Top Wealth + Best-in-State + Barron's 100 · rank 2 · New Canaan, Connecticut · listed firm: Merrill Private Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Private Wealth Management (The Hetherington Group) (high)
- “The Hetherington Group Merrill Private Wealth Management 2 Pine St New Canaan CT 06840” — firm_official
- “"firmName": "MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED", "iaOnly": "N", "registrationBeginDate": "5/22/1986"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “Recipient of Bank of America's David Brady Community Service Award” — forbes_shook
- “2,314 Merrill Advisors Recognized on the 2026 Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisor Lists, more than Any Other Firm” — firm_official
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “"firmName": "MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED", "firmBCScope": "ACTIVE", "firmIAScope": "ACTIVE", "iaSECNumber": "14235", "bdSECNumber": "7221"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — The Hetherington Group (high)
- “We are an 8-person private wealth management team located in New Canaan, Connecticut.” — firm_official
- Team size — 8 (high)
- “We are an 8-person private wealth management team located in New Canaan, Connecticut.” — firm_official
- CRD — 1398331 (high)
- “"individualId": 1398331, "firstName": "BRIAN", "middleName": "JOSEPH", "lastName": "HETHERINGTON", "bcScope": "Active", "iaScope": "Active"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 40 (high)
- “"daysInIndustryCalculatedDate": "8/19/1985"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- “"firmName": "TRAVELERS EQUITIES SALES, INC.", "registrationBeginDate": "8/20/1985", "registrationEndDate": "5/30/1986"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Designations — — (medium)
- “Peter J. Luppino, CPWA® Carissa B. Marz, CPWA® Andrew Starks, CFA, CFP® Cameron Q. Edwards, CFA, CFP®” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 5500 (high)
- “Total Team Assets (Custodied): $5.5B” — forbes_shook
- Account minimum ($M) — 5 (high)
- “Minimum Account Size for New Business: $5M” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 55 (high)
- “Typical Net Worth of Relationships: $10-100M” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — successful business owners/operators and multigenerational ultra-affluent families, with a focus on newly acquired wealth from a business sale or retirement (high)
- “Our team has a specific focus of consulting with successful business owners and operators during their careers.” — firm_official
- “We are experienced in addressing the unique challenges presented by newly acquired wealth from the sale of a business or retirement.” — firm_official
- Custodians — gap: not_applicable
- Fee model — fee_plus_commission (medium)
- “"firmName": "MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED", "iaOnly": "N", "registrationBeginDate": "5/22/1986"” — sec_finra_regulatory
Positioning & marketing
- Website url — https://advisor.ml.com/sites/ct/new-canaan-ct/hetheringtongroup (high)
- “The Hetherington Group - Financial Advisor in New Canaan, CT 06840 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Value proposition (verbatim) — We are a diverse, experienced private wealth management team that helping ultra-high net worth families and exceptional business leaders simplify wealth for lasting impact. We utilize a disciplined process and excellent service to help simplify the complex lives of our clients. (high)
- “We are a diverse, experienced private wealth management team that helping ultra-high net worth families and exceptional business leaders simplify wealth for lasting impact. We utilize a disciplined process and excellent ” — firm_official
- “We offer a limited number of individuals and families boutique-like service, broad global resources and customized financial strategies to help simplify their lives so they can spend more time pursuing what matters most ” — firm_official
- Differentiators — Boutique-like service to a deliberately limited client roster, paired with a global institution's resources, Contrarian value investment discipline driven by capital needs analysis and a business-cycle view, A referral/idea network treated as their core investment edge ('parallel processing power'), Specialist depth in the liquidity-event transition from earned income to living off financial assets, Team-coverage service model: every client associate and relationship manager holds a direct client relationship (high)
- “Our process is driven by a capital needs analysis, a dynamic and informed view of business cycle and a contrarian value investment discipline.” — firm_official
- “We draw heavily on the parallel processing power in this network to improve the quality of our decision making. The power of this network is our most valuable investment advantage.” — firm_official
- Content marketing — none (medium)
- “Shifting gears: New drivers of potential market expansion Watch our latest webcast where expert panelists share ideas that can help you prepare for potential opportunities and risks in the second half of 2026 and beyond.” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “Welcome Recognition Our Approach Meet Our Team Insights About Private Wealth” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (medium)
- “Brian Hetherington is the founder of the Hetherington Group, a leading wealth management team that works with affluent and ultra-affluent families.” — forbes_shook
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-hetherington-8586b955/ (medium)
- “Brian Hetherington - Merrill Private Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — gap: not_found_after_search
- Press awards — Barron's "Top 100 Financial Advisors" (2025, 2010, 2009, 2006), Barron's "Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams" (2021-2026, team), Barron's "Top 1,200 Financial Advisors" — ranked 4th in Connecticut, Bank of America David Brady Community Service Award (high)
- “Barron's "Top 100 Financial Advisors" list (2025, 2010, 2009, 2006)” — forbes_shook
- “Barron's "Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams", 2021-2026 (Published annually in May.” — firm_official
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “The Hetherington Group Merrill Private Wealth Management 2 Pine St New Canaan CT 06840” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template, no team identity: white ground, navy and Merrill-blue accents, clean humanist sans, bull mark in header. Single wide landscape hero photo; standard headshot grid for the team. (high)
