The Credentials Behind the Work

The Ascent Award and Masters Award are presented annually by LPL Financial. The Ascent Award recognizes advisors ranking in approximately the top 20%, and the Masters Award approximately the top 9%, of LPL Financial's independent financial advisors. The awards are not based on investment performance or client experience, and no fee was paid to be considered for or to receive them. Nick Lalonde is affiliated with LPL Financial, the broker-dealer through which securities are offered; LPL Financial has a financial interest in the business of its affiliated advisors. These awards are not an endorsement of the advisor by any client and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.

The Ascent Award and Masters Award are presented annually by LPL Financial. The Ascent Award recognizes advisors ranking in approximately the top 20%, and the Masters Award approximately the top 9%, of LPL Financial's independent financial advisors. The awards are not based on investment performance or client experience, and no fee was paid to be considered for or to receive them. Nick Lalonde is affiliated with LPL Financial, the broker-dealer through which securities are offered; LPL Financial has a financial interest in the business of its affiliated advisors. These awards are not an endorsement of the advisor by any client and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.

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This award was issued on 07/01/2026 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 10/30/2025 through 04/30/2026. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 4645 Dallas/Fort Worth-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 280 (6% of candidates) were named 2026 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period.

• 2025: 4,405, 315, 7%, 7/1/25, 10/9/24 – 5/1/25
• 2024: 4,255, 342, 8%, 7/1/24, 10/10/23 – 4/30/24
• 2023: 4,274, 336, 8%, 7/1/23, 10/10/22 – 5/5/23
• 2022: 4039, 330, 8%, 7/1/22, 9/20/21 – 4/8/22
• 2021: 4007, 323, 8%, 7/1/21, 9/21/20 – 4/30/21
• 2020: 4374, 335, 8%, 7/1/20, 10/7/19 – 4/24/20
• 2019: 3899, 393, 10%, 7/1/19, 10/22/18 – 5/3/19
• 2018: 3851, 338, 9%, 7/1/18, 10/24/17 – 5/21/18
• 2017: 2730, 382, 14%, 7/1/17, 9/26/16 – 4/28/17
• 2016: 2471, 678, 27%, 6/1/16, 11/30/15 – 5/18/16
• 2015: 2862, 684, 24%, 7/1/15, 11/30/14 – 5/18/15
• 2014: 5080, 621, 12%, 7/1/14, 11/30/13 – 5/18/14
• 2013: 3834, 698, 18%, 7/1/13, 11/30/12 – 5/18/13
• 2012: 2688, 654, 24%, 7/1/12, 11/30/11 – 5/18/12

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria.

Eligibility criteria - required:

1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative;
2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years;
3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP's consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP's consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client's experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony);
4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards;
5. Accepting new clients.

Evaluation criteria - considered:
6. One-year client retention rate;
7. Five-year client retention rate;
8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered;
9. Number of client households served;
10. Education and professional designations.

FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients' assets. 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 FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future.

Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com

InvestmentNews’ 40 Under 40 nominations of advisers and associated professionals are evaluated based on: accomplishment to date, contribution to the industry, leadership and promise. 2024 InvestmentNews Rising Stars, created by InvestmentNews. Presented in November 2024, based on data gathered from July 2024 through October 2024. Over 600 advisors were considered; 85 advisors were recognized. Advisors pay a fee to hold out marketing materials. Not indicative of the advisor's future performance. Your experience may vary.

The Forbes ranking of Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative data, rating thousands of wealth advisors born in or after1980. Advisors are interviewed by telephone and in person to evaluate service models, investing process, experience levels and integrity. Additional factors considered include compliance record, client retention, revenues produced for their firms and assets managed. Portfolio performance is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK receives a fee in exchange for rankings.

The CEPA® designation is awarded by the Exit Planning Institute and is built around one event: the day a business owner leaves their company, whether by
sale, succession, or transfer. The training covers what makes a business valuable to a buyer, how to prepare the company and the owner's personal
finances for an exit at the same time, and how to manage what comes after, when the proceeds have to do the work the company used to. For our business-owner clients, it means the largest transaction of their lives is planned by someone trained specifically for it.