Paul Granito Among 'Best of Best' Financial Advisors Attending Barron's Winner's Circle Top Advisors Summit

PARAMUS, N.J., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Paul Granito, First Vice President, Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney was one of approximately 500 financial advisors who were selected by their firms to attend the sixth-annual Barron's Winner's Circle Top Advisors Summit, hosted by Barron's magazine to promote best practices in the industry and the value of advice to the investing public. The invitation-only conference was held at Boca Raton Resort and Club, September 29-October 1 in Boca Raton, FL.

This exclusive conference is designed to promote best practices and generate new ideas across the industry. Participants attended workshops, led by the Top 100 Financial Advisors, that explored current issues ranging from business development ideas through managing high-net-worth accounts and families to portfolio management and retirement planning.

In addition to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, participating firms included: Ameriprise Financial Services Inc., Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, LPL Financial, Raymond James Financial, RBC Wealth Management, Robert W. Baird & Co., UBS Financial Services Inc. and Wells Fargo Advisors.

Also in attendance were 65 of the Top 100 Financial Advisors in the U.S., as ranked and published in Barron's April 19, 2010 issue. The Top 100 Financial Advisors, comprising advisors from major security firms and independent operations, are chosen based on the volume of assets overseen by the advisors and their teams, revenue generated for their firms and the quality of the advisors' practices. This annual ranking is the basis for the Top Advisors Summit.

"Financial Advisors who attend this conference are passionate about delivering advice that can help their clients achieve their financial goals. In a challenging economic environment, the dispassionate analysis and well thought-out strategies discussed by some of the industry's top professionals made this conference particularly valuable," said Paul Granito.

"Because the Summit brings together key leaders and top decision makers from around the country, it is recognized by the financial advisor community as the industry's leading event," said Ed Finn, editor and president of Barron's. "The ideas and discussions generated here equip attendees to provide the best investment and financial advice to their clients, which is vital given the challenging economic and market conditions of today."

For more information about Barron's Winner's Circle conferences, please go to www.barrons.com/conferences

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a global leader in wealth management, provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, credit and lending, cash management, annuities and insurance, retirement and trust services.

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 42 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

About Barron's

Barron's (www.barrons.com) is America's premier financial magazine, renowned for its market-moving stories. Published by Dow Jones & Company since 1921, it reaches an influential audience of senior corporate decision makers, institutional investors, individual investors and financial professionals. With new content available every week in print and every business day online, Barron's provides readers with a comprehensive review of the market's recent activity, coupled with in-depth, sophisticated reports on what's likely to happen in the market in the days and weeks to come. As a result, Barron's is the financial information source these powerful people rely on for market information, ideas and insights they can use to increase their professional success and enhance their personal, financial well-being.

Source: Barron's "America's Top 100 Financial Advisors," April 19, 2010. Barron's is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. Barron's "America's Top 100 Financial Advisors" bases its rankings on qualitative criteria: professionals with a minimum of 7 years financial services experience, acceptable compliance records, client retention reports, customer satisfaction, and more. Advisors are quantitatively ranked based on varying types of revenues and assets advised by the financial professional, with weightings associated for each. Because individual client portfolio performance varies and is typically unaudited, this ranking focuses on customer satisfaction and quality of advice. For more information on ranking methodology, go to http://online.barrons.com/report/top-financial-advisors. The rating may not be representative of any one client's experience because it reflects a sample of all of the experiences of the advisor's clients. The rating is not indicative of the advisor's future performance. Neither Morgan Stanley Smith Barney nor any of their financial advisors pays a fee to Barron's in exchange for the rating.

This release was issued on behalf of the above organization by Send2Press(R), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE Paul Granito