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Jessica Zhou is a Senior Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and holds the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, CRPC and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor, CPFA designations. She strives to provide a premier level of wealth management and investment services to affluent and high-net-worth clients.

Jessica is a specially qualified Senior Portfolio Advisor who, in addition to providing traditional advice and guidance, can draw from her experience to help clients pursue their objectives by building and managing custom investment strategies, selecting from a wide range of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management model portfolios and third-party investment strategies. When servicing clients through the firm’s Investment Advisory Program, a Senior Portfolio Advisor may manage those strategies on a discretionary basis. Jessica is committed to keeping the client’s best interest in mind while offering customized financial recommendations designed to help her clients reach their goals. She begins her engagement by gaining a deep understanding of the client’s priories, concerns and aspirations. She will then provide clients with sophisticated, robust and thoughtful strategies to help them reach their goals. Specifically, Jessica works with her clients in the following key areas:

• Investment management: traditional and alternative investments*
• Retirement Planning (incl. 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, employee benefits, executive benefits & etc.)
• Trust & estate and wealth transfer planning services
• Credit and lending services through Bank of America, N.A.
• Insurance planning
• Education Planning

Jessica Zhou started her career in the financial industry in 2001. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in 2010, Jessica had worked with Citigroup Global Wealth Management and American Express Financial Advisors. She obtained her MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, concentrating on corporate finance and strategic planning. She has a BA degree in international economics from Shanghai International Studies University.

Jessica also has extensive working experiences in Asia. She worked at McKinsey & Co management consulting firm for 7 years in their Shanghai and Hong Kong offices. Besides English, she is fluent in speaking and writing Mandarin. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys reading novels, traveling to the other parts of the world, exploring culinary delights and practicing hot yoga occasionally.  Jessica and her family live in Irvine, CA.
 
 
 
*Some or all alternative investment programs may not be in the best interest of certain investors. No assurance can be given that any alternative investment’s investment objectives will be achieved. 

Client Commitment

At Merrill, we believe that wealth isn't just about the performance of your portfolio—it is about how you live your life and the personally meaningful goals you want to achieve. This could be saving for retirement, planning for a college education, saving for a second home, caring for a family member or starting a business. Our advisors draw upon the investment insights of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management thought leaders and can offer access to Bank of America's banking products and services to help unlock opportunities tailored to clients' needs. Starting with your life priorities as a foundation, your Merrill advisor can recommend a wide variety of financial strategies to help you pursue your goals, assist in tracking progress and make adjustments along the way, putting you—not the market—at the center of all we do. 

*Merrill Life Agency's California License Number 0522776

  • LANGUAGES

    English & Chinese

  • EDUCATION

    University of Illinois System

Professional Staff

Supported by the global resources of Merrill, my team is comprised of talented and experienced individuals committed to building strong client relationships based on trust and personalized service.

Additional Resources

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

Sara Burns

Wealth Strategies Advisor

Bank of America, N.A.

Where do we begin? It starts with you.

At Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, your financial advisor focuses on the things you care about most- family, goals and priorities - even as they change over the years.

Understanding Your Life

Approach

Every relationship begins with a conversation, helping you identify and prioritize which goals matter most to you. Whether it's transferring wealth to the next generation, customizing your financial approach to help you pursue your passions, or providing advice and guidance to help you stay informed, I start by listening to learn more about you and your family.

Capabilities

Merrill’s process is designed to help deliver a customized, comprehensive experience to assist you not only in wealth accumulation and preservation, but in areas that go beyond investments. Providing you with access to the investment insights of Merrill, trust and fiduciary services from Bank of America Private Bank, and the banking and lending solutions of Bank of America offers a way to help you manage all of the pieces of your financial life. Working one-on-one with a Merrill advisor means you have a single point of contact to help you with potential strategies for transferring wealth to the younger generation.

Focus On Individuals, Families and Small Businesses

I believe that financial success can be achieved when you’re able to make investment-related decisions and trade-offs that can help you reach personally meaningful goals. Whether you’re planning your retirement, saving to buy a home or funding a child’s education, the process begins by getting to know you and how you feel about the following:

  • Health: Managing healthcare expenses, now and in the future
  • Home: Upsizing, downsizing, remodeling or buying a vacation home
  • Family: Taking care of your family and other people in your life
  • Leisure: Spending your free time in meaningful ways
  • Giving: Volunteering, mentoring others and giving to charities
  • Work: Working in retirement, selling or starting a business
  • Finance: Bringing it all together and defining your financial goals

Success will be measured by the amount of progress you are making toward reaching your goals, making thoughtfully considered adjustments as events and conditions warrant.

This material should be regarded as general or educational information on healthcare or Social Security considerations and is not intended to provide specific healthcare or social security advice. If you have questions regarding your particular situation, please contact your legal or tax advisor.

Your approach to investing

Drawing upon research in the field of behavioral finance, Merrill developed the Investment Personality Assessment to help us get to know you better as an investor and potentially help you refine your own investing preferences. By gaining a deeper understanding of how you think and feel about investing through this assessment, we can customize the financial approach we develop together to help you pursue what matters most to you. Our Investment Personality Assessment is one of the ways to help us get to know you - to understand your goals and priorities. These questions will help us provide you with additional insights and resources.

Understanding your goals and priorities

Your life and goals change. We have tools to help you keep track of these changes so they can be reflected in your financial approach.

Philosophy

I believe the best financial approach is the one that helps you pursue your goals. That's why, from the start, we talk about your aspirations and encourage you to ask questions about issues that matter most to you. Calculating how to manage future health care expenses? College on the horizon? Considering the sale of a business or purchase of a home? Preparing to pass your wealth to future generations? It all starts with a plan intended to help you manage, grow, and preserve your wealth today, while also considering the impact it can have for years to come. With access to the investment insights of Merrill and banking solutions from Bank of America, I will work with you to develop an approach designed to help address your financial needs.

Welcome

My mission, first and foremost, is to understand you and what matters most to you. Armed with that information I can ask thoughtful questions -- listening carefully, then understanding in detail where your wealth stands today and where you’d like it to be tomorrow. I help you design and implement a personalized plan intended to help you and your family pursue financial goals while helping manage investment risk. My approach is to focus on potential solutions that can help turn goals into reality.

Staying on Track

We understand that both your life and the financial markets can change over time. By checking in to discuss changes in your life and revisiting your financial approach, our goal is to help you stay on track to achieve what's most important to you.



Reviews to help you
stay on track

We’ll meet with you to review your goals and the progress you’ve made toward reaching them. We’ll also discuss any adjustments needed to your financial approach to help you stay on course.



    Changes in your life
    and to your goals

    Your life and goals change. As these changes occur, we can update your approach to reflect them.

    #DigitalMerrill

    MyMerrill is your online destination for access to your financial information, secure communications, and a robust offering of tools and capabilities.

    Your advisor is a click away within our site or mobile apps

    You can manage account security with our customizable security capabilities such as touch ID, one time passcode, and other security features

    Access to your complete financial life is available with My Financial Picture, Merrill’s asset aggregation tool

      Let’s Have a Conversation

      Helping you reach your goals starts with getting to know you personally. Through understanding what matters most to you, together I can help you create a financial approach that reflects your personality. Only then can I offer an approach that is built around your life priorities and the advice you need to help you address fluctuations in the market and changes in your life. Let’s work together to help you achieve your goals.

      Why Merrill?

      As Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisors, we will sort through the financial complexities of your life, helping you build a customized investment approach to address your needs and pursue your goals.


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      We put you first, every day.
      Learn more about the dedicated one-on-one relationship you can have with a Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisor.

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      Transcript of Video 

      No question too big or moment too small
      For every question you have, every decision you make and every answer you need, we are with you to listen and help guide you along the many paths your life can take. Watch this video to see some questions we can address together.


      The Power of the Right Advisor®
      Working with a dedicated Merrill advisor means you get personalized investment strategies from Merrill plus access to comprehensive financial solutions only Bank of America can deliver.

      Personalized advice from a dedicated financial advisor.

      We get to know you and your family, your financial situation and what matters most to you.

      A comprehensive approach, built around your life’s priorities.

      Drawing from our experience and the best thinking of Merrill, together we will design an approach that reflects your unique needs, priorities and financial situation.

      Adjusting your investment approach as your life and the markets change.

      We will work to help you stay on track, regardless of what the markets are doing.