A dedicated Financial Advisor and Wealth Manager in Charlotte, NC

serving the charlotte, nc community since 1997

At SignatureFD, a dedicated financial advisor and wealth manager in Charlotte, NC, we love helping our fellow Charlotteans pursue their Net Worthwhile™. Because we know true wealth isn’t just about money—it’s about living a life with more meaning, more satisfaction, and more of what’s worthwhile. And in Charlotte, there’s plenty to enjoy.

proud to be an active part of our charlotte, nc community

We’re more than just a financial advisor and wealth manager in Charlotte, NC, and we know that true wealth is about so much more than just money. Passionate about living our Net Worthwhile, making an impact, and caring for the place we call home, we partner with local organizations to give back right here in our own backyard. From its wildlife to sports culture, good-hearted people to nationally recognized craft beer, we know Charlotte is a magical city. That’s why we’re passionate about preserving her beauty and elevating her people through our efforts and our time.

The mission of Dress for Success is to empower women to achieve financial independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Since starting operations in 1997, Dress for Success has expanded to almost 150 cities in 25 countries and has helped more than 1.2 million women work towards self-sufficiency.

Their programs address and eliminate the frustrating obstacles that may arise during a search for employment. Women meet regularly to support and encourage each other through building confidence, networking and discussing workplace-related topics. These meetings help participants stay motivated and optimistic.

Dress for Success Charlotte is at the Gold GuideStar Nonprofit Profile participation level. This leading symbol of nonprofit transparency and accountability is presented by GuideStar, the world’s largest source of nonprofit information.

VISIT THE DRESS FOR SUCCESS CHARLOTTE WEBSITE

The Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center raises and rehabilitates orphaned and injured wildlife so they may be released back to the wild. For rehabilitation to be successful, these rehabbed and released animals must be able to truly care for themselves, find food, shelter and water, recognize and mate with others, reproduce and care appropriately for their offspring and recognize their natural predators including humans.

Their 105-acre conservation land includes a state-of-the-art animal clinic as well as sophisticated enclosures and allows state-licensed wildlife rehabilitators to care for–and successfully release–more injured and orphaned animals.

VISIT THE CAROLINA WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTER WEBSITE

our commitment to culture + diversity

PROUD TO BE
A FEMALE LED

advisory firm

58%

of our leadership
team is female

78%

minority leaders on
our leadership team

$100K

donated annually to local charitable organizations

A Letter from Our CEO

Hi!

My name is Heather Robertson Fortner, the CEO of SignatureFD. If you’re reading this, thanks for visiting our site!

SignatureFD is wealth management, evolved. We’re passionate about custom-designing a financial plan for Charlotteans that puts what you value most at the center so you can live your wealth to the fullest now and into the future. Charlotte and its people hold a special place in our hearts, and through our work, we’re able to do our part to see it thrive.

We are a proud financial advisor and wealth manager serving high net worth families in Charlotte, NC, but, in reality, we’re so much more than that. What sets us apart is our commitment to helping people discover their Net Worthwhile™—the people and things most important to them—in order to build a financial plan around what uniquely matters most to them. To us, true wealth isn’t defined by numbers in a portfolio, but rather the ability to live a life by design.

So, if you’re looking for a financial advisor or wealth manager in Charlotte, NC, reach out! We’d love to help you live your Net Worthwhile.

Financial Expert: Heather Fortner

Sincerely,

Heather Robertson Fortner, MS, IACCP
Chief Executive Officer

“What’s your Net Worthwhile?”

Find out what some of our financial advisors and wealth managers in Charlotte, NC have to say…

Russ Cearley CFA Atlanta

My NET WORTHWHILETM is helping clients make an impact with their wealth.

RUSS CEARLEY, CFA®

Partner, Wealth Advisor

Leah Maybry Wealth Management

My NET WORTHWHILETM is helping clients achieve financial freedom.

LEAH MAYBRY, CPA

Partner, Wealth Advisor

Jennifer Stephenson

My NET WORTHWHILETM is giving families the confidence to live fully and pursue their passions as they approach retirement and beyond

JENNIFER T. STEPHENSON, CPA

Director of FInancial Planning

My NET WORTHWHILETM is continually challenging myself to learn.

ALEX J. MOSS, CFP®

Wealth Advisor, SignatureGENEROSITY

Current Awards*

  • The FT Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies 2022 is a list of the 500 companies in the Americas that have the highest growth in publicly disclosed revenues between 2017 and 2020.
  • The ranking was created through a complex procedure. Although the search was very extensive, the ranking does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons.
  • The project was advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register via the websites created by Statista and the Financial Times. In addition, through research in company databases and other public sources, Statista identified tens of thousands of companies in the Americas as potential candidates for the FT ranking. These companies were invited to participate in the competition by post, email and telephone.
  • The application phase ran from October 2021 to January 2022. The submitted revenue figures had to be certified by the chief financial officer, chief executive, or a member of the executive committee of the company. Companies with three or fewer employees, or companies that are not a legal entity, were subject to additional checks to verify their revenue numbers.
  • Award Information
  • Each year, InvestmentNews honors women financial advisers, industry innovators and leaders who are trailblazers in their firms, the industry, and their communities. These women have advanced the business of providing financial advice through their leadership, passion, creativity and willingness to help others along the way.
  • Awarded to workplaces with 30-50% proportion of women in their C-suite.
  • Award Information
  • The Best and Brightest In Wellness is an innovative initiative that recognizes and celebrates quality and excellence in health awareness. This unique program highlights companies, schools, faith-based groups, and organizations that promote a culture of wellness; and those that plan, implement, and evaluate efforts in employee wellness to make their business and the community a healthier place to live and work.
Eligibility and Requirement for Participation
To be eligible for consideration, companies must meet the following criteria:
  • Have a minimum of 10 employees
  • Must be in business a minimum of 1 year
  • Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity
  • Be a publicly or privately held business
  • Temporary, seasonal, 1099 employees, independent contractors, consultants, interns, and volunteers are not counted in the number of employees or included in the survey process
  • Submit a Scoring and Analysis Fee
  • RIA Database ranked the Top 50 Wealth Managers by Growth in Assets on an absolute basis over a one year time frame.
  • RIA Database has been providing RIA rankings for Forbes and several industry publications, including RIA Channel (RIAChannel.com) for over ten years. Criteria and requirements for this list include the following:
    • All firms are active registered investment advisers (RIAs) with the SEC, and have no regulatory, criminal or administrative violations on file per the SEC as of March 31, 2022.
    • All firms provide wealth management services as their primary business. These services may include financial planning, selection of third party investment managers, portfolio construction services, family office services, comprehensive estate planning, asset allocation services or similar functions to high net worth and/or ultra high net worth individuals.
    • All qualified wealth managers with $100 million in assets under management or greater were ranked based on percentage of growth over a one year period from assets as reported to the SEC on their Form ADV Part I filing on March 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022.
    • Broker/dealers, fund managers and hedge fund managers were excluded.
  • See Award Information
  • Each year, Accounting Today ranks the top 150 CPA financial planners by their assets under management
  • Ranking Information
  • Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent--not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies--as of December 31, 2020. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places. There was one tie on this year’s Inc. 5000.
  • Award Information
  • A panel of independent judges made up of top names in the industry and led by WealthManagement.com Editor-in-Chief David Armstrong determined the 2021 Wealthmanagement.com Industry Award winners. The best in each category were selected based on quantitative measures of their initiatives—such as scope, scale, adoption and feature set—along with qualitative measures, such as innovation, creativity and new methods of delivery. Because financial services leaders across the industry faced unprecedented challenges this past year, additional executive awards were established to recognize the outstanding leadership being provided by a growing number of C-suite executives in support of their employees, customers and communities.
  • Award Information
  • Each year, InvestmentNews recognizes standout employers in the financial advice industry. These firms, ranging from small practices with fewer than 20 people to large companies with hundreds, invest in creating a work atmosphere and culture that attracts the best employees. The annual list of top firms is compiled by Best Companies Group through online employee and employer surveys. The collected information is combined to determine the strengths of each of the firms that voluntarily participate in the program and each workplace is ranked on this data.
  • Award Information
  • To be eligible for a 2021 Inc. Best Workplaces award, your company must submit an application, complete the Quantum Workplace employee survey, and meet each of the following qualifications:
    • Be independent (not a subsidiary or division of another company)
    • Be based in the United States
    • Have at least 10 permanent employees
    • Have been in business at least 2 years
    • Have total annual revenue less than $1 billion
    • There are a few limited exceptions to the qualifications. Please email our team with any questions: bestworkplaces@inc.com.
  • Award Information
  • Methodology
  • This seventh edition of the FT 300 assesses registered investment advisers based on desirable traits for investors. We present the FT 300 as an elite group, not a competitive ranking of one to 300. This is the fairest way to identify the industry’s elite advisers while accounting for the companies’ different approaches and specializations.
  • To ensure a list of established companies with substantial expertise, we examine the database of RIAs registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and select those with more than $300m in assets under management (AUM).
  • The Financial Times and Ignites Research, the FT’s sister company, invited qualifying RIA companies — more than 2,000 — to complete a lengthy application that gave us more information about them. We added this to our own research into their practices, including data from regulatory filings. Some 760 RIA companies applied and 300 made the final list.
  • The formula the FT uses to grade advisers is based on six broad factors and calculates a numeric score for each adviser. Areas of consideration include AUM, asset growth, the company’s age, industry certifications of key employees, SEC compliance record and online accessibility. The reasons these were chosen are as follows:
    • AUM signals experience managing money and client trust.
    • AUM growth rate can be a proxy for performance, as well as for asset retention and the ability to generate new business. We assessed companies on three-year growth rates.
    • Companies’ years in existence indicates reliability and experience of managing assets through different market environments.
    • Compliance record provides evidence of past client disputes; a string of complaints can signal potential problems.
    • Industry certifications (CFA, CFP, etc) shows the company’s staff has industry knowledge and a professional commitment to investment skills.
    • Online accessibility shows a desire to provide easy access and transparent contact information.
  • Among the top factors in our scoring, AUM accounted for an average of 72 per cent of each adviser’s score. Their growth rate accounted for an average of 15 per cent. The FT places a cap on the number of advisers from any one state, corresponding to the distribution of millionaires across the US.
  • The research was conducted on behalf of the Financial Times by Ignites Research, a Financial Times sister publication. Loren Fox
  • Award Information

*Please Note: Limitations. Neither rankings and/or recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, publications, media, or other organizations, should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if SignatureFD is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. Rankings published by magazines, and others, generally base their selections exclusively on information prepared and/or submitted by the recognized adviser. Rankings are generally limited to participating advisers (see participation criteria/methodology). Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, SignatureFD did not pay a fee to be included on any such ranking. No ranking or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of SignatureFD by any of its clients. Please see further information under IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.

BE A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR HEART IS

Ultimately, Net WorthwhileTM inspires you to think about your wealth in new ways — helping you to make a bigger impact on the people and things most important to you.

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR HEART IS

Ultimately, Net WorthwhileTM inspires you to think about your wealth in new ways — allowing you to make a bigger impact on the people and things most important to you.

READY TO DISCOVER YOUR NET WORTHWHILETM?

SPEAK WITH AN ADVISOR