Kunze & Associates

Private Wealth Advisors
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Focused on your unique needs, Kunze & Associates offers a breadth of talent and resources that includes The Duckworth Haggerty Group.

Our Videos

Insights, observations, and ideas to help you in your pursuit of your financial goals.

Important Video Disclosures

Watch my video to see how my team and I can help you achieve your financial goals for your business and your family.

Watch my video to see how my team and I can help you achieve your financial goals for your business and your family.

Watch my video to see how my team and I can help you achieve your financial goals for your business and your family.

Watch my video to see how my team and I can help you achieve your financial goals for your business and your family.

Meet the Team

The private wealth advisors with Merrill Private Wealth Management are rigorously trained to help meet your specialized needs with relationships based on trust and personalized service.

Additional Resources

The following specialists do not make securities recommendations. Please contact your Merrill Private Wealth Advisor if you have questions about how a specialist might be able to assist you.

Matthew Vandenack

Private Wealth Strategist

Merrill

Paul Pellegrini

Wealth Management Banking Specialist

Merrill

Jill Sovick

Wealth Management Lending Officer

Bank of America, N.A.

NMLS #444294

Recognition

Merrill is proud of our advisors who’ve received recognition from financial industry publications or directly from Bank of America Corporation. We believe they are setting the standard for exemplary client service.

Joseph Maynard Kunze

Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams” 2023 and 2024
Published annually in January. Rankings based on data as of March 31 of prior year.*

Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" 2022
Published on April 7, 2022.  Rankings based on data as of June 30, 2021.

Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" 2022, 2023
Published annually Jan- April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 of prior year.

Jennifer Haggerty

Working Mother/SHOOK Research's "Top Wealth Advisor Moms" 2018
Published annually Sept - Oct. Rankings based on data as of Mar 31 of current year.

Michael Duckworth

Barron's "Top 1,200 Financial Advisors: State-by-State" 2011-2022
Published annually in February - March. Rankings based on data as of September 30 of the prior year.

Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
Published annually Jan- April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 of prior year.

Strategies designed to help you achieve your goals

As a client of Merrill Private Wealth Management, you have access to services and resources ordinarily reserved for the world’s largest institutions. We work with individuals, families spanning multiple generations, business owners and executives. Using a goals-based wealth management approach, we put our clients at the center of every personalized strategy.

Our Approach

Kunze & Associates Welcomes You

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Kunze & Associates welcomes you to experience Private Wealth Management at Merrill.  Focused on your unique needs, we offer a breadth of talent that addresses the complexities of intergenerational wealth, business owner transitions, and families who require special care coordination.

As Private Wealth Advisors, business owners, and a married couple, Jennifer and I connect in a unique way with those we advise, especially business owning families.  Our experienced, highly credentialed, multi-generational teams work well with founders, key business executives, the Next Generation, and extended family members. 

Together, we offer the extensive resources of a global financial leader with the dedication and feel of a family business.  We welcome you to establish a relationship with us, where Family, Stewardship, and Wise Decisions represent our core values.

Fewer Clients, Deeper Relationships

You can expect to receive the extra time and attention it takes to know and serve you well.  Connecting with each generation of your family through tailored advice and education promotes your well-being.  Our team offers decades of experience navigating the complexities of generational wealth and family dynamics to address your unique requirements.


Wealth Management That Expresses Your Values

Good stewardship is a lifelong process that aligns your personal values with your wealth.  You can rely on professional guidance that aligns your values with your investments and other key areas of your financial life, including de-risking your personal balance sheet, estate and charitable strategies planning, and pursuing the full potential and value of your business.
 

Collaboration with Rigorously Trained Advisors for Clarity

Sustaining wealth over generations is not likely to succeed if left to chance.  Close collaboration with our highly credentialed team (CFA, CFP professionals, CEPA, CPWA, CRPC designations) - networked with a wide range of trusted experts and industry leaders within Merrill and Bank of America – fosters wise decision making and clarity on next steps.  Access to leading technology, Merrill’s Center for Family Wealth, and a team you can trust provides the insights, skills, and confidence to help you succeed.

Intergenerational Family Wealth

As a family that spans multiple generations, you have needs that go beyond preserving assets, tax minimization strategies and designating heirs. Your goals also likely include passing on values and helping the rising generation become effective stewards. We can help with personalized wealth transfer strategies, family wealth education and developing and implementing philanthropic visions. In working with you to create an approach that reflects your family’s intentions and helps ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes, we proceed in a manner that recognizes the complexities of your life challenges and the unique nature of your goals. Our extensive experience working with other families of significant wealth helps  us to see and share best practices to help you achieve them.

Company Founders, Private Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

When you have built your own business, your personal finances and the life of your company are closely intertwined. You may be thinking about how to invest in your company’s growth while also deciding how best to use your personal assets. Helping ensure the future of your business likely involves employee benefits, retirement plans and succession planning. Helping secure your family’s legacy could entail wealth transfer strategies, trusts and philanthropy. Whatever your specific needs, we at Merrill Private Wealth Management can help entrepreneurs and business owners balance their personal financial lives with their life’s work. We are dedicated in providing the experience and resources to help support your ongoing success.

Corporate Executives

We understand the complexities that come with your executive position and the extreme demands on your time. We can help you develop a customized strategy that your finances and compensation require. We can help with risk management strategies for your concentrated stock position while navigating complex SEC rules, trading restrictions and reporting requirements. If you’ve just been promoted and would like help evaluating your new compensation plan, or if you’re looking to develop a long-term financial strategy for you and your family — designed to enable you to live life as you want it, with reliable access to cash — we can help simplify your financial life, as well as develop new strategies as your career and goals evolve.

Family Offices

As private wealth advisors with Merrill Private Wealth Management, we work with prominent families to help them manage the ongoing complexities they face. Our deep experience with family offices enables us to tailor a range of services to help meet your specific needs. We can provide access to Merrill for investment and wealth management strategies, and to Bank of America for governance, asset custody and administration, as well as assisting in the financial education of younger family members. In working with you to create and implement plans reflecting your specific intentions, our goal is to help your family enterprise succeed, and that your knowledge and values are passed along to the next generation. Together, we will focus on strategies that recognize the unique nature of your family’s mission, history and goals.

Services for Families With Special Care Needs

The Duckworth Haggerty Group has experience helping high-net-worth families across the country address the issues involved in funding lifetime care and support for a child or other family member with special needs. We recognize that preserving the wealth you have accumulated is an important concern, and we can help you develop strategies designed to avoid well-intentioned but inappropriate actions that may adversely affect the long-term financial security of your family member with special needs.

We can also work with you and your family to integrate special needs concerns into your broader wealth management approach. Our aim is to offer a high-quality concierge service, acting as an intermediary between you and the services your wealth enables. Our services include:
Advice and guidance on allocating funds to provide for a client's current and future financial needs.
If appropriate, coordinating with clients' other professional advisors (including CPAs, attorneys and fiduciaries) and specialized resource providers (such as medical equipment vendors, rehabilitative health care professionals or payroll services).
Educating and assisting clients to make informed decisions on wealth preservation and legacy planning strategies.
Helping families determine eligibility for public benefits.


"We are sensitive to both the financial and emotional challenges of providing support for a loved one who has a special need or disability."

Michael D. Duckworth
Managing Director
Private Wealth Advisor

The Questions We Help Answer

Clients come to us with varying needs. We harness the resources of our team and a wider network of specialists to design customized strategies that respond to those needs. We operate as an intimate, client focused boutique within Merrill, a global leader with world wide resources and capabilities. Here is a small sample of the questions we help answer:

How do I grow and preserve my assets?


How can I expand or transition my business?


How can my family be good stewards of our wealth?


How do I leave a legacy that is important to me?

Let's have a conversation

Your dedicated Merrill Private Wealth Management team is ready to help you pursue what’s most important to you.

Our Vision

For clients of substantial means, Merrill Private Wealth Management provides an experience that is both powerful and personal. We are dedicated to helping you pursue your goals for today while developing an approach designed to support your family members for the years to come.

Your private wealth advisor and team of specialists work with a limited number of clients, enabling them to focus their time, training and passion on helping you simplify your personal and business finances and prepare your next generation.

Boutique-like service with the access to the investment resources of Merrill and banking convenience of Bank of America

We combine the personalized attention and feel of a smaller firm with the power and insights of a global financial institution, creating financial strategies tailored to your unique situation.

A relentless commitment to transparency and customized strategies

As our client, know we are working in your best interests, providing goals-based financial strategies designed to anticipate and help meet your evolving financial needs.