Kris Tower is the Principal at Andstead Advisors, formerly known as American Portfolios Denver. For over 20 years he has partnered with successful business owners, working professionals, and families to plan for their financial future using the innovative GlidePath Method. In addition, Kris leads a growing team of financial planning professionals across 4 states, including Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota.
As one of Colorado’s leading financial planners, Kris has been named a 5 Star Wealth Manager for 14 consecutive years (2012-2025) and holds CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®), Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®), and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor® (CPFA®) designations.
Kris is active in industry associations and has served on the Executive Committee of the national Financial Planning Association (FPA®), the Financial Industry Advisory Committee for the Colorado Securities Commissioner, and the Producer Advisory Council for the Colorado Insurance Commissioner. He also served as Chairman of the Colorado Financial Planning Association.
Kris is a University of Wyoming graduate and has served on the Board of Directors for several non-profit organizations in the Denver area. Outside of work, Kris enjoys traveling with his wife Wendy, playing golf, and staying active in the local community.
Kris Tower is registered in all 50 states, plus DC and Puerto Rico. View Kris's industry registrations and state licenses on FINRA's BrokerCheck.
The FIVE STAR Wealth Manager list, awarded in October, 2025 is created by Crescendo Business Services LLC. It includes less than 8% of 2858 wealth managers in the Denver-area area in 2025.
Award candidates are identified by one of three sources; firm nomination, peer nomination or prequalification. Wealth managers were evaluated across ten criteria: (a) Credentialed as an investment advisory representative or a registered investment advisor; (b) Actively employed as a credentialed professional in the financial services industry for a minimum of five years; (c) Favorable regulatory and complaint history review; (d) Fulfilled their firm review based on internal firm standards; (e) Accepting new clients; (f) One-year client retention rate; (g) Five-year client retention rate; (h) non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; (i) Number of client households served. (j) Educational and professional designations. Favorable and unfavorable evaluations are included in the score.
Each wealth manager is reviewed for regulatory actions, civil judicial actions, and customer complaints. A favorable regulatory and complaint history is defined by Five Star Professional to mean that the wealth manager has not: *Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; *Had more than a total of three settled or pending customer complaints filed against them with any regulatory authority or through Five Star Professional’s consumer complaint process; *Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint filed with a regulatory authority; *Filed for personal bankruptcy; *Been convicted of a felony. Five Star Wealth Managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. Scores reflect an average of all respondents and are not representative of any one client's evaluation.
The Five Star award is not indicative of the wealth managers’ future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients’ assets. 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 Five Star Professional in the future. 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 Five Star Professional or the magazine. Five Star Professional is not an advisory firm. For more information on the Five Star award and the research/selection methodology, go to: fivestarprofessional.com.