Top Wealth + Best-in-State · rank 4 · West Palm Beach, Florida · listed firm: Merrill Private Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Private Wealth Management (The Olson Group) (high)
- “John Olson is a Managing Director, Private Wealth Manager and the founder of The Olson Group in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.” — firm_official
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — The Olson Group (high)
- “THE OLSON GROUP Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 222 Lakeview Avenue Suite 1300 West Palm Beach FL 33401” — firm_official
- Team size — 9 (medium)
- “Meet Our Team” — firm_official
- CRD — 707984 (high)
- “"ind_source_id":"707984","ind_firstname":"JOHN","ind_middlename":"DAVID","ind_lastname":"OLSON"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 46 (high)
- “Having worked in the financial services industry for more than four decades, John has the acumen, insight, and perspective to navigate diverse market conditions and economic environments.” — firm_official
- Designations — other:PIA (Personal Investment Advisor) (high)
- “"c_designations":[{"abbreviation":"PIA","date":"2014-01-17","name":"Personal Investment Advisor"}]” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 3100 (high)
- “Team Assets (Custodied) $3.1B” — forbes_shook
- Account minimum ($M) — 5 (high)
- “Minimum account size for new business $5M” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 25 (high)
- “Typical Net Worth of Relationships $10-40M” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — multigenerational ultra-high-net-worth families (legacy and family wealth planning) (high)
- “Dividing his time between his two fully staffed offices in New York and Florida helps John support his team’s mission of providing high-touch, in-person service to clients and multiple generations of their families.” — 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/fl/west-palm-beach-fl/theolsongroup (high)
- “THE OLSON GROUP - Financial Advisors in West Palm Beach, FL 33401 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Value proposition (verbatim) — 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 today and where you'd like it to be tomorrow. We help you design and implement a personalized plan intended to help you and your family pursue financial goals while helping manage investment risk. Our approach is to focus on potential solutions that can help turn goals into reality. (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
- Differentiators — boutique private wealth experience backed by a global institution's resources, two fully staffed offices (New York City and Palm Beach) for high-touch in-person service, multigenerational family team — founder works with daughter and son-in-law for continuity, more than four decades of market experience, deep relationships and highly personalized service (high)
- “The objective of our team is to provide a sophisticated, boutique private wealth experience, backed by the intellectual capital and vast resources of a global wealth management institution. The value we provide is built ” — firm_official
- “He believes that building a wealth management team with his daughter, Kyle, and son-in-law, Alex, helps enable the team to maintain continuity and effectively build enduring relationships with their clients.” — 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)
- “THE OLSON GROUP Welcome Recognition About Us Meet Our Team Insights About Merrill” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (medium)
- “John Olson is a Managing Director, Private Wealth Manager and the founder of The Olson Group in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida. Prior to joining Merrill in 1980, he spent three years in the audit and tax departmen” — firm_official
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-olson-61aab074/ (medium)
- “John Olson - Merrill Private Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — none (low)
- “THE OLSON GROUP Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 222 Lakeview Avenue Suite 1300 West Palm Beach FL 33401 Visit us (212) 303.4010 (212) 303.4010 Contact us” — firm_official
- Press awards — Barron's "Hall of Fame", 2019, Barron's "Top 100 Financial Advisors", 2005-2018, Barron's "Top 1,200 Financial Advisors", 2014-2025, Barron's "Top 1,500 Financial Advisors", 2026, Palm Beach Civic Association member (high)
- “Barron's "Hall of Fame", 2019 (Published throughout 2019. Rankings based on data current list.) Barron’s “Top 1,500 Financial Advisors”, 2026 (Published on March 20, 2026. Rankings based on data as of September 30, 2025.” — firm_official
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “THE OLSON GROUP Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 222 Lakeview Avenue Suite 1300 West Palm Beach FL 33401” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template: white ground, navy and slate text, sans-serif type, no team mark. Grayscale headshots plus stock lifestyle photography; team name set as plain uppercase type. (high)
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