Thomas R Donahue, CPWA, CFP, CIMA


Senior Financial Advisor
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Merrill Lynch
Wealth Management

Understanding your life priorities is an important part of how I work with the clients I serve. It’s not just about markets and returns, it’s about what matters most to you. I welcome the opportunity to show you how we can work together to create a financial approach designed around you, your goals and your aspirations.

Profile

Tom has been in the financial services industry for more than 30 years and joined Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in 2015. During his career he has worked with executives of both middle market and early stage entrepreneurial companies to help them achieve business success. Now, at Merrill, Tom focuses on helping individuals realize their personal financial goals. Tom brings a thorough understanding of the challenges a professional experiences from internal and external constituencies (competitors, clients, customers, or Board members/regulators). Understandably, managing a business or career takes priority over constructing a family wealth strategy, but a Merrill advisor can provide support to satisfy that essential requirement. Tom can bring personalized attention to develop customized recommendations to pursue their objectives.

Tom will work with the client to identify their primary goals and to understand the specific risks that need to be considered. Tom can then utilize the extensive resources of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management to develop an appropriate strategy to help achieve retirement, education, philanthropic or wealth transfer objectives. With Tom’s assistance, Merrill clients take advantage of the investment insights of the firm, and its financial products recommendation including fully vetted third party managers. Furthermore, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management can satisfy a client’s personal insurance requirements, and Merrill’s partners, Bank of America Private Bank and Bank of America, can be harnessed for trust, estate planning services, banking and credit needs.

Tom is a graduate of Georgetown University with a degree in Economics and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After initially working at Chase Manhattan, Tom’s career has involved investing across many private equity sectors from large buyouts, middle market leveraged buildups, emerging market PE and venture capital. Tom sat on numerous Boards where he focused on growth, financial structure, acquisitions and the divestiture of portfolio companies. His successful exits included the public markets, financial acquirers and large U.S. corporations.

In addition to the Wharton MBA, Tom has earned the prestigious CPWA® and CIMA® designations. He has the skills and experience to help identify and analyze challenges high-net-worth individuals face, and focus on developing specific strategies to minimize taxes, monetize and preserve assets, maximize growth, and transfer wealth. He will work to apply advanced investment theory and integrate a complex body of investment knowledge systematically to assist clients in making prudent investment decisions.

Tom lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

_________________________
Investment & Wealth Institute™ (The Institute) is the owner of the certification marks “CIMA®”, “Certified Investment Management Analyst®”, “CPWA®”, and “Certified Private Wealth Advisor®.” Use of CIMA or CPWA signifies that the user has successfully completed The Institute’s initial and ongoing credentialing requirements for certification.

  • EDUCATION

    Georgetown University

    The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

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.

Megan Miller

Associate Investment Advisory Specialist

Merrill

Eli Poupko

Wealth Strategist

Merrill

Peter Hekl

Wealth Strategist

Merrill

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

I begin every relationship 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.

Drawing upon research in the field of behavioral finance, Merrill developed the Investment Personality Assessment to help me get to know you better as an investor and help you refine your investing preferences. Together, I can help customize your investment approach. Using an understanding of your priorities and investment personality as a foundation, I help you access the full breadth of resources from Bank of America’s banking products and services and Merrill’s investment insights to address all aspects of your financial life.

Capabilities

My process is designed to help deliver a customized, consistent experience to assist clients not only in wealth accumulation and preservation, but in areas that go beyond investments. My ability to provide access to the investment insights of Merrill, trust and fiduciary services from Bank of America Private Bank, and the banking convenience and lending solutions of Bank of America offers a way to help clients manage all of the pieces of their financial lives. I view myself as a financial resource, helping clients with potential solutions for transferring wealth to the younger generation.

Trust and fiduciary services are provided by Bank of America Private Bank, a division of Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”).

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. So whether you’re planning your retirement, saving to buy a home or fund a child’s education, I start by getting to know you and how you feel about the following seven life priorities.

  • 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

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. Worried about managing 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? With access to the investment insights of Merrill and the banking convenience of Bank of America, I will work with you to develop an approach designed to help address your financial needs.

Welcome

My mission is to understand you and what matters most to you. To take the time, to ask hard, smart questions and to listen carefully, then to understand, in great detail, exactly where your wealth stands today, and where you’d like it to be tomorrow. I help you design and implement a customized wealth management approach that helps you and your family pursue your personal financial goals while helping manage investment risk. My wealth management approach is about using wealth to 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.

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      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.

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      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 AdvisorTM
      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.