Top Wealth + Best-in-State + Barron's 100 · rank 2 · Blue Bell, Pennsylvania · listed firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management (Walters Bailey Associates) (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- “WALTERS BAILEY ASSOCIATES - Financial Advisors in Blue Bell, PA 19422 | Merrill” — 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 d” — firm_official
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — Walters Bailey Associates (high)
- “At Walters Bailey Associates, our mission is to deliver the ultimate financial services experience to clients.” — firm_official
- Team size — 17 (medium)
- “"c_entityTypeCustomField":"TEAM"” — firm_official
- CRD — 4002542 (high)
- “"individualId": 4002542, "firstName": "JOHANNA", "middleName": "LEE", "lastName": "WALTERS", "otherNames": [], "bcScope": "Active", "iaScope": "Active"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 26 (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED | 11/8/1999 - 2/14/2002” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Designations — CFP, other:CLU, other:CPFA, other:PIA (high)
- “c_designations":[{"abbreviation":"CFP","date":"2005-06-06","name":"CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER"},{"abbreviation":"CLU","date":"2007-11-01","name":"Chartered Life Underwriter"},{"abbreviation":"CPFA","date":"2018-07-11","” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 7500 (high)
- “Team Assets (Custodied): $7.5B” — forbes_shook
- Account minimum ($M) — 10 (high)
- “Min Account Size For New Business: $10M” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 17.5 (high)
- “Typical Net Worth Of Relationships: $10-25M” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — multigenerational family wealth, equity compensation, and women and wealth (high)
- “c_clientFocuses":["EQUITY_COMPENSATION_SERVICES","FAMILY_WEALTH_MANAGEMENT_STRATEGIES","SERVICES_FOR_ENDOWMENTS,_FOUNDATIONS,_AND_NON-PROFITS","LEGACY_PLANNING","PERSONAL_RETIREMENT_PLANNING","PHILANTHROPIC_PLANNING","SM” — firm_official
- Custodians — gap: not_applicable
- Fee model — fee_plus_commission (medium)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
Positioning & marketing
- Website url — https://advisor.ml.com/sites/pa/blue-bell-pa/waltersbaileyassociates (high)
- “WALTERS BAILEY ASSOCIATES - Financial Advisors in Blue Bell, PA 19422 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Value proposition (verbatim) — At Walters Bailey Associates, our mission is to deliver the ultimate financial services experience to clients. We cultivate deep, long-lasting relationships by providing exceptional service, customized advice, and a disciplined approach to investing. (high)
- “At Walters Bailey Associates, our mission is to deliver the ultimate financial services experience to clients. We cultivate deep, long-lasting relationships by providing exceptional service, customized advice, and a disc” — firm_official
- Differentiators — Mission to deliver "the ultimate financial services experience", Deep, long-lasting client relationships built on exceptional service, Customized advice with a disciplined approach to investing, Discovery-led planning: understanding "what matters most to you" before recommending, Access to Merrill investing insights plus Bank of America banking capabilities (high)
- “Our mission, first and foremost, is to understand you and what matters most to you. Armed with that information I can ask thoughtful questions -- listening carefully, then understanding in detail where your wealth stands” — firm_official
- “At Walters Bailey Associates, our mission is to deliver the ultimate financial services experience to clients. We cultivate deep, long-lasting relationships by providing exceptional service, customized advice, and a disc” — firm_official
- Content marketing — none (medium)
- “"link":"https://www.ml.com/articles/washington-update.html","title":"Market Briefs"” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “"c_heroBanner":{"cTALink":"https://www.ml.com/articles/2026-mid-year-outlook.html","cTAText":"Watch now"” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (low)
- “Our mission, first and foremost, is to understand you and what matters most to you.” — firm_official
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/johanna-walters-2297792/ (medium)
- “Johanna Walters - Merrill Lynch Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — gap: not_found_after_search
- Press awards — Barron's "Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams", 2021-2026, Barron's "Top 1200 Financial Advisors", 2021-2025, Barron's "Top 100 Women Financial Advisors", 2019-2024, Barron's "Top 100 Private Wealth Management Teams", 2023, Merrill/BofA team recognition: Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams", 2023-2026 (high)
- “"nameOfAwardOrHonor":"Barron’s “Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams”","yearsReceived":"2021-2026"” — firm_official
- “"nameOfAwardOrHonor":"Barron's "Top 1200 Financial Advisors"","yearsReceived":"2021-2025"” — firm_official
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “"c_lineOfBusiness":"MERRILL_LYNCH_WEALTH_MANAGEMENT","c_heroColorScheme":"BLUE"” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Standard Merrill corporate template: blue hero color scheme, clean sans-serif, no team wordmark. Imagery is professional headshots plus Merrill stock lifestyle/marketing photography. (high)
- “"c_heroColorScheme":"BLUE","c_lineOfBusiness":"MERRILL_LYNCH_WEALTH_MANAGEMENT"” — firm_official