Find a Financial Advisor in St. Johns County

A county with a coast on one side and Jacksonville on the other

St. Johns County stretches along the Atlantic in northeast Florida, with the St. Johns River on its western edge and the Intracoastal Waterway running through the middle. Ask five residents how they spend a weekday and you will hear five different geographies. A project manager in Nocatee takes the Butler Boulevard or I-95 route into Jacksonville. A teacher in Julington Creek heads to a school a few miles away. A restaurant owner in historic St. Augustine walks to work. A retired couple in Ponte Vedra Beach plays nine holes before lunch and has a call with their daughter in Chicago after.

That spread is why the financial questions here vary so much. The northern end around Ponte Vedra and Nocatee has newer homes and a large number of professional families. The historic core and Anastasia Island depend heavily on tourism and small business. Inland communities like Hastings and Elkton keep a rural, agricultural character, with farm families who think about land more than stocks.

Advisors who serve the St. Johns County area, by phone or video, make sense in a place where half the county is on the road for part of the day and many newcomers still have an adviser back in another state. The sections below describe the roles you will meet, costs, and the Florida-specific factors, from homestead rules to hurricane deductibles, that shape a plan here.

Financial advisors in St. Johns County, and what the work costs

An advisor can bill you in one of three common ways. A set fee covers a plan or a project. A percentage of managed assets, billed quarterly, covers continuing investment oversight. Commissions come from the products sold, such as insurance policies or annuities. Some firms combine these.

Newcomers often bring an existing advisor from another state and wonder whether to keep them. That is a fair question. Keep the relationship if the person knows your situation, communicates well, and charges a rate you can explain. Move on if the only reason you stay is habit. Because advisors who serve the area work by phone or video, geography is no longer a reason either way.

Expect to pay something at every level. Hourly work is billed like other professional services. Percentage fees usually fall as account size rises. Anyone who tells you their service is free is being paid somewhere else, so ask where.

A final tip: request a written description of services before signing, and read the section on how to end the relationship. Good firms make that easy.

Investment advisors in St. Johns County

Investment advisors choose and monitor holdings, and in a county with a median household income of $109,839 many clients have meaningful taxable accounts alongside their retirement plans. That makes tax management a key part of the job: which assets sit in which account, when to sell a position with a large gain, and how to give appreciated shares to charity instead of cash.

Florida has no state income tax on wages, dividends or capital gains, so the focus shifts to the federal side. That is a real benefit for people who moved from a high-tax state, but it also means the savings should not be assumed to last forever. Lawmakers change rules, and a plan should hold up if they do.

Picture a pair of 62-year-olds who sold a business in the Midwest and bought in Nocatee. They have a large check, a mortgage-free home and no plan for the money. An investment advisor can set a spending target, divide the proceeds into near-term cash, medium-term bonds and long-term stocks, and draw up a schedule for withdrawals that limits federal tax.

Ask how the advisor builds portfolios, how often you will hear from them, and what they charge in total, including the funds they use, since fund expenses are separate from the advisor fee.

Financial planners in St. Johns County

A financial planner builds a plan that touches every part of your money: spending, debt, taxes, insurance, investing, retirement and estate. For a family in Julington Creek with three kids and two careers, that may mean sorting out a tight monthly budget, deciding how to fund college, and making sure each parent has the right insurance.

Many people here are in the middle of a transition. They are relocating from other states, selling a house, starting a business after a corporate career, or leaving a job to care for a parent. A planner provides a structure for those decisions and sets the order: build the cash reserve, settle the housing question, then invest.

Look for planners who hold the Certified Financial Planner designation if you want a credential that can be checked with the CFP Board, and ask what a typical plan includes and how often it is updated. Planning is not a one-time document. A plan reviewed once a year and after major events stays useful.

An example: a couple in their mid-forties in the World Golf Village area want to know whether they can keep their current lifestyle while paying for a child’s college and still retire at sixty-five. A planner can model several scenarios and show which levers matter most.

Wealth management in St. Johns County

Wealth management brings together investing, taxes, estate planning, insurance and philanthropy for households that have enough assets to need a team approach. St. Johns County has a high concentration of those households, from executives who relocated for the quality of life to long-time owners of land, restaurants, hotels and service businesses.

Common wealth management topics here include selling or transferring a family business, planning for a second home elsewhere, using trusts to manage estate transfers, setting up charitable giving vehicles, and dealing with concentrated stock positions from a former employer. Professional athletes and others connected to the golf industry around Ponte Vedra may add complicated or irregular income to that list.

A wealth manager coordinates with an estate attorney and an accountant. Florida does not have a state estate tax or inheritance tax, but federal estate tax rules, and the rules of any other state where an heir lives, can still matter. Confirm current rules with an attorney or tax professional.

Choose someone who will explain what they do for the fee, beyond the portfolio return they hope for. The planning, tax and family work often adds more value than picking funds.

Life insurance in St. Johns County

Life insurance protects people who depend on you. In a county with high home values and young families moving in, that often means covering a large mortgage and many years of income.

Term coverage is the typical answer for working parents, because it is affordable and lasts through the years when the need is highest. Permanent policies can make sense for estate liquidity, business succession or a lifelong dependent, but they cost much more and should be compared carefully with alternatives.

Life insurance also plays a role for retirees. A policy can provide funds to pay taxes on an estate, equalize inheritances among children when one inherits a business or property, or replace a pension income that ends when one spouse dies. Ask a planner to run the numbers on whether the premium outweighs the benefit.

Florida has its own rules protecting some life insurance and annuity benefits from creditors, and the state gives certain protections to homesteads. Those protections have limits and exceptions, so talk to an attorney before relying on them.

Retirement planning in St. Johns County

With a median age of 44.2 and 21.1% of residents 65 or older, this county has both a lot of people nearing retirement and a lot of people already in it. Many came from other states specifically to retire, so the plan often has to cover a move, the sale of a previous home and the creation of new routines.

Florida levies no state income tax, so retirement account withdrawals, pensions and Social Security are not taxed at the state level. That does not mean taxes vanish: federal income tax, Medicare premium surcharges tied to income, and property tax on a new home still apply. Confirm current rules with the Florida Department of Revenue or a tax professional.

Healthcare planning deserves special attention. Medicare choices, supplement plans and drug coverage differ by county and change every year. People retiring before 65 need a bridge. Long-term care should be discussed early, because assisted living and in-home care can be expensive.

Take a retired couple in their late sixties who moved to St. Augustine Beach from New Jersey. Their questions are practical: which accounts to draw first, how to set up an annual withdrawal schedule, whether to convert part of an IRA to a Roth in lower-income years, and how to name beneficiaries after the move. A planner can answer all of these in one session.

Hurricanes, flooding and the real cost of owning a Florida home

Insurance is a central part of any plan in St. Johns County. The coast has faced hurricane damage and storm surge in recent years, including flooding in St. Augustine during Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and wind and rain damage in several later storms. Beach erosion has also affected shoreline properties after storms.

Homeowners insurance in Florida usually carries a separate hurricane deductible, often a percentage of the insured value of the home, which can mean thousands of dollars due at once after a storm. Flood damage is excluded, so flood insurance is a separate policy, and lenders require it in mapped high-risk zones. Some owners buy it outside those zones as well, because water does not follow the map.

Insurance availability and pricing in Florida have changed a lot over the past several years. Some homeowners use the state-backed insurer of last resort, Citizens. Review your coverage every year, keep photos of your home and belongings, and hold a cash reserve large enough to cover the deductible.

Newer communities often have a Community Development District fee that appears on the property tax bill. Include it when you compare the cost of two homes.

Taxes and paperwork for St. Johns County households

Florida has no personal income tax, so the paperwork is mostly federal, plus property tax and a sales tax. The most important state-level concept for homeowners is the homestead exemption. A primary residence can qualify for a reduction in taxable value, and a cap limits how much the assessed value may rise each year while you stay in the home. Moving resets that cap, which is why buying a new home often raises the tax bill sharply.

Portability rules let some owners carry part of the accumulated benefit to a new Florida home. Deadlines are strict and rules change, so confirm current rules with the county property appraiser.

If you are moving to Florida from another state, document your change of domicile carefully: driver license, voter registration, homestead filing and a declaration of domicile. Former states sometimes audit residency claims, especially when a large income or sale is involved.

Bring tax returns, account statements, a copy of your homeowners and flood policies, any trusts or wills and your latest property tax bill to your first advisor meeting.

Areas we serve in St. Johns County

Advisors who serve the St. Johns County area, by phone or video, work with households in St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee, Julington Creek, Fruit Cove, World Golf Village, Palm Valley, Vilano Beach, Hastings and Elkton, along with the neighborhoods and rural stretches in between.

Each has a separate character. Ponte Vedra Beach and Nocatee tend to have higher incomes and larger homes. St. Augustine mixes historic districts, tourism employment and a college community. Julington Creek and Fruit Cove are commuter suburbs near the Duval and Clay county lines. Hastings and Elkton are more rural.

How to choose a financial advisor in St. Johns County

Sort out what you need first. Someone facing a business sale needs different help than someone setting up an income plan after a move. Write the question down and bring it to the first conversation.

Next, check backgrounds. The SEC adviser search, FINRA BrokerCheck and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation all provide free registration and disciplinary records. If an advisor resists giving you their registration number, move on.

When you meet, notice how the conversation goes. A strong advisor asks about your family, your plans for the house, where your children live, and what has worried you most. A weak one starts with a brochure. Ask for a sample plan, a fee schedule and two or three client situations like yours, with names removed.

Finally, think about service. Some people want a quarterly video call and secure message answers within a day. Others want a once-a-year check. Tell the advisor what you want and make sure they agree before you sign anything.

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For background reading before you talk to anyone, see our guide to financial advisors, the overview of retirement planning, the page on life insurance and the primer on estate planning.

Frequently asked questions