Top Wealth + Best-in-State · rank 2 · Bloomfield Hills, Michigan · listed firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Wealth Management (The Stulberg Group) (high)
- “PHILIP MATTHEW APPEL” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (also referred to as "MLPF&S" or "Merrill") makes available certain investment products sponsored, managed, distributed or provided by companies that are affiliates of B” — firm_official
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — The Stulberg Group (high)
- “Phil Appel is the lead advisor on The Stulberg Group and has worked in investment management on the team for over 30 years.” — firm_official
- Team size — 12 (medium)
- “The Stulberg Group leverages its 300+ combined years of experience to manage the finances of wealthy families and institutions throughout the country.” — firm_official
- CRD — 2491254 (high)
- “PHILIP MATTHEW APPEL” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 31 (medium)
- “Prior to his tenure as an advisor here in 1995, Phil worked a number of years in the equity research department at Merrill headquarters” — firm_official
- Designations — other:PIA (Personal Investment Advisor) (high)
- “"c_designations":[{"abbreviation":"PIA","date":"2016-01-13","name":"Personal Investment Advisor"}]” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 3900 (high)
- “Team Assets (Custodied)":"$3.9B” — forbes_shook
- Account minimum ($M) — 1 (high)
- “Minimum Account Size for New Business: $1M” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 10 (high)
- “Typical Net Worth of Relationships: $3-17M” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — wealthy families and institutions; family wealth management strategies, executive/equity compensation, philanthropy (high)
- “The Stulberg Group leverages its 300+ combined years of experience to manage the finances of wealthy families and institutions throughout the country.” — 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/mi/troy-pwm-mi/stulberg-group (high)
- “"name":"The Stulberg Group","telephone":"(248) 645-7272"” — firm_official
- Value proposition (verbatim) — The Stulberg Group leverages its 300+ combined years of experience to manage the finances of wealthy families and institutions throughout the country. Through services we provide, we enable clients to focus on what truly matters to them – the purpose of their wealth. (high)
- “The Stulberg Group leverages its 300+ combined years of experience to manage the finances of wealthy families and institutions throughout the country. Through services we provide, we enable clients to focus on what trul” — firm_official
- Differentiators — 300+ combined years of team experience, Team lineage dating to founding by David Stulberg in the 1950s, Continuity: no senior member has ever left except to retire, Multi-decade top-advisor ranking tradition carried from Robert Stulberg to Phil Appel, Focus on the purpose of wealth rather than products (high)
- “Since the team's founding by David Stulberg in the 1950's, advisors in the group have been recognized as among the best in the industry.” — firm_official
- “The team has a continuity not easily found in the investment world with no single senior member having left to pursue other opportunities other than retirement.” — firm_official
- Content marketing — none (medium)
- “"headline":"Market Briefs","url":"https://www.ml.com/articles/washington-update.html","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Merrill Lynch Wealth Management"}” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “"@type":"ItemList","name":"Insights"” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (medium)
- “Phil Appel is the lead advisor on The Stulberg Group and has worked in investment management on the team for over 30 years.” — firm_official
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-appel-9493264/ (low)
- “Phil Appel - merrill lynch | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — none (low)
- “"emails":["philip_appel@ml.com"]” — firm_official
- Press awards — Barron's "Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams" (2024), Barron's "America's Top 100 Financial Advisors" (2017), Barron's "Top 1,200 Financial Advisors" (2018) (high)
- “"disclosureText":"(Published on May 10, 2024. Rankings based on data as of December 31, 2023.)","nameOfAwardOrHonor":"Barron’s “Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams”","yearsReceived":"2024"” — firm_official
- “Barron's recognized Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisor, Philip Appel, on its 2017 "America's Top 100 Financial Advisors" list.” — general_press
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “"name":"The Stulberg Group","telephone":"(248) 645-7272","image":"https://a.mktgcdn.com/p/8QgPGGbgoOEH-WSSJt-cEllSQST26Kk18-ZZT1JUzWQ/1280x856.jpg"” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template: deep navy (#012169) hero band, white light-weight sans headings, gray (#646464) UI accents, blue (#0052C2) links; imagery is posed team and lifestyle photography, no custom team mark. (high)
- “style="background-color:#012169;color:white"” — firm_official
