North Shore Residents Make Forbes List Of Top Advisers Under 40

DEERFIELD, IL — Four North Shore residents made the cut for inclusion in a ranking of the top wealth advisers under age 40. The 250 advisers on the 2019 edition of Forbes "Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors List" manage nearly $500 billion of their client's wealth, according to the magazine.

J.R. Gondeck, 38, of Deerfield, is the top-ranked next-generation wealth adviser in Illinois and ranked No. 4 in the United States. As of last month, his team at HighTower Advisors had $1.2 billion in assets in custody, where minimum account size for new business is $2 million, according to Forbes. The typical size of his household accounts ranged up to $20 million. Gondeck also ranked No. 6 in Illinois, outside of Chicago, on the Forbes "Best-In-State Wealth Advisors List" earlier this year.

Vanessa Martinez, 38, of Deerfield, was ranked No. 42 on the list of top advisers under 40. Another member of the team at HighTower Advisors, the typical size of her household accounts was between $2 and $15 million, according to the rankings.

Ryan Birkhauser, 34, of Lake Forest, was ranked No. 226 on the next-generation list. His Birkhauser Group team at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, where he is a senior vice president, had $409 million of assets in custody with a minimum account size of $250,000 for new business. The typical size of his household accounts was between $500,000 and $15 million, and he also was ranked No. 55 on the list of Illinois advisers outside of Chicago, according to Forbes. He specializes in educational planning, charitable giving, liabilities for long-term care and strategies to maximize Social Security, according to a Merrill Lynch representative.

Liz Poplin, 39, of Northbrook, was ranked No. 249 on the list of young advisers. The typical size of her household accounts was between $1 million and $20 million, and her team had $908 million in assets in custody as of July 24, according to the rankings. She is a member of the Karras Poplin Schroeder group and worked exclusively on estate-planning and wealth management issues with a focus on corporate stock option planning, according to Merrill Lynch.

To be included in the "Next-Gen" list, advisers must be born in 1980 or later, must have at least four years of experience in the financial services industry with at least the last year spent at their current firm and have more than half of their revenue with individuals. They also must be nominated by their employer, complete an online survey and have an acceptable compliance record, according to Shook Research, which compiles the Forbes rankings.