Most of our Top 40 This year appear to be chasing the ultimate client: the ultra-high-net-worth account. And so many of them are getting those customers. It's hard work, it's expertise, it's constantly calling, it's listening to client needs. It's all of those things. The list this year is dominated by Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. However, we left space for our Top Five Regional Advisors as well.

SLIDESHOW: 40 UNDER 40: No. 1 - No. 20

SLIDESHOW: 40 UNDER 40: No. 21- No. 40

SLIDESHOW: Top 5 Regional Advisors Under 40

So many of our advisors here have been on this list before, including our first place winner Thomas Hutson-Wiley. And, he offers two pieces of advice for financial advisors who aspire to real success: Pick a specialty and do not be afraid to partner. That's not all. He adds: "You have to truly be better than anybody else in some field and then just leverage that."

1
Thomas Hutson-Wiley, 37
Merrill Lynch // San Francisco
$2.33 billion in assets

Bank of America Merrill Lynch advisor Thomas Hutson-Wiley is optimistic about the current economy. And he has reason to be after steadily climbing On Wall Street's Top 40 Under 40 list for four years to ultimately land at number one. "We've bounced off the bottom, and we're back on the upswing and we're going to do well as a country," Hutson-Wiley says.

His practice focuses exclusively on venture capital and private equity investors. He helps them as they develop some of latest innovations in clean technology, financial services, health care and semiconductors. He thinks of those investors as barbell investors. That is because they have cash management needs on the one end, and fund risk that they take on with their professional positions on the other. He sees his role as helping to manage the middle, the part that helps carry all the weight.

His 16-member team, includes five advisors and 11 client associates, with offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Paris and Hong Kong. The team's goal is to take on smart, high quality clients with no minimum asset requirements.

What is rewarding for Hutson-Wiley is to coach his clients, as they are on the cusp of becoming very wealthy. "The goal for a lot of these guys is never to make money. It's to make an impression and do something great, and that's really cool." To handle that wealth, the team specializes in concentrated positions and has about 10% in fee-based business.

— Lorie Konish

2
John Batista Bocchino, 39
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney // New York
$2.3 billion in assets

This will be the last year on the list for John Batista Bocchino, who has seen his name here multiple times. For instance, he was ranked fifth in the December 2009 issue of On Wall Street.

"We've been doing this a long time. The actual clients that we have here have been clients for eight or nine years," he says. Two of his assistants have been with him for the same amount of time. That consistency is what gives him his edge. "The clients feel comfortable at the firm," he says. "Some of the markets have been down and there have been losses but assets have stayed more or less the same. It really comes down to the relationships with the clients."

While many advisors deal in mutual funds, Bocchino trades emerging market debt, especially in Latin America as well as structured products. "It's a nice business. It enables us to bring in lots of assets and pretty good-sized revenue for the firm."

Bocchino began his career in 1994 with the predecessor of UBS, working in the Latin American institutional area. "Being on the institutional side has helped me work with traders." Very little of his business, less than 5%, is fee-based. His principal market is Venezuela, which he visits six or seven times a year. "I love Venezuela," he says. Despite the political turmoil and high crime, "the margins are excellent," he says. "Venezuelan clients are very interested in the capital markets and in the U.S." Most of them are ultra-high-net-worth individuals and business owners. And now, he says, investors are thinking globally. "You're going to see more international brokers on your list," he predicts.