Independent, general estate planning guidance financial advisors in Woodbury, 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 protect your family and minimize taxes after you pass away. Without clear guidance, you might overlook how small changes in your estate's value can trigger large tax bills due to the estate tax cliff.

  • Tax cliff awareness. Confirm the advisor understands how estate values just above exemption limits can lead to unexpectedly high taxes.
  • Will and trust integration. Ask how they coordinate wills and trusts to ensure your wishes are carried out smoothly.
  • Asset protection strategies. Look for advice on shielding your estate from creditors and unnecessary taxes.
  • Independent perspective. These advisors operate without firm constraints, which can mean more flexible planning options tailored to your situation.

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

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Robert C

Series 63, Series 66

Woodbury, NY

Kestra Advisory

Robert Calabretta is a financial advisor at Kestra Advisory with eight years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and previously worked at Waypoint Capital Management for 21 years. He is also the Chief Investment Officer of Coastline Wealth Management, where he advises clients on investment matters. Kestra Advisory Services provides investment advisory and retirement-plan consulting to a broad mix of institutional and individual clients, offering services such as plan design, fiduciary consulting, and employee education. The firm manages approximately $79.8 billion in assets and serves large institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds.

Retirement plans for business owners (SEP, solo 401k) Business exit / sale strategy Annuities Wealth management Founder/Business Owner Executive
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Thomas S

Series 66

Woodbury, NY

J.P. Morgan Securities

Thomas Schilling is a financial advisor at J.P. Morgan Securities with two years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at Morgan Stanley and Fidelity Investments. Outside of finance, he has worked in various service and business roles, including at Fedex and in the hospitality and pool cleaning industries. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC provides investment consulting and advisory services primarily to institutional clients and retirement plan sponsors through its Institutional Consulting Services program, combining quantitative asset-allocation modeling with centralized due diligence and applying an ESG eligibility framework in its recommendations.

Wealth management Executive Founder/Business Owner
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Cole B

Series 63, Series 66

Melville, NY

Merrill

Cole Block is a Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. In this role, he provides financial planning and investment advisory services to clients. He holds the professional designations of Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC) and Personal Investment Advisor (PIA). Cole earned his Bachelor's Degree from Syracuse University. His professional focus includes retirement planning and personal investment advisory services.

General retirement planning Retirement income strategy Income planning Financial Professional
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Lawrence A

Series 63, Series 65

Woodbury, NY

SA Asset Management, Inc.

Lawrence Anderson is a financial advisor at SA Asset Management, Inc. in Woodbury, NY, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses with five years of industry experience. He has been with SA Asset Management since 2003. The firm provides fee-based financial planning and consulting services primarily to individual clients, including high-net-worth households, delivering written financial plans and coordinating ongoing advisory services. SA Asset Management works with third-party investment managers for portfolio management and is affiliated with a CPA firm that offers tax and accounting services to clients.

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Joseph S

Series 66

Woodbury, NY

Cetera

Joseph Sabia is a financial advisor with Cetera and holds the Series 66 designation. He has two years of industry experience and has worked at firms including Ameriprise and Northwestern Mutual. He is also involved with Stefans Associates and The Stefans Group, where he assists in investment, tax, legal practices, and business marketing. Cetera Investment Advisers LLC serves a broad client base including individuals, retirement plans, corporate, charitable, and institutional accounts. The firm offers diverse portfolio management and planning services through a multi-manager platform, with over 10,000 advisors and more than $256 billion in assets under management.

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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