Chapel Hill, NC Office

Cranbrook Wealth Management serves individuals (including high-net-worth clients) and a range of institutional and fiduciary clients, managing approximately $906.8 million for about 250 clients through a small advisory team. The firm offers discretionary investment management as its primary service, alongside integrated financial planning for investment clients and standalone financial planning engagements, plus retirement-plan advice and estate/tax planning support.

Cranbrook begins client relationships with a risk-tolerance assessment and a written Investment Policy Statement and implements tailored portfolios drawn from model allocations that range from all-equity to all-fixed income, primarily using mutual funds and ETFs. The firm monitors and rebalances accounts on an ongoing basis, may accept transferred legacy positions, and employs subadvisory arrangements for separately managed accounts that focus on tax-aware strategies such as tax-loss harvesting and direct indexing; it also provides non-discretionary recommendations for private equity to qualified accredited investors.

What is noteworthy about Cranbrook is the combination of relatively large assets under management with a compact advisory team, and its explicit use of third-party subadvisors to deliver tax-advantaged SMA strategies alongside access to alternative investments. The firm also offers operational accommodations—such as non-managed “courtesy” accounts for clients experiencing liquidity events—and maintains formal policies (including a restricted securities list, trade-error procedures, and custody oversight through a major custodian) to govern client account handling.