Alexander Chen

As a second-generation financial advisor from a family of business owners and entrepreneurs, Alexander understands first-hand the complex role that family and business dynamics can play in building, managing, and preserving wealth for the future. He seeks to deploy wealth more effectively and thoughtfully, helping clients discern and advance their personal, professional, and philanthropic objectives.
Today, Alex is a highly-trained financial advisor with an extensive network and experience in the investment industry, having spent time living and working across New York City, Texas, the Midwest and California. Prior to joining Merrill, he spent over a decade as a capital markets and investment professional with several leading Wall Street firms, most notably, Bank of New York Mellon, one of America’s oldest banks founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1784, and Fortress Investment Group, a global asset manager across private equity, real estate and credit. Alex brings significant hands-on investment experience from his work with a wide array of institutions, endowments, and Fortune 500 corporations, where he focused on arranging capital markets transactions, scaling and exiting businesses, and executing plans to grow, preserve and help protect investor capital. He brings this institutional discipline to his daily work with clients, recognizing the delicate balance of capital preservation and investing for the future.

Alex serves a dynamic client base of executives, business owners, medical professionals, and their families. A hallmark of his approach is blending technical insight and practical experience, while providing a steady presence at critical points in his clients’ financial lives – providing the ballast needed to make thoughtful and unhurried financial decisions. To better understand each client’s goals, aspirations and situation, Alex employs a planning-based process to ensure consistent communication over time, designed to provide a personalized client experience that focuses on what matters most; going beyond investments to include decisions around planning, lending, philanthropy, and liquidity events.

Alex takes pride in delivering unbiased feedback and is committed to serving the best interests of his clients. For executives, he designs and reviews equity compensation plans – focused on providing tax-efficient execution and management of stock options. For business owners, he supports business exit and succession planning discussions, working in coordination with clients’ CPAs and attorneys. For medical professionals, he supports personal and practice growth through education and access to dedicated doctor-eligible financing solutions. Lastly, for all clients, he can also offer access to Bank of America for custom lending products, ranging from residential and commercial loans to securities-based financing.
As it relates to investments, Alex leverages the firm’s Chief Investment Office and open-architecture platform, as well as select third-party managers across a myriad of portfolio strategies. He seeks to construct portfolios that are tailored to each client’s situation and expresses their individual risk tolerance, liquidity needs, time horizon and other factors, which may reflect holdings across equities, fixed income, ETFs, and alternative investments such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate.

Alex earned his B.B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – Ross School of Business, where he concentrated in Finance and Real Estate. Outside of the office, he supports various philanthropic organizations and is committed to the deep-seated Merrill tradition of participating in the communities we serve. Alex serves on the Development Committee of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation, providing vital resources to enable and inspire lifelong learning through modern library programs and technology. As a way of giving back to those who have served our country, he is also a mentor with American Corporate Partners, helping guide post-9/11 military veterans as they transition into the private sector. Alex also sits on the board of the University of Michigan Alumni Club of Orange County.
A born and raised Orange County native, Alex lives in Irvine with his wife, Jacqueline, where they enjoy an active lifestyle in the natural beauty of Southern California. In his free time, Alex is an avid collector and photographer, and enjoys competitive pursuits such as golf and backgammon.

*Merrill, its affiliates, and financial advisors do not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions.
*Some or all alternative investment programs may not be in the best interest of certain investors. No assurance can be given that any alternative investment’s investment objectives will be achieved.
*The Chief Investment Office (CIO) provides thought leadership on wealth management, investment strategy and global markets; portfolio management solutions; due diligence; and solutions oversight and data analytics. CIO viewpoints are developed for Bank of America Private Bank, a division of Bank of America, N.A., (“Bank of America”) and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (“MLPF&S” or “Merrill”), a registered broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, Member SIPC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”).