Top Wealth · rank 133 · Bridgewater, New Jersey · listed firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Wealth Management (Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated) (high)
- “"firmName": "MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED", "iaOnly": "N", "registrationBeginDate": "5/23/1989"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- “The Kugel Briegs Group Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 100 Somerset Corp Center Blvd Suite 1000 Bridgewater NJ 08807” — firm_official
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “A Merrill advisor provides access to the investing insights of Merrill and banking capabilities of Bank of America to help you make informed decisions as you pursue your goals.” — firm_official
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “"firmName": "MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED", "firmBCScope": "ACTIVE", "firmIAScope": "ACTIVE", "iaSECNumber": "14235", "iaSECNumberType": "801", "bdSECNumber": "7221"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — The Kugel Briegs Group (high)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group has served the retirement planning and wealth management needs of clients for over 25 years.” — firm_official
- Team size — 9 (high)
- “Meet Our Team Elliott M Kugel , CFP® Managing Director , Senior Relationship Manager … David Briegs , CFP®, CIMA®, CPFA®, CRPC™ … Mark Erikson , CRPC™ … Steven Parente , CRPC™ … Colin Sullivan , CFP®, CRPC™ … Daniel Reno” — firm_official
- CRD — 1814918 (high)
- “"basicInformation": {"individualId": 1814918, "firstName": "David", "middleName": "MICHAEL", "lastName": "Briegs", "otherNames": ["DAVID BRIEGS"], "bcScope": "Active", "iaScope": "Active", "daysInIndustryCalculatedDate"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 37 (high)
- “"daysInIndustryCalculatedDate": "5/22/1989"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Designations — CFP, CIMA, other:CPFA, other:CRPC (high)
- “David Briegs , CFP®, CIMA®, CPFA®, CRPC™ Managing Director , Wealth Management Advisor” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 3200 (high)
- “We serve hundreds of families who have entrusted us with assets of approximately $3.2 Billion (as of June 2026).” — firm_official
- Account minimum ($M) — 1 (high)
- “Minimum Account Size for New Business: $1M” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 50 (high)
- “Typical Net Worth of Relationships: $3-50M” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — retirement planning for multigenerational families (high)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group has served the retirement planning and wealth management needs of clients for over 25 years. We serve hundreds of families who have entrusted us with assets of approximately $3.2 Billion (as of Jun” — firm_official
- Custodians — gap: not_applicable
- Fee model — fee_plus_commission (medium)
- “"currentEmployments": [{"firmId": 7691, "firmName": "MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED", "iaOnly": "N", "registrationBeginDate": "5/23/1989"” — sec_finra_regulatory
Positioning & marketing
- Website url — https://advisor.ml.com/sites/nj/bridgewater-nj/kugelbriegs (high)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group - Financial Advisors in Bridgewater, NJ 08807 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Value proposition (verbatim) — Our group provides the intimacy and personal attention of a small boutique and the global resources of one of the world's largest financial services firms. We are easy to reach and highly responsive when clients need us. Wealth Management isn't merely moving money or chasing temporary gains. It is using wealth to turn goals into reality. (high)
- “Our group provides the intimacy and personal attention of a small boutique and the global resources of one of the world's largest financial services firms. We are easy to reach and highly responsive when clients need us.” — firm_official
- Differentiators — boutique intimacy plus global wirehouse resources, easy to reach and highly responsive, 25+ years serving the same families, discovery-led customized planning before any investment program, one-on-one discovery meetings drawing on the team's analytical depth (high)
- “Our group provides the intimacy and personal attention of a small boutique and the global resources of one of the world's largest financial services firms. We are easy to reach and highly responsive when clients need us.” — firm_official
- “Our purpose, first and foremost, is to understand you. To take the time, to ask hard, smart questions and to listen carefully until it's understood, in great detail, exactly where your wealth stands today.” — firm_official
- Content marketing — occasional (medium)
- “Insights Beyond the page: How a successful writer pursues financial security Four for the Quarter: Top questions investors are asking right now Stay ahead of student scams Inside the American wallet Emerging Trends in Cy” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group Welcome Recognition About Us Meet Our Team Insights About Merrill On this page navigate to...” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (medium)
- “David Briegs Managing Director , Wealth Management Advisor Forbes "America"s Top Wealth Advisors", 2022-2026” — firm_official
- Linkedin url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Social presence — none (low)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 100 Somerset Corp Center Blvd Suite 1000 Bridgewater NJ 08807 Visit us (908) 685.3252 (908) 685.3252 Contact us Learn more about an advisor's background on FINRA's B” — firm_official
- Press awards — #1 in NJ, Barron's Top 1,500 Financial Advisors, 2023-2026, #1 in Northern NJ, Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors, 2023-2026, Barron's Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams, 2024-2026 (team), Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams, 2024-2026 (team) (high)
- “As senior partner of the team, David Briegs was ranked #1 in NJ on the 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 Barron’s “Top 1,500 Financial Advisors” List” — firm_official
- “Barron’s “Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams”, 2024-2026 (Published annually in May. Years pre-dating 2024, published as Barron's "Top 100 Private Wealth Management Teams" list annually March - April.” — firm_official
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 100 Somerset Corp Center Blvd Suite 1000 Bridgewater NJ 08807” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template: navy and white with the team name set as a plain text wordmark, clean corporate sans typography, team and individual headshots plus stock lifestyle and market-commentary imagery. No team-specific mark or palette. (high)
- “The Kugel Briegs Group Welcome Recognition About Us Meet Our Team Insights About Merrill On this page navigate to...” — firm_official