Top Wealth + Best-in-State · rank 15 · New York, New York · listed firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Wealth Management (high)
- “Currently employed by and registered with the following Firm(s): IA MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED 225 LIBERTY ST NEW YORK, NY 10281 CRD# 7691” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “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)
- “B MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED 225 LIBERTY ST NEW YORK, NY 10281 CRD# 7691 Registered with this firm since: 01/19/1980” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — The Waldele Group (high)
- “The Waldele Group - Financial Advisors in New York, NY 10281 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Team size — 12 (medium)
- “Robert J Waldele (Managing Director, International Wealth Advisor)” — firm_official
- CRD — 703591 (high)
- “Robert JOSEPH Waldele CRD# 703591” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 46 (high)
- “Registered with this firm since: 01/19/1980” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Designations — — (medium)
- “Robert J Waldele (Managing Director, International Wealth Advisor)” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 6400 (high)
- “"Team Assets (Custodied)":"$6.4B"” — forbes_shook
- “We're privileged to advise and oversee approximately $7 billion (as of 05/18/2026)” — firm_official
- Account minimum ($M) — 5 (high)
- “Minimum Account Size for New Business: $5M” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 75 (high)
- “Typical Net Worth of Relationships: $25-125M” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — multigenerational ultra-high-net-worth families; corporate executives and hedge fund/private equity managers, including international clients (high)
- “We build long-term relationships grounded in caring and trust, helping multiple generations of families distill the complexities of significant wealth.” — firm_official
- “corporate executives as well as hedge fund and private equity managers” — professional_press
- Custodians — gap: not_applicable
- Fee model — fee_plus_commission (medium)
- “IA MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED ... B MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
Positioning & marketing
- Website url — https://fa.ml.com/new-york/new-york/thewaldelegroup/ (high)
- “The Waldele Group - Financial Advisors in New York, NY 10281 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Value proposition (verbatim) — We build long-term relationships grounded in caring and trust, helping multiple generations of families distill the complexities of significant wealth. (high)
- “We build long-term relationships grounded in caring and trust, helping multiple generations of families distill the complexities of significant wealth.” — firm_official
- Differentiators — Team culture producing customization, continuity, and committed service, Multigenerational family relationships grounded in caring and trust, Who we are to clients, not just what we know or do, Homegrown team trained personally by Robert Waldele, International wealth advisory capability with multilingual advisors (high)
- “Our team culture creates a different kind of client experience, marked by customization, continuity, and committed service.” — firm_official
- “It's not just what we know or what we do, it's who we are to our clients that makes working with our team an unparalleled experience.” — firm_official
- Content marketing — occasional (medium)
- “Shifting gears: New drivers of potential market expansion” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “The Waldele Group - Financial Advisors in New York, NY 10281 | Merrill” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (medium)
- “Robert 'Bob' Waldele is a native of New Jersey who majored in history at Lafayette College and moved to New York to take a job at Merrill in fixed income marketing.” — professional_press
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-waldele-079156163/ (medium)
- “Robert J. Waldele - Wealth Management Advisor, Managing Director - Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — linkedin_active (low)
- “Robert J. Waldele - Wealth Management Advisor, Managing Director - Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Press awards — Barron's Top 100 Financial Advisors (2011-2017), Barron's Top 1,200 Financial Advisors (2014-2025), Barron's Top 1,500 Financial Advisors (2026), Barron's Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams (2024-2026), Forbes profile feature: 'One Size Fits One' When It Comes To Clients (2024) (high)
- “Barron's "Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams" (2024-2026)” — firm_official
- “‘One Size Fits One' When It Comes To Clients, Says This $5 Billion Merrill Advisor” — professional_press
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “No distinct "team logo" image URLs were found in img src or source tags. The images displayed are profile photos of individual team members” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template: navy and neutral grey palette, clean corporate sans-serif, formal individual headshots. No team-specific mark or independent visual identity. (high)
- “Color Palette: Professional financial services aesthetic with neutral grays and navy; Merrill Lynch branding dominates” — firm_official