The instrument

The instrument below is the frozen codebook the pipeline researches against. Each run snapshots it, so mid-study edits never contaminate in-flight work.

Research question

How is the top tier of the US wealth-advisory market structured (firms, channels, AUM, client niches), and how do these advisors position and market themselves — what value propositions, differentiators, and marketing channels do they use?

Study population: the 2026 Forbes/SHOOK "America's Top Wealth Advisors" list and the current Forbes/SHOOK "America's Top Next-Gen Advisors" list.

Unit space

A unit is an individual advisor appearing on at least one of the two Forbes lists. normalized_name = person_name | ascii_downcase | gsub("[^a-z0-9]"; ""). If two distinct advisors normalize to the same key, append the two-letter state code: <normalized_name><state_abbrev_downcase>. An advisor on both lists is ONE unit with two list_appearances.

Inclusion / exclusion

Include: every advisor on the 2026 Forbes Top Wealth Advisors list (https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-wealth-advisors/).
Include: every advisor on the current Forbes Top Next-Gen Advisors list (https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-next-gen-advisors/).
Exclude: advisors from prior-year editions who are not on the current lists.
Exclude: firms/teams as such — the unit is always the named individual.

Variable codebook

Seed context (rank, firm, city, state, and the Forbes Q&A block with AUM, minimums, and experience) arrives in raw_mention from the gather stage. Enrich fields below; where the Forbes seed already answers a field, confirm and cite it.

Identity & firm

firm — string; employing firm or team name as the advisor presents it.
parent_company — string; ultimate parent (e.g. Bank of America for Merrill), or independent.
firm_type — enum wirehouse | bank_brokerage | independent_ria | hybrid_ria | ibd_rep | insurance_bd | other. Classify by the advisor's primary registration/affiliation.
team_name — string; branded team name (e.g. "The Erdmann Group"), or null + gap.
team_size — integer; people on the team, or null + gap.
crd_number — string; the individual's CRD from SEC IAPD (adviserinfo.sec.gov) or FINRA BrokerCheck.
years_experience — integer; years in the industry.
designations — array of strings from CFP | CFA | CPWA | CIMA | ChFC | CPA | JD | AIF | other:<text>.

Book of business

aum_team_musd — number; team or individual AUM in USD millions. Prefer the Forbes/SHOOK figure; note the as-of date in the citation.
account_minimum_musd — number; stated new-account minimum in USD millions, or null + gap.
typical_client_net_worth_musd — number; typical client net worth in USD millions, or null + gap.
client_niche — short string; primary client specialty in the advisor's own framing (e.g. "tech founders pre/post-exit", "multigenerational families", "athletes and entertainers"), or generalist.
custodians — array of strings; custodians used (RIAs/hybrids only), else not_applicable gap.
fee_model — enum aum_fee | fee_plus_commission | flat_or_retainer | not_public.

Positioning & marketing

website_url — string; the advisor's team or firm profile page URL.
value_prop_quote — string; VERBATIM positioning sentence(s) from the team/firm site — the language they lead with. Quote, do not paraphrase.
differentiators — array of short strings; distinct claims the advisor/team makes about why they are different (max 5).
content_marketing — enum none | occasional | active; blog, insights, newsletter, or market commentary published under the advisor's/team's name. active = multiple pieces in the last 6 months.
has_podcast — boolean; hosts (not guests) a podcast.
books_published — integer; books authored by the advisor.
linkedin_url — string, or null + gap.
social_presence — array from linkedin_active | x | youtube | instagram | tiktok | none; channels with advisor/team-controlled posting in the last 6 months.
press_awards — array of short strings; non-Forbes rankings and notable professional-press coverage (Barron's, AdvisorHub, InvestmentNews, etc.), max 5.

Visual brand

has_distinct_logo — boolean; the team has its own logo/mark distinct from the parent firm's corporate branding.
logo_url — string; direct URL to the team's (or, if none, the firm's) logo image asset as served on their site, or null + gap. Prefer SVG/PNG asset URLs over screenshots.
visual_brand_notes — short string (≤40 words); observed visual identity: palette, typography feel, imagery style (e.g. "navy/gold serif, yacht-and-estate photography" vs. "monochrome sans, founder-desk candids").

Evidence policy

Source roles, high → low: sec_finra_regulatory > forbes_shook > firm_official > professional_press > general_press > social_or_third_party_db.

Regulatory facts (CRD, registration, firm affiliation): cite SEC IAPD / FINRA BrokerCheck.
AUM, minimums, experience: Forbes/SHOOK profile is authoritative unless the firm publishes a newer audited figure.
Positioning fields (value_prop_quote, differentiators): MUST come from firm_official (the team/firm's own site or profile) — never from press paraphrase.
Visual-brand fields (has_distinct_logo, logo_url, visual_brand_notes): MUST come from firm_official; cite the page the logo/branding appears on.
Every field write carries a verbatim quote and source URL. Third-party databases (wealthmanagement.com directories, AdvisorHub DBs) are last resort and must be flagged confidence: low.

Verify-set

aum_team_musd — auto-enqueue verify on confidence: low.
firm_type — auto-enqueue verify on confidence: low.
crd_number — auto-enqueue verify on confidence: low.
value_prop_quote — auto-enqueue verify on confidence: low.

Gap reasons