The Massey Schmidt Harper Group

Private Wealth Advisors

Considerable wealth affords your family tremendous opportunities but also introduces new complexities. We offer specialized services from Merrill and banking and lending capabilities from Bank of America designed to help meet your needs.

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.

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

A Commitment to Service

Merrill Private Wealth Management is committed to providing a select group of clients with highly personalized one-on-one service. When you work with us, our knowledgeable, rigorously trained private wealth advisors will gain a deep understanding of your goals, help you develop a multigenerational wealth strategy, and help you update your strategy as needed. We are committed to providing you access to the investment insights of Merrill and the banking convenience of Bank of America, and Merrill will continue to invest in client tools and new technology to enhance your overall experience as you and your private wealth advisor pursue what’s most important to you.

Our Philosophy

We believe your unique goals should be at the center of all of your financial decisions and form the foundation of your financial strategy. Because significant wealth requires customized goals-based financial strategies, we believe in building lasting relationships with a limited number of clients, taking the time to understand your most important priorities for today, tomorrow and your long-term future. Our philosophy celebrates collaboration. Working with a team of specialists, we draw on the resources and insights of a global financial institution to create strategies that reflect your aspirations for yourself and current and future generations of your family. Finally, we believe that while significant wealth brings complex challenges, our experience, passion and perspectives can help you simplify your life.

The Massey Schmidt Harper Group

The Massey Schmidt Harper Group is a leading wealth management team within Merrill Private Wealth Management located in Houston, Texas. We work with ultra affluent clients to develop strategies and services that reflect their particular goals and opportunities. We differentiate our approach by bringing a highly tailored mindset to each client. We look to address the wealth management needs of the whole client: his or her family members, business considerations, legacy desires and philanthropic interests. Our team harnesses our experience and know-how to advance client interests across multiple facets of wealth. We provide not only investment management, but trust and estate planning services, cash flow analysis, liability strategies, insurance analysis, concierge services and family seminars. We advise families and family offices drawing on our network of firm contacts throughout the Southwest. As members of Merrill Private Wealth Management we enable clients to access the expansive resources of the firm all the while fostering an environment that is personal and discreet.

Our Emphasis on Estate Planning Services

We work exclusively with ultra affluent families so we are attuned to the issues and opportunities that affluence can pose. We emphasize the value of estate planning services to long term wealth preservation and cross-generational wealth. Quite simply, significant wealth is different. By taking proactive steps to transfer wealth in an efficient and tax-sensitive manner families can effectively retain more of their wealth amplifying its impact on future generations. Our client engagements begin by developing detailed wealth transfer strategies. We have long term relationships with an extensive network of trust and estate planning specialists at the Firm. Together we pursue cohesive strategies that prioritize a family’s long term financial outlook sensitive to the tax and philanthropic opportunities that affluent families face.


*Trust, fiduciary, and investment management services are provided by Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC, and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”), and its agents.

Our Focus on Efficient Investing

Investment management is a key driver of client value. We have significant experience in the capital markets not only in traditional investments, but also in alternatives. We are highly selective investors prioritizing fee containment, liquidity and efficiency. We oversee a number of money management strategies that are designed to pursue specific client goals; we also create customized portfolios to reflect the nuances of each client. Our investment perspective is detailed and informed. We delineate a client’s risk threshold, timeline, goals and preferences integrating this information into our asset allocations. We use index funds as appropriate gravitating toward their innate efficiency and cost effectiveness. We also track and review client portfolios assessing their alignment with a client’s life, wealth and legacy objectives.



Some or all alternative investments may not be in the best interests for certain investors. Certain alternative investments carry significant risk and are not subject to the same regulatory oversight as mutual funds and other traditional investments. For these reasons, access to alternative investments may be limited to investors who are designated as sophisticated, high-net-worth investors.

Value Proposition

We are committed to providing financial well-being and convenience when it comes to the preservation and growth of client assets.



 



 

 

Our Knowledge of Defined Contribution Investing

We have significant experience in advising Defined Contribution Plans about their investment offerings. We work closely with 401(k) investment committees to delineate their retirement plan features and streamline construction and maintenance of these plans. As a designated Defined Contribution Investment Consultant (DCIC) within Merrill we are one of approximately 50 teams that offer access to monitoring and fiduciary services in this area. Our goal is to help clients provide plan participants with the tools and education they need for satisfying retirements. We are particularly skilled in staying ahead of industry trends while helping committees satisfy their fiduciary obligations. Our decades of experience in this realm align well with our work with affluent clients and families; our regular analysis of opportunities in the capital markets combined with our innate sensitivity to cost containment advances our initiatives with both client groups.






“Bank of America” is a marketing name for the Retirement Services business of Bank of America Corporation ("BofA Corp."). Banking activities may be performed by wholly owned banking affiliates of BofA Corp., including Bank of America, N.A., member FDIC. Brokerage and investment advisory services are provided by wholly owned non-bank affiliates of BofA Corp., including Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (also referred to as “MLPF&S” or“Merrill”), a dually registered broker-dealer and investment adviser and Member SIPC. 

Our Offerings

For Family and Family Office clients:
  1. Trust and estate planning service
  2. Investment management
  3. Pre-and-post liquidity event strategies
  4. Concentrated and restricted stock management
  5. Customized lending and banking services from Bank of America, N.A
  6. Cash flow analysis and budgeting
  7. Philanthropy
  8. Access to family office governance and structure services

For Institutional clients:
  1. 401(k) plan design
  2. Investment analysis and selection
  3. Employee education
  4. Access to Fiduciary services 



*Trust, fiduciary, and investment management services are provided by Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC, and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”), and its agents

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.

Technology Entrepreneur

As a technology entrepreneur, you focus relentlessly on what’s next. Yet as you look ahead to each new venture or cutting-edge innovation, it’s important to maintain the financial foundation that helps power your success and helps you take advantage of potential opportunities as they arise. We have experience helping entrepreneurs and business owners balance their personal lives with their life’s work. We understand the challenges you face every day, whether managing your newly achieved success or gaining access to the liquidity you need as seed capital or for personal expenses. We are dedicated in providing the experience and resources to help support your ongoing success.

Foundations and Endowments

An investment portfolio tailored to your needs is crucial to advancing your organization’s mission and carrying on its important work. We have extensive experience working with endowments and foundations and have a keen understanding of the requirements and responsibilities of board and committee members for investment management and financial oversight. The strategies we construct are carefully designed to help promote stability, efficiency and growth under a variety of market conditions. We also offer advice on board governance and reporting, and help in meeting regulatory and operating challenges. We provide access to the customized services your organization needs with discretion and skill.

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.

Private Equity and Hedge Fund Principals

Your investment expertise as a hedge fund or private equity principal has likely resulted in substantial personal success. We have experience working with a select group of individuals in your industry. Drawing on our extensive capabilities and the broad resources of a global institution, we work to help you coordinate and manage your finances with the aim of simplifying the complexities of your financial life, including wealth transfer advice and guidance from Merrill and access to the banking convenience of Bank of America for your banking, lending and trust needs. We also provide access to Bank of America for your working capital needs in support of the day-to-day needs of your business.

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.

Women

As a woman, you are well aware of how inaccurate stereotypes about gender and money can be. Beyond some specific challenges — for example, planning for the statistical probability of outliving a spouse — managing your finances means avoiding preconceived assumptions while gaining a full understanding of who you are as an investor and what you want to achieve for your career, your family and your legacy. Merrill Private Wealth Management works with a select group of wealthy individuals and families to help them pursue the goals that matter most to them. We strive to get to know our clients on a personal level so we can offer boutique-like services and the resources of a global firm to create financial strategies specifically for their life and needs.

International capabilities

For individuals and families with multinational wealth, Merrill Private Wealth Management offers access to a combination of personalized service and the broad resources of a global enterprise. Working with a select number of clients, we take the time to get to know your specific objectives, with cultural sensitivity and understanding that comes from serving people from a range of backgrounds and nationalities. Then, we offer customized financial strategies designed specifically for your life and legacy, with access to the investment insights and U.S. based investment platform of Merrill and banking convenience of Bank of America.

Nonprofit organizations

Your passion drives your organization’s mission, and you depend on an investment portfolio and an effective staff to carry on its important work. As private wealth advisors with Merrill Private Wealth Management, we have experience working with nonprofit organizations. We possess a keen understanding of the challenges you face, including maintaining operational efficiency and productivity through uneven market circumstances, growing competition for donations, and increased fiduciary requirements. Drawing on our extensive capabilities to help you fulfill your organization’s mission, we can provide access to the customized services your organization needs with discretion and skill, such as strategic planning, portfolio management, administrative and board support, and advisory solutions.

Professional Athletes

As a professional athlete, you understand how grit and determination have helped you succeed in a challenging environment, as well as the unique financial needs that come with your success. At Merrill Private Wealth Management, we are focused on helping you enjoy the lifestyle you have worked so hard to achieve while striving for the financial future you want for yourself and your family. Drawing on our extensive capabilities and the broad resources of a global institution, we offer financial strategies designed to help simplify the complexities of your financial life and build the legacy you envision.

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.

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.