Independent, general estate planning guidance financial advisors in Buffalo, NY

The right financial advisor for you depends on how you weigh location, expertise, experience, the clients they typically serve, and how they work with you.

You need an estate planning advisor when you're organizing your assets to pass on smoothly after your death or planning for potential estate taxes. Without focused guidance, you might overlook how small changes in your estate's value can trigger large tax bills due to exemption thresholds.

  • Tax cliff awareness. Confirm the advisor understands how estate tax exemptions work and can help you avoid sudden tax jumps.
  • Document coordination. Ask how they ensure your wills, trusts, and powers of attorney work together without conflicts.
  • Asset protection strategies. Look for advisors who discuss ways to shield your estate from unnecessary claims or taxes.
  • Independent advice. These advisors operate without firm constraints, which can mean more flexible planning options tailored to your needs.

Here are top matches to get you started. Review each profile to compare experience, credentials, and approach.

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Bruce S

ChFC®, Series 63, Series 65

Buffalo, NY

LPL Financial

Bruce Supernault is a financial advisor at LPL Financial with 41 years of industry experience. He holds the ChFC® designation along with Series 63 and Series 65 licenses. Prior to joining LPL Financial in 2025, he worked at Cadaret, Grant & Co., Inc., Prudential Insurance Company of America, Pruco Securities, LLC, MML Investors Services Inc, and Mass Mutual Life. His outside activities include serving as a notary public in Buffalo, NY. LPL Financial is a national broker-dealer and SEC-registered investment adviser that provides advisory and brokerage services through a large network of investment adviser representatives. The firm serves individuals, retirement plan participants, banks, trust companies, and institutions, offering financial planning, model portfolios, third-party asset management, and various institutional platforms.

Wealth management Retirement income strategy College savings (529s, UTMA, etc.) Tax-loss harvesting Annuities Retired Founder/Business Owner Executive
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Anna P

Series 65, Series 66

Buffalo, NY

Collins Advisors, LLC

Anna Pujolas is a financial advisor at Collins Advisors, LLC in Buffalo, NY, holding Series 65 and Series 66 licenses with 22 years of industry experience. Her prior roles include positions at Wells Fargo Clearing Services and HSBC Bank USA. Collins Advisors provides investment advisory and retirement plan consulting services to individuals, trusts, pension and profit-sharing plans, and businesses. The firm combines multiple analytic methods and a wide range of investment instruments to deliver portfolio management and employer retirement plan consulting through a small team of two advisors managing approximately $176 million.

Passive / index investing Active portfolio management
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Patricia H

CFP®, Series 63, Series 65

Buffalo, NY

Ameriprise

Patricia Hudson is a CFP® credentialed financial advisor with 30 years of industry experience. She is currently with Ameriprise, where she has worked for one year, following five years at LPL Financial and 18 years at M&T Securities. Ameriprise Financial Services is a large, diversified advisory firm serving individual and institutional clients. The firm offers a specialized Premier Retirement Income service focused on retirement-income planning through written Recommendation Reports and ongoing advice, utilizing proprietary research and algorithmic tools.

Retirement income strategy Income planning Social Security optimization Retirement withdrawal strategies Approaching retirement
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Braden S

Series 65

Buffalo, NY

Capital Insights Group of WNY, LLC

Braden Semlitsch is a financial advisor at Capital Insights Group of WNY, LLC, holding a Series 65 credential with one year of industry experience. Prior to his advisory role, he was involved with Nottinghill Wedding Venue and Manny's Ace Hardware. Capital Insights Group of WNY, LLC provides fiduciary financial planning and investment management to a range of clients, including individuals, families, and charitable organizations. The firm employs a combination of fundamental, qualitative, and quantitative analysis, offering both passive and active investment strategies alongside educational seminars and workshops.

Income planning General estate planning guidance Long-term care insurance Disability insurance Annuities
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Douglas S

Series 66

Buffalo, NY

Cetera

Douglas Sosnowski is a financial advisor with Cetera, holding a Series 66 designation and 12 years of industry experience. He has worked at several firms, including Avantax Investment Services, Avantax Advisory Services, and 1st Global Capital Corp. Outside of financial advising, he serves as a director at Brisbane Consulting Group, LLC, a litigation consulting firm. Cetera Investment Advisers LLC is an SEC-registered firm serving a broad client base, including individuals, retirement plans, corporate, charitable, and institutional accounts. The firm offers a range of portfolio management and financial planning services through a multi-manager platform with access to both affiliated and third-party managers.

Wealth management Tax-loss harvesting Retirement plans for business owners (SEP, solo 401k) Business exit / sale strategy Founder/Business Owner Executive
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Scott M

Series 63, Series 65

New York, NY

Morgan Stanley

Scott Mahoney is a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley in New York, NY, holding Series 63 and Series 65 credentials and bringing 34 years of industry experience. He has been with Morgan Stanley since 2009, including roles at Morgan Stanley Private Bank, N.A. Outside of his advisory work, he is involved with Giants Foot Cubed LLC. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is a large SEC-registered investment adviser and broker-dealer that serves both individual and institutional clients. The firm offers a wide range of advisory programs and financial planning services supported by structured planning tools and broad investment resources.

General estate planning guidance
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Kayla S

Series 63, Series 65

Warwick, RI

Mass Mutual Investors Services

Kayla Santos is a financial advisor with Mass Mutual Investors Services in Warwick, RI, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and having 10 years of industry experience. She has worked at Mass Mutual Investors Services since 2017 and previously at MetLife Securities. In addition to her advisory role, Santos is an independent insurance agent, offering life, fixed annuities, disability, long-term care, and health insurance products. Mass Mutual Investors Services, LLC is a broker-dealer and SEC-registered investment adviser that serves individuals, business owners, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and employers. The firm provides financial planning, asset management, wrap and money-manager programs, and educational seminars, structuring engagements as annual collaborative relationships focused on goal analysis and written recommendations.

Divorce financial planning General estate planning guidance Multi-generational wealth transfer Cash flow / budgeting Founder/Business Owner Attorney Executive Married/Couples/Partners Divorced

Gordon B

Series 66

Luling, LA

Edward Jones

Gordon Brown III is a financial advisor at Edward Jones with 18 years of industry experience. He holds the Series 66 designation and has been with Edward Jones since 2008. Edward Jones is a full-service wealth management firm serving over four million individual and institutional clients, with approximately $1.01 trillion in assets under management. The firm offers a range of advisory programs and investment options, operating under a fiduciary standard.

Retirement income strategy General estate planning guidance Multi-generational wealth transfer Wealth management Oil & Gas Engineering Professional
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William S

Series 63, Series 65

College Station, TX

Smith & Wyatt

William Soltow is a financial advisor at Smith & Wyatt with 13 years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has worked previously at CoreCap Advisors and Cambridge Investment Research. Outside of his advisory role, he is the founder of Frontier Wealth Management and works as an independent insurance agent with Goosehead Insurance. Smith & Wyatt serves individuals, including high-net-worth clients, and corporations, managing approximately $207 million for around 724 clients through a team of eight advisors. The firm offers financial planning, discretionary portfolio management, and estate-planning consulting, tailoring investment advice to clients’ objectives and risk tolerances primarily through mutual funds and ETFs.

Government Employee
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Thaddeus P

CFP®, Series 63, Series 65

Grand Rapids, MI

Advance Wealth Management Service, LLC

Thaddeus Phelps is a CFP® professional with 28 years of experience in the financial services industry. He has worked at Advance Wealth Management Service, LLC since 2019 and previously spent 14 years with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. In addition to his advisory work, Phelps owns a tax preparation business and an accounting support service, and he serves in fiduciary roles such as trustee and executor. Advance Wealth Management Service, LLC provides investment advisory and financial planning services primarily to individuals, high-net-worth clients, trusts, estates, and business entities. The firm offers discretionary investment management through a wrap asset management program and emphasizes an individualized approach with asset allocation supported by fundamental, sector, and technical analysis, including risk management strategies such as put options and conservative cash instruments.

College savings (529s, UTMA, etc.) Charitable giving & philanthropy General estate planning guidance General tax planning Options & derivatives strategies
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Jared F

Series 65

Huntington Beach, CA

Northwest Asset Management

Jared Fruth is a financial advisor at Northwest Asset Management with four years of industry experience. He holds a Series 65 designation and previously worked at Securities America, Inc., KMS Financial Services, Inc., Oppenheimer Funds, and John Paul Mitchell Systems. Northwest Asset Management is a registered investment adviser managing approximately $3.6 billion for nearly 3,000 clients, including individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, charities, and corporations. The firm employs a customized, fiduciary approach using Modern Portfolio Theory and strategic asset allocation, combining fundamental and technical analysis to build diversified portfolios with periodic rebalancing.

Retirement income strategy Wealth management Active portfolio management Founder/Business Owner
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Edwina M

Series 65

Cincinnati, OH

Waverly Advisors, LLC

Edwina Martin is a Series 65 licensed financial advisor with two years of industry experience, currently with Waverly Advisors, LLC. She previously worked at 9258 Wealth Management for five years and was employed at Teradata Corp for eleven years. Martin also serves as assistant director of tax planning at 9258 Tax and Planning, a non-investment related business. Waverly Advisors is a multi-team registered investment adviser managing portfolios for individuals, retirement plans, and pooled investment vehicles. The firm combines traditional equity and fixed-income strategies with alternative and private-market allocations, offering a range of investment management and financial planning services.

Private / alternative investments Real estate investing Options & derivatives strategies Tax-loss harvesting Multi-generational wealth transfer Founder/Business Owner Executive
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Craig M

Series 63, Series 65

Columbia, SC

Capital Investment Advisory Services, LLC

Craig Mcdaniel Jr. is a financial advisor with Capital Investment Advisory Services, LLC in Columbia, SC. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has 13 years of industry experience. He has been with Capital Investment Group, Inc. and The McDaniel Corporation since 2012. Outside of his advisory role, he is involved in life insurance sales and serves as an independent agent for annuities and related products. Capital Investment Advisory Services, LLC provides investment advisory and supervisory services to individuals, retirement plans, corporations, trusts, estates, and charitable organizations. The firm offers customized investment management through discretionary mandates, third-party managers, and private-label model portfolios, using a blend of analytical methods with ongoing portfolio monitoring.

Active portfolio management Retirement plans for business owners (SEP, solo 401k) Annuities Options & derivatives strategies Founder/Business Owner Retired
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David H

Series 65

Irvine, CA

Martin Wealth Management, LLC

David Hart is a financial advisor with Martin Wealth Management, LLC in Irvine, CA. He holds a Series 65 credential and has 15 years of industry experience. Hart previously worked with Safeguard Investment Advisory Group and LifePro Asset Management. He is also a Certified Financial Fiduciary and volunteers as an instructor with the Foundation for Fiduciary Education, providing unbiased fiduciary financial education to the public. Martin Wealth Management offers investment advisory services primarily to individuals and high-net-worth clients by co-advising and directing accounts to a third-party money manager, Matson Money. The firm focuses on client onboarding, documentation, and ongoing review of third-party manager accounts rather than direct asset management.

Medicare planning Annuities
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Sarah C

CFP®, Series 63, Series 65

Boston, MA

Santander Securities LLC

Sarah Currier Barrella is a CFP® professional with 26 years of experience in financial advisory services. She currently works at Santander Securities LLC and Santander Bank, NA, having previously held positions at TD Bank and Citizens Securities, Inc. Barrella is based in Boston, MA. Santander Securities LLC serves a broad retail client base with approximately $3.14 billion in regulatory assets under management across 10,800 client relationships. The firm offers investment advisory services, portfolio management through wrap-fee programs, and financial planning, operating both as a registered investment adviser and a FINRA-registered broker-dealer.

ESG / Sustainable investing Tax-loss harvesting General retirement planning Income planning Founder/Business Owner
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