Top Wealth + Best-in-State · rank 2 · Chicago, Illinois · listed firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management (Oberlander Timmerwilke Group) (high)
- “Oberlander Timmerwilke Group Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 110 N Wacker Dr Chicago IL 60606” — firm_official
- “Currently employed by and registered with the following firm(s): MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “I can provide access to the investment insights of Merrill and the banking convenience and lending solutions of Bank of America.” — firm_official
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “B MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED Registered with this firm since: 09/26/1978” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — Oberlander Timmerwilke Group (high)
- “Oberlander Timmerwilke Group Barron’s “Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams”, 2024-2025” — firm_official
- Team size — 14 (high)
- “Meet Our Team Sharon Oberlander , CPFA® Managing Director , Wealth Management Advisor 312.696.7620 ... Andy Timmerwilke , CEPA®, CIMA®, CPFA®, CRPC™ ... Thomas Ratos , CFP®, CPFA® ... Annette I Seaberg , CPWA®, CRPC™ ...” — firm_official
- CRD — 853572 (high)
- “SHARON F OBERLANDER CRD# 853572” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 47 (high)
- “B MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED Registered with this firm since: 09/26/1978” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Designations — other:CPFA (high)
- “Sharon Oberlander , CPFA® Managing Director , Wealth Management Advisor” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 2500 (high)
- “"Team Assets (Custodied)":"$2.5B"” — forbes_shook
- Account minimum ($M) — 2.5 (high)
- “"Minimum account size for new business":"$2.5M"” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 10 (high)
- “"Typical Net Worth of Relationships":"$5-15M"” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — multigenerational families and retirement/wealth-transfer planning (medium)
- “Whether it's transferring wealth to the next generation, customizing your financial approach to help you pursue your passions, or providing advice and guidance to help you stay informed, we start by listening to learn mo” — firm_official
- “Working one-on-one with a Merrill advisor means you have a single point of contact to help you with potential strategies for transferring wealth to the younger generation.” — firm_official
- Custodians — gap: not_applicable
- Fee model — fee_plus_commission (medium)
- “This individual is currently registered with 6 SROs and is licensed in 42 U.S. states and territories through his or her employer.” — sec_finra_regulatory
Positioning & marketing
- Website url — https://advisor.ml.com/sites/il/chic-loop-il/oberlander-timmerwilke (high)
- “Oberlander Timmerwilke Group - Financial Advisors in Chicago, IL 60606 | 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. (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 — Goals-first planning driven by client aspirations rather than products, Access to Merrill investment insights plus Bank of America banking and lending, Behavioral-finance Investment Personality Assessment to tailor the approach, Single point of contact connecting clients to trust, mortgage and BofA specialists, Ongoing client education webinars on markets, cybersecurity and lifestyle topics (high)
- “We believe the best financial approach is the one that helps you pursue your goals. That's why, from the start, we talk about your aspirations and encourage you to ask questions about issues that matter most to you.” — firm_official
- “Drawing upon research in the field of behavioral finance, Merrill developed the Investment Personality Assessment to help us get to know you better as an investor and potentially help you refine your own investing prefer” — firm_official
- Content marketing — active (high)
- “Past Events Wednesday, March 11th 2026 | 12:00pm CT Cyber Security: Outsmarting Digital Threats ... Tuesday, May 5th 2026 | 12:00pm CT Small Space, Big Blooms: Spring Container Gardening ... Wednesday, July 22nd 2026 | 1” — firm_official
- “Merrill 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 Tren” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “Welcome Recognition About Us Events Meet Our Team Insights About Merrill” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (low)
- “Sharon Oberlander , CPFA® Managing Director , Wealth Management Advisor” — firm_official
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonoberlander/ (medium)
- “Sharon Oberlander, CPFA® - Merrill Lynch Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — linkedin_active (low)
- “Sharon Oberlander, CPFA® on LinkedIn: I love my work family! Oberlander Timmerwilke group at Merrill. All hard…” — social_or_third_party_db
- Press awards — Barron's "Top 1,500 Financial Advisors", 2015-2026, Barron's "Top 100 Women Financial Advisors", 2006-2025, Barron's "Hall of Fame", 2019, Financial Times "400 Top Financial Advisers", 2020, Barron's "Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams", 2024-2025 (team) (high)
- “Barron's "Top 1,500 Financial Advisors", 2015-2026 ... Barron's "Top 100 Women Financial Advisors", 2006-2025 (Published annually in June. Rankings based on data as of March 31 of current year.) ... Financial Times "400 ” — firm_official
- “Oberlander Timmerwilke Group Barron’s “Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams”, 2024-2025 (Published annually in May. Years pre-dating 2024, published as Barron's "Top 100 Private Wealth Management Teams" list annually ” — firm_official
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (high)
- “Oberlander Timmerwilke Group Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 110 N Wacker Dr Chicago IL 60606” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template: white ground, dark-navy sans-serif type, team wordmark only. Candid team-portrait and lifestyle photography served from dyn.mktgcdn.com; no team-specific palette or mark. (high)
- “<img style="object-position:top;object-fit:cover;max-width:480px;width:100%;aspect-ratio:480 / 480" src="https://dyn.mktgcdn.com/p/Zyly4ggQvrB7KOVNZhiWWBsCpTArrSfc8C9pJPg-odk/width=500,height=500"” — firm_official