported AUM data from 47 participating firms in the 2022 Financial-Planning.com IBD Elite survey.)