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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Smith Warren and Associates

Smith Warren and Associates is a leading wealth management team that caters to the needs of ultra-high-net worth clients. Located in Houston, we work with corporate executives, entrepreneurs, business owners, affluent families, and family offices throughout the Southwest who are drawn to our customized approach, in-depth knowledge, and ingrained service ethic. As a 12-person team, we draw upon the talents of many individuals, all focused on the same goal: delivering value to the client. Our team members are distinguished not only by their accolades and training, but also by their decades of real-life wealth management experience. We invite clients to gauge the difference that experience makes.

Estate Planning Services and Wealth Transfer

A well-crafted wealth transfer and estate plan can help you implement your vision for the future and create enduring benefits for the people and causes that matter most to you.

With a deep understanding of your goals and priorities, Smith Warren & Associates, working together with Merrill trust and insurance specialists and your estate planning attorney, can help you identify strategies to:

• Provide for the people and causes that you care about.
• Avoid burdening loved ones in the event of incapacity and after you are gone.
• Preserve assets and see that they are distributed and used in the way you envision.
• Avoid probate and the cost, time and public disclosure associated with it.
• Pass on values to family members.

*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.

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 Competitive Edge

Our team is distinctive in its focus and its depth. We work exclusively with an elite group of clients who encounter opportunities and complexities as a result of substantial wealth. We have built our team to respond to the particular needs of clients, from large-scale issues like portfolio management, tax minimization, and estate planning strategies, to day-to-day issues like bill paying and account organization. We relish the opportunity to streamline clients’ financial lives so that they can focus on the family and business pursuits they find most rewarding. Our wealth management process begins by identifying and understanding client desires and concerns. We then apply the full resources of our team and engage the global capabilities of Merrill Lynch to advance client interests and pursue client goals.

Our Emphasis on Risk Management

Having attained exceptional success, clients come to us to preserve and nurture their wealth. Our investment approach places a premium on the management of risk. We believe strongly in the value of diversification, enhanced through the skillful application of investment acumen and sound judgment. Our team has particular depth in investment research and analysis. We supplement the renowned research ability of Merrill Lynch with that of our internal research staff, developing customized investment portfolios that reflect client goals, timelines, lifestyle needs, and risk thresholds. We have guided a number of clients through liquidity events, and have detailed experience in pre-and-post IPO planning, concentrated stock management, and restricted stock management.

Our Offerings

Our team offers a range of strategies and services that address the financial needs and lifestyle demands of affluent clients:

• Asset management

• Alternative investments*

• Executive-suite services (pre-and post-IPO planning; concentrated stock; restricted stock)

• Estate planning strategies

• Tax minimization strategies

• Credit and lending through Bank of America, N.A.

• Investment Banking Resources

• Philanthropy

*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.