Your life, your values, your dreams

We believe that wealth management is about more than investing your assets. It's an ongoing process to help you realize your most cherished aspirations and enable you to live life to its fullest. Our goal is to help you understand where your money is coming from, where it is going and how to keep it working for you.

A comfortable retirement
Making a smooth transition into retirement takes a great deal of preparation and forethought. Today's increased life expectancies mean that your assets will have to last longer than those of previous generations. We can help you devise strategies designed to preserve your wealth through retirement and maintain it for your heirs.

A lasting legacy
You've worked hard to pursue the life you desire. Now you want to make a difference in the lives of your children and grandchildren and support the causes you believe in. How can you pass on your wealth with the smallest tax liability and greatest benefit to loved ones?

A well-coordinated wealth transfer strategy takes into account what is important to you, whether it is leaving a nest egg for your family, funding charitable interests or easing a business succession. Working closely with your tax advisor and estate planning attorney, as well as access through Bank of America and estate planning services, we can review your current situation, including your wills, trusts and life insurance, and recommend tax minimization strategies to help pass assets down to the next generation or a charity close to your heart. As part of your overall wealth management strategy, we recommend reviewing these documents regularly, or when significant life events occur.

Strategic execution across generations
Quite often, managing clients' wealth involves serving as a bridge between the different generations of their family. We strive to cultivate relationships with clients' children and grandchildren and feel it is important to start having conversations about money management and spending issues at an early age. At your request, we will include your children and grandchildren in our meetings, so that they are already familiar with us when the time comes for them to take charge of their own finances. We also hold seminars to help prepare children to manage their wealth responsibly.

*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.

*Merrill, its affiliates, and financial advisors do not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions.

Extended capabilities, specialized services

The individualized wealth management advice and guidance we offer are aimed at helping you manage, grow, preserve and distribute your wealth. In addition to wealth management strategies, we can assist you with net-worth analysis, statement consolidation, cash-flow budgeting, insurance, risk mitigation and liability management. Our capabilities extend to:

Initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary offerings
We can offer qualified clients the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of IPOs and secondary offerings. Moreover, our team can help clients manage their positions in initial and secondary offerings through a disciplined process involving stop-loss orders and other strategies that clients can draw on.

Concentrated stock positions
Holding a major portion of your portfolio in a single stock, whether accumulated as part of your compensation or as a large inheritance, can present significant challenges. We can offer guidance on monetizing a concentrated position and managing the risk it can present.

Access to banking and lending through Bank of America, N.A.
We can work with and provide access to a Wealth Management Lending Officer who can provide strategic and personalized banking guidance focused on your needs.  Working together, your Financial Advisor team and Lending Officer can draw upon an expansive array of lending solutions designed to fit into your overall financial strategy and help you pursue your financial objectives.  The Wealth Management Lending Officer does not offer investment advice, nor make recommendations on investment products.

Retirement income planning services
Mitzi holds the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor designation. Drawing on a suite of retirement planning software and tools, she can analyze your current retirement contributions and help you determine whether you are on track to retire when you want and in the style you envision. She can assist with 401(k) distribution options and suggest asset allocation adjustments to help provide a predictable income stream once you stop receiving a paycheck. You have choices for what to do with your 401(k) or other type of plan-sponsored accounts. Depending on your financial circumstances, needs and goals, you may choose to rollover to an IRA or convert to a Roth IRA, rollover a 401(k) from a prior employer to a 401(k) at your new employer, take a distribution, or leave the account where it is. Each choice may offer different investment options and services, fees and expenses, withdrawal options, required minimum distributions, tax treatment, and provide different protection from creditors and legal judgments. Additionally, there are limits to how often and when you can rollover your account. These are complex choices and should be considered with care. For those concerned with outliving their assets, we can conduct regular reviews on your portfolios and suggest adjustments as necessary.

*You have choices for what to do with your 401(k) or other type of plan-sponsored accounts. Depending on your financial circumstances, needs and goals, you may choose to rollover to an IRA or convert to a Roth IRA, rollover a 401(k) from a prior employer to a 401(k) at your new employer, take a distribution, or leave the account where it is. Each choice may offer different investment options and services, fees and expenses, withdrawal options, required minimum distributions, tax treatment(particularly with reference to employer stock), and provide different protection from creditors and legal judgments. These are complex choices and should be considered with care. For more information, speak to your Merrill Financial Advisor.

Connecting the pieces of your financial life

Our attention to detail will be evident in every interaction you have with us. Our goal is to build a strategy based on a clear and complete picture of where you are today and where you want to be in the future. This enables us to help you prioritize your goals and examine the trade-offs you may need to make to pursue them.

Listening to your needs
We begin with an open, dynamic and direct dialogue in which we learn from and about you. During our initial meetings we ask you for relevant financial data, assess your risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs and gain an understanding of your financial goals and needs. The more detail we gather at this stage, the better able we will be to deliver genuine added value going forward. We continue to communicate with you throughout the process. In addition to regularly scheduled portfolio reviews, we seek to stay abreast of changes in your life, as well as in the markets and economy, that might require us to adjust your wealth management strategy to the new situation.

Designing personalized strategies
Our wealth management approach looks beyond daily market fluctuations to the big picture. Rather than assessing performance relative to a benchmark such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, we evaluate returns relative to your personal goals, taking into account your risk tolerance, investment objectives, time horizon and liquidity needs as well. We help filter out the noise, remove emotion from the process and to help create portfolios designed to weather economic and market turbulence. We believe that asset allocation is more important than stock selection or market timing. Our aim is to maximize capital appreciation while working to manage downside risk and pursuing a predictable level of income. Leveraging the depth, diversity and flexibility of Merrill's investment platform, we offer strategies from a wide array of third-party providers, giving you access to investment managers both within and outside the firm. Your customized portfolio may include different types of assets and investment vehicles, including cash and exchange-traded and mutual funds, with targeted rates of return that align with your financial strategy and risk tolerance, time horizon and liquidity needs.

The insight you need
Research is at the core of our investment decisions. Our team members examine and analyze major financial issues individually, then come together to make decisions based on their findings. Additionally, we draw on BofA Global Research analysts for insights into trends and events affecting global and local markets that we can translate into actionable ideas and informed investment decisions.

Discretionary portfolio management
Many investors do not have the time or inclination to make the day-to-day decisions necessary to navigate today's fast-moving markets. You can delegate investment management responsibilities for your portfolios to Mitzi Michaelson, meaning she has discretion over certain investment decisions surrounding your financial strategy. Once she has confirmed your goals and life priorities, as well as identified your portfolio investment objective, time horizon, risk factor and liquidity needs, she will recommend targeted asset allocations for your portfolios to help meet your specific investment objectives. Cost is also taken into consideration when making recommendations. To help you track and assess performance, we will regularly review your portfolio with you and you will receive periodic communications including monthly statements, quarterly portfolio summary updates and annual performance reports.

*Any information presented in connection with BofA Global Research is general in nature and is not intended to provide personal investment advice. The information does not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of any specific person who may receive it. Investors should understand that statements regarding future prospects may not be realized. BofA Global Research is research produced by BofA Securities, Inc. (“BofAS”) and/or one or more of its affiliates. BofAS is a registered broker-dealer, Member SIPC, and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. BofA Global Research does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision.

*A Senior Portfolio Advisor can help clients pursue their objectives by managing on a discretionary basis custom investment strategies, selecting from a wide range of Merrill model portfolios and third-party investment strategies.