Team Name: Merritt Point Wealth Advisors
Firm: Wells Fargo Advisors
Senior Members: Jason Andrews, Beth Cutler, Ross Bauer
Location: Old Greenwich, CT
Team Custodied Assets: $1.7 billion
Background: A self-described “numbers guy,” Jason Andrews studied accounting and finance at Southern New Hampshire University before starting his career at PaineWebber (later acquired by UBS) in 1999. He says he built an early private-client business the old-fashioned way: Cold calling. In October 2000 he began partnering with other brokers. In 2008, Andrews and his partners moved their book to Wachovia—just as the financial crisis was reshaping the industry. “That weekend…Wachovia actually went bankrupt,” he recalls. After a decade at Wells Fargo, which purchased Wachovia, the team moved in January 2019 to Wells Fargo’s independent arm, FiNet, with five people. Today, Merritt Point Wealth Advisors is based in Old Greenwich, Connecticut and has expanded to 35 team members, including 16 advisors, with offices in Manhattan, Greenwich, Westport and two locations in Texas.
Client Relationships: Merritt Point advises roughly 1,250 households, many are business owners. Andrews says the large scope largely reflects the team’s structure: Many advisors run their own practices within the broader platform, each with a distinct specialization. The firm leans heavily on digital communication and education. Merritt Point publishes quarterly newsletters with advisor-written market commentary and regular updates from Andrews, and it runs frequent Zoom-based events along with live sessions on topics ranging from market conditions and estate planning to next-generation planning and college savings. Centers of influence are a key channel, he adds, with CPAs, estate attorneys and outside managers often participating in presentations.
Competitive Edge:Two words anchor the firm’s culture: “family” and “flexibility.” The flexibility shows up structurally through two affiliation options. In a “full affiliation,” an advisor can join the platform with a wirehouse-style grid payout while Merritt Point provides the infrastructure—marketing, technology, human resources and operational support. In an “affiliation light” model, an advisor can run more independently while offloading administrative and oversight burdens such as compliance and technology.
Investment Philosophy: Because advisors run their own show, Andrews is careful not to present the team as having a single cookie-cutter approach. “We wanted to give advisors access to a wirehouse-style platform, but on the independent side,” he says. “Everyone has their own specialty, and the hard part is balancing those specialties.” Some advisors do use models, however, and the team shares market views internally, but portfolio construction varies by advisor and client. Broadly, the firm emphasizes diversification across asset classes and geographies—domestic and international equities and fixed income—supplemented with hedging. “We’re not trying to beat an index by 10 or 12 percent—our focus is diversification and long-term planning,” says Andrews. Depending on client needs, portfolios may include alternatives and managed-futures exposure, alongside ETFs and individual securities; Andrews notes that individual fixed income remains a meaningful allocation for many clients.
Best Advice: Andrews’ guidance to clients is twofold: “Stay the course and try not to panic,” he says. “We’re not trying to time the market—we’re trying to keep clients invested.” But he adds a crucial qualifier: “When your head’s hitting the pillow at night and you’re not able to sleep and you’re worried, you have to tell me.” That communication, he says, is often the clearest read on true risk tolerance—and it doesn’t have to mean drastic action.
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