FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Managers(SM) Announced: New Jersey Financial Advisor Ranked in Top Two Percent for Client Approval

    LIVINGSTON, NJ, March 04, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Michael Kay, CFP, a long-time financial professional and president of Financial Focus, LLC, has been named to the 2011 FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Managers (SM) list for the state of New Jersey.

New Jersey Monthly formed a partnership with Crescendo Business Services, an independent research firm, to identify the "best in client satisfaction" wealth managers serving the New Jersey area. Crescendo surveyed, by mail and phone 235,000 high-net-worth residents in the New Jersey area and an additional 34,000 surveys were sent to leaders of financial service industry companies.

On the surveys, recipients were asked to select only wealth managers whom they knew through personal experience, and to evaluate them based upon criteria such as: customer service, integrity, knowledge/expertise, communication, value for fee charged, meeting of financial objectives, post-sale-service, quality of recommendations and overall satisfaction. Only wealth managers with five years of experience in the financial services industry were considered.

In addition, each wealth manager was reviewed for regulatory actions, civil judicial actions and customer complaints as reported by FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and other regulatory agencies.

Then, before finalizing the list, wealth managers were reviewed by a blue-ribbon panel. The blue-ribbon panel was comprised of knowledgeable individuals from within the financial services industry. Although panelist comments were incorporated into the final score, safeguards were built into the review process to reduce the ability of panel members to influence the composition of the final list on the basis of company affiliation.

The resulting list of 2011 FIVE STAR Wealth Managers is an elite group, representing less than 2 percent of the wealth managers in the New Jersey area.

About Michael Kay and Financial Focus, LLC
Michael F. Kay, CFP, is President of Financial Focus, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Livingston, NJ and author of The Business of Life - An "Inside-Out" Approach to Building a More Successful Financial Planning Practice. A financial professional for over twenty-five years, Kay began his career as an accountant with a focus on tax, audit, financial accounting and forensic accounting. In 1985, he shifted his attention to personal financial planning, tax planning, investment strategy and wealth management as a Registered Representative of Securian Financial Services, Inc., until forming his own RIA in 2010.

Through the years, Kay has returned to academia as both student and teacher. In 2001, he earned a certificate of financial planning at New York University then returned in 2003 as an adjunct professor, teaching taxation in their CFP Certification program.

Mr. Kay also studied with life planning pioneers Carol Anderson (Money Quotient) and George Kinder (The Kinder Institute of Life Planning). Inspired by what he learned, he explored and tested new methodologies, adopted those he considered to be the best and created a paradigm shift in his own practice.

Mr. Kay is a frequent presenter at Money Quotient trainings and retreats and is in demand as a speaker at industry events and public forums on financial planning. He is frequently quoted by the consumer media on issues related to personal finance, and serves as a resource for journalists who write for the financial planning industry. He is a regular blogger for both PsychologyToday.com and Forbes.com. In addition, Michael is a member of the Loring Ward Advisory Board and serves as the president of the Money Quotient Advisory Board.

Additional information about Kay and Financial Focus is available at www.financial-focus.net. Information about Kay's new book, The Business of Life, is available at www.thebusinessoflife.net.

Research Declarations:
As with any research or recognition program, it is important that we provide you the following declarations:
- The 2011 FIVE STAR Wealth Managers do not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final list of FIVE STAR Best in the Client Satisfaction Wealth Managers.
- The overall evaluation score of a wealth manager reflects an average of all respondents and may not be representative of any one client's evaluation.
- The FIVE STAR Award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance.
- The inclusion of a wealth manager on the FIVE STAR Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by Crescendo Business Services or New Jersey Monthly.
- Working with a FIVE STAR Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to the future investment success nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by Crescendo in the future.
- For more information on the FIVE STAR Award and the research/selection methodology, go to: www.fivestarprofessional.com/wmresearch.

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