Client Ratings
Verified Client Reviews
The following reviews are based on experiences from Scarborough Capital Management current clients. Feedback was collected by Amplify Reviews, and no compensation was provided to clients. The ratings and comments reflect each client's own views and opinions, and there are no known conflicts of interest. All ratings are included in the overall rating and all comments are published unless they meet one or more of our exclusion criteria.
Joshua Goldsmith CFP®, CRPC®
About Josh
Josh Goldsmith is President, Wealth Management at Scarborough Capital Management, which Forbes has recognized as one of America’s Top RIA Firms in 2023, 2024, and 2025. He joined Scarborough in 2003, and many of the clients he works with today first came to him fifteen or twenty years ago for help managing a 401(k) or 403(b) while they were still working. Those relationships matured into wealth management as retirement approached, and most of them are still active today.
As a CFP® and Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠, Josh focuses on financial planning and wealth management for clients in the decade before retirement and the years that follow. A former high school substitute science teacher, he brings a teaching-oriented approach that breaks down complicated planning decisions into something clients can actually see clearly. He has been named a Five Star Wealth Manager by Baltimore Magazine in eleven separate years and serves on the WealthManagement.com Advisor Council Influencer (ACI) panel.
Can you share a favorite kernel of wisdom for those just starting to invest and save?
Most of my conversations start with a milestone — usually one that’s already happened, or one the client can see coming. Someone just took a new job and needs to figure out what to do with the 401(k) from the last one. Someone is five years out from retirement and wants to know if the plan they built ten years ago still adds up. A recent retiree is trying to figure out how to actually start drawing income — what gets paid out of where, and in what order. My job is to take whatever life event just happened or is coming, and turn it into a plan that makes sense given everything else going on financially.
What’s a favorite part of helping people save for retirement?
Protect first, grow second — that’s the philosophy I work from, and it really shows up in how I think about asset allocation in the years just before and after the retirement transition. When you’re a decade away, the conversation can still be about “what’s the upside?” When you’re three years away, the more important question becomes “what’s the worst this plan can handle without breaking?” I’d rather a client be slightly under-positioned in a great year than fully exposed in a bad one. The great years tend to take care of themselves. The bad years are what end retirement plans early.
Please share a few of your career highlights.
Earning the CFP® designation was a milestone — it’s hard, it should be hard, and it meant something to me when I passed. Being recognized as a Five Star Wealth Manager by Baltimore Magazine in eleven separate years is humbling, especially because the criteria include client retention. But the highlight that means the most is something more ordinary: I’ve spent more than 20 years at one firm, in an industry where most people switch firms every few years. Finding the right work and the right team early in a career is a kind of luck, and I’m grateful for it every day.
What personal traits do you believe most positively impact your job?
Optimism — but a particular kind. I’m not a “the market always goes up” optimist. I’m the kind who believes that with the right plan and a clear head, most financial situations have a path through them. Whether it’s a tough market, an economic surprise, or a change in someone’s personal life, my instinct is always to look for what can be done rather than dwell on what can’t. That habit tends to be useful for clients in moments when their own instinct is to panic.
What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned from your clients?
That if I can’t explain something clearly to a client, I probably don’t understand it as well as I thought. The substitute teacher in me never really went away. When I sit with someone who’s stressed about a retirement decision, half the job is getting it to a place where they can actually see it clearly. Confusion creates anxiety, and anxiety creates some of the worst financial decisions of a person’s life. So clarity isn’t just nice to have. It’s most of what we actually deliver.
What would surprise us to learn about you?
I used to be a high school substitute science teacher. I’d like to think it shows up in how I explain things to clients.
What are your personal interests and passions?
Spending time with my wife Amy and our two girls. Cooking. And anything sports related — especially Orioles games at Camden Yards.
Education & Designations:
- Towson University, BS, Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance
- New York University, Certificate in Financial Planning
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®)
- Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠ (CRPC®)
Registration & Licenses:
- FINRA Series 7 & Series 66
- Life and Health Insurance Licensed
Career Highlights:
- Scarborough Capital Management named to Forbes’ America’s Top RIA Firms (2023, 2024, 2025)
- Named a “Five Star Wealth Manager” in Baltimore Magazine (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)*
- Member, WealthManagement.com Advisor Council Influencer (ACI) Panel
- Member, Financial Planning Association
*This award was issued on 1/1/24 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 4/10/23 through 10/31/23. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 2,126 Baltimore-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 256 (12% of candidates) were named 2024 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2023: 2126, 256, 12%, 1/1/23, 4/18/22 – 10/21/22; 2022: 2078, 260, 13%, 1/1/22, 5/10/21 – 11/12/21; 2029, 237, 12%, 1/1/21, 4/27/20 – 10/30/20; 2020: 1898, 234, 12%, 1/1/20, 4/1/19 – 11/13/19; 2019: 1865, 265, 14%, 1/1/19, 4/19/18 – 11/7/18; 2018: 1759, 232, 13%, 1/1/18, 4/21/17 – 11/6/17; 2017: 1093, 355, 32%, 12/1/16, 3/26/16 – 11/11/16; 2016: 1215, 356, 29%, 12/1/15, 6/16/15 – 11/9/15; 2015: 1749, 412, 24%, 1/1/15, 6/16/14 – 11/9/14; 2014: 1484, 395, 27%, 1/1/14, 6/16/13 – 11/9/13; 2013: 1490, 448, 30%, 1/1/13, 6/16/12 – 11/9/12; 2012: 1470, 262, 18%, 1/1/12, 6/16/11 – 11/9/11. Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria – required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP’s consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP’s consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client’s experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria – considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients’ assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.
