Welcome

As Merrill advisors, the focus in working with you is to develop a customized financial approach for you. Our planning process places you at the center of attention, not the market. Working with us means you have a caring advisor helping you pursue your goals. The team is committed to understanding your unique concerns, priorities, and financial resources. We will meet with you, as needed, to sort through your financial complexities, measuring progress against goals, not just market benchmarks.

Philosophy

You live in a world that’s constantly changing. Markets can fluctuate frequently. Potential investment opportunities can arise daily. Regulations are enacted or amended. That’s why understanding you and your situation is the best place to start helping you plan your financial future: where you are today, where you want to be tomorrow, and what you want to accomplish along the way. By understanding you and your priorities, we can more effectively provide you with the experience and resources needed to help you build a personalized plan that is rooted in the unique complexities of your life.

Approach

Working with us means working with advisors truly dedicated to helping you pursue your goals. The approach is simple, transparent and supported by thoughtful investment guidance aligned to the goals that matter most to you.

The value of the relationship with you includes:

• helping you make informed decisions
• recognizing your life priorities and goals
• understanding your investment style
• helping you prioritize and pursue goals
• being transparent by making possibilities, fees and risks clear
• taking steps to help you preserve income during a life challenge
• educating the younger generation about investments and the markets

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.

Capabilities

Years of experience working with clients through multiple market fluctuations have given us insight into how we may best help you pursue your goals. Working collaboratively, we can develop a personalized investment strategy specifically designed to pursue your lifestyle goals, no matter the financial environment. Your objectives, time horizon, liquidity needs, investment style and, perhaps most importantly, your sensitivity to risk will be taken into account. This can help ensure your financial strategy is aligned to what matters most to you.

Focus On Individuals, Families and Small Businesses

We 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.