San Diego Magazine – Taylor Schulte, CFP® Receives 2017 Five Star Wealth Manager Award

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SAN DIEGO—January 01, 2017— Define Financial, a San Diego fee-only financial planning firm, announced today that Founder and CEO Taylor Schulte, CFP® has been honored with the 2017 Five Star Wealth Manager award.

This is the third consecutive year Schulte has been recognized with this award, which is limited to less than five percent of San Diego Financial Advisors, according to Five Star Professional.

The Five Star Wealth Manager award recognizes service professionals who provide quality services to their clients. Five Star Professional partnered with San Diego Magazine to find wealth managers who satisfy 10 objective eligibility and evaluation criteria that are associated with wealth managers who provide quality services to their clients.

“I’m honored to be recognized by Five Star Professional for the third year in a row,” said Schulte. “It’s a privilege to work with such great clients in and around San Diego, and I look forward to our continued growth and helping more individuals and small businesses achieve their financial goals.”

Schulte launched Define Financial in June 2014, after working at large brokerage firms and becoming frustrated with the inherent conflicts of interest. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Arizona and an Executive Financial Planner Advanced Certificate from San Diego State University.

About Define Financial

Define Financial is a commission-free wealth management firm headquartered in San Diego, CA. Founded in 2014 by Taylor Schulte, CFP®, CEO, the firm specializes in retirement and tax planning for individuals over age 50.

Define Financial prides itself on adhering to the Fiduciary Standard 100% of the time, ensuring clients’ interests are always put first. Its comprehensive services include investment management, retirement and tax planning, charitable giving strategies, insurance optimization, and social security timing.


The Five Star Wealth Manager award, administered by Crescendo Business Services, LLC (dba Five Star Professional), is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria – required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Active as a credentialed professional in the financial services industry for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by Five Star Professional, 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 customer complaints filed against them [settled or pending] with any regulatory authority or Five Star Professional’s consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through Five Star Professional’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 filed with a regulatory authority; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy; E. 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. Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. Award does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. Once awarded, wealth managers may purchase additional profile ad space or promotional products. The Five Star 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 client’s 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 Five Star Professional 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 Five Star Professional in the future. For more information on the Five Star award and the research/selection methodology, go to fivestarprofessional.com. 1,354 San Diego wealth managers were considered for the award; 349 (26 percent of candidates) were named 2017 Five Star Wealth Managers.