Margaret Bio Headshot
Margaret C. Starner, CFP® Senior Vice President, Financial Planner

Margaret grew up working at her parents’ grocery store in Mississippi, starting at just 6 years old, watching her parents work hard and get to know their customers. That experience gave Margaret a real-world understanding of people that she still leans on today as she advises clients on planning their financial futures.

Building genuine relationships is a value Margaret learned early that has been key to building a successful business and life. She has continued to keep relationships at the core of her business, from founding The Starner Group of Raymond James in 1981 to leading and growing into the invitation-only wealth management practice it is today.

Client’s success, and helping them pursue their dreams and wishes, is Margaret’s  focus every day at The Starner Group. It takes a fair amount of work to plan your life, which is why the team partners with select clients for whom they can make a difference through high-tech and high-touch financial planning.

AWARDS + RECOGNITION

Widely recognized as a pioneer in the financial planning industry, Margaret has had the honor of being quoted in and recognized by leading publications, including:

  • Money, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal
  • Barron’s
    • Hall of Fame advisor, inducted in 2019
    • One of America’s Top 100 Women Advisors (2007 – 2021)
    • One of America’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors (2009 – 2021)
  • Financial Times
    • Inaugural list of top 400 advisors (April 2013), continuation on list through 2019
  • Financial Advisor magazine
    • Cover story as a “trailblazer” in the financial planning industry
  • Investment News

MEMBERSHIPS + BOARDS

  • Financial Planning Association member
  • John T. MacDonald Foundation
    • Executive board (1996 – current)
    • Chairman of the board (2008 – 2010)
  • Securities Industry Institute
    • Past member of the board of trustees

ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN, HEALTH AND EDUCATION

  • Founder and board member of the Women’s Leadership Alliance, an organization to attract more women to be financial advisors
  • Founded the Raymond James Women’s Advisory Board (1992), focused on fostering opportunities for women at Raymond James
  • Supporter of causes enhancing education and healthcare access for young students

PAST EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPED  MARGARET

  • Graduating from Stanford University with a degree in economics
  • Holding jobs out of college in research and planning
  • Staying home with my kids for 15 years
  • Reentering the workforce after my 40th birthday
  • Developing long-range plans for the Stanford Research Institute, the Ford Foundation and United Airlines

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner,  CFP Logo Flame Design and  CFP Logo Plaque Design in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.

Raymond James is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned.

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Barron’s Hall of Fame Award, 2019. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. "Barron's Hall of Fame" is an award honoring a group of advisors who exemplify long-term success and commitment to their clients. Each member of the Hall of Fame has appeared in 10 or more of Barron's annual Top 100 Advisor rankings, and their long-looking commitment to excellence is a hopeful example for the industry to follow. The Top 100 Advisor rankings are based on data provided by individual advisors and their firms and include qualitative and quantitative criteria. Data points that relate to quality of practice include professionals with a minimum of 7 years financial services experience, acceptable compliance records (no criminal U4 issues), client retention reports, charitable and philanthropic work, quality of practice, designations held, offering services beyond investments offered including estates and trusts, and more. Financial Advisors are quantitatively rated based on varying types of revenues produced and assets under management by the financial professional, with weightings associated for each. Investment performance is not an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients’ risk tolerance than by an advisor’s investment picking abilities. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Barron’s is not affiliated with Raymond James.

Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors (2021). Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. The rankings are based on data provided by individual advisors and their firms and include qualitative and quantitative criteria. Data points that relate to quality of practice include professionals with a minimum of seven years of financial services experience; acceptable compliance records (no criminal U4 issues); client retention reports; charitable and philanthropic work; quality of practice; designations held; offering services beyond investments offered, including estates and trusts; and more. Financial advisors are quantitatively rated based on varying types of revenues produced and assets under management by the financial professional, with weightings associated for each. Investment performance is not an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients’ risk tolerance than by an advisor’s investment-picking abilities. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its financial advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Barron’s is not affiliated with Raymond James.

Barron’s “Top 1,200 Financial Advisors,” March 2021. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. The rankings are based on data provided by over 5,000 individual advisors and their firms and include qualitative and quantitative criteria. Factors included in the rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. Investment performance is not an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients’ risk tolerance than by an advisor’s investment-picking abilities. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its financial advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Barron’s is not affiliated with Raymond James.

The FT 400 was developed in collaboration with Ignites Research, a subsidiary of the FT that provides specialized content on asset management. To qualify for the list, advisors had to have 10 years of experience and at least $300 million in assets under management (AUM), with no more than 60% of the AUM with institutional clients. The FT reaches out to some of the largest brokerages in the U.S. and asks them to provide a list of advisors who meet the minimum criteria outlined above. These advisors are then invited to apply for the ranking. Only advisors who submit an online application can be considered for the ranking. In 2018, roughly 880 applications were received and 400 were selected to the final list (45.5%). The 400 qualified advisors were then scored on six attributes: AUM, AUM growth rate, compliance record, years of experience, industry certifications, and online accessibility. AUM is the top factor, accounting for roughly 60% to 70% of the applicant’s score. Additionally, to provide a diversity of advisors, the FT placed a cap on the number of advisors from any one state that’s roughly correlated to the distribution of millionaires across the U.S. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its financial advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. The FT is not affiliated with Raymond James.

Nominees for the 2020 InvestmentNews Diversity & Inclusion Lifetime Achievement Award must currently be working as financial planners, registered representatives or registered investment advisors, or as industry professionals in a role that supports financial advisors. Judges will consider management, team development, achievement and a minimum 15-year commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion. InvestmentNews received about 130 nominations for the Diversity & Inclusion awards and selected one individual for the Lifetime Achievement award. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its financial advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating, nor is Raymond James affiliated with InvestmentNews.