Team Name: Laurella, Roundy & Associates
Firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Senior Members: Carl Laurella, Jeffry Roundy, Randy Joseph, Ashly Laurella Pantone
Location: Salt Late City, Utah
Team Custodied Assets: $1.8 billion
Background: An auditor at Ernst & Young before becoming a financial advisor, Jeffry Roundy joined his team at Merrill in 1995. One of the first wealth teams at the firm, it has grown over the years to now include four senior partners and four support staff. They work with clients from all over the country, including many business owners, a number of institutions and a significant number of high net worth clients and retirees. “Our tagline is that we are a diverse, multigenerational, highly credentialed advisor partnership that delivers the intimacy of a boutique,” says Roundy.
Competitive Edge: “One of the value-adds we try to focus on is education—these days we’re really helping filter the sheer volume of information thrown at our clients all the time,” says Roundy. “A lot of these algorithms and headlines out there today are geared toward eliciting emotion in people and we have to help keep that in check.”
Investment Philosophy/Strategy: “We like to engage with best-in-class asset managers across multiple classes,” says Roundy. He and his team take a tailored approach to client portfolios, using behavior psychology to analyze specific risk tolerances. They also like to use separately managed accounts as well as strategies like tax loss harvesting throughout the year. “In fixed income, we often utilize municipal bonds, where we can customize in order to get things like state tax exemptions, for example,” says Roundy. Many of the team’s clients also have lots of alternative investments in their portfolios, from private equity and private credit to real estate and infrastructure.
Outlook: “There are a number of positive themes, such as resilient corporate earnings, which will be a fundamental driver of markets this year,” says Roundy. He also points out another exciting development: A less narrow market where equity returns won’t be as dominated by the mega-cap tech stocks in the Magnificent 7. “2025 could really bode well for small caps in particular, which are trading at cheap valuations and could see a lot of growth as interest rates fall,” says Roundy. “When you’re in an easing cycle that tends to be positive on the equities side, and we may begin to see the bond market—especially the yield curve—normalize as well.”
Best Advice: “Sift through the noise today because that’s the biggest enemy—it didn’t use to be,” says Roundy. “Clients don’t always know how to contextualize things.”
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