Joseph DeBono
Vice President, Senior Financial Advisor
75 Rockefeller Plz
New York NY 10019
(212) 415.8879
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Whatever your personal goals may be, I will work together with you, one-on-one, to develop a personalized financial strategy designed to help you pursue your long-term goals.
Joseph DeBono
Profile

Profile

At Goldman Sachs in 1996, Joe began his career in Fixed Income, followed by his tenure at DLJ in Fixed Income under the number two ranked Institutional Investor High Yield Bond Research Analyst. Here, too, he was an Institutional Equity Trader.

At Greenwich Associates—a leading Investment Advisors to Pension & 401(k) Funds, Foundations and Endowments, Private Wealth, and Corporate and Government entities, Joe consulted to Institutional Investors/Plan Sponsors regarding Investment Managers’ performance. Subsequently, as a consultant to S Plus (the Statistical Analysis Software Company based on the eponymous Bell Labs’ software language), he helped create a Fund of Funds Portfolio Management Platform that moved beyond Normal Distributions, VaR and Sharpe Ratios to Stable Distributions, ETL (Expected Tail Loss) and STARR Ratios.

Prior to joining Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Joe Re-Engineered Merrill’s Investment Manager Due Diligence process. He, too, consulted to Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and other Investment Managers on Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management. Joe points out that “Modern” Portfolio Theory is over 50 years old and no longer ‘modern’. He believes in Post-Modern Portfolio Management, which takes into greater consideration Fat-Tailed Distributions, (Black Swan Events/Financial Crisis), Robust Correlations, Absolute Return and Risk Adjusted Return Measures that post-date the Sharpe Ratio. He works with accredited investors on Alternative Investment strategies such as commodities, hedge funds, private equity, managed futures portfolios and real assets for true diversification.

Previously, Joe served as a Naval Officer where he was awarded over ten medals and personal decorations including the Navy Commendation Medal during the Persian Gulf War and the Humanitarian Relief Medal during Operation Sea Angel. Joe was entrusted with a Top Secret Clearance—he’s trustworthy, and, during the War, the responsibility of making life-and-death decisions in real time while in mortal danger. Later, he served on an Admiral’s Staff (Commander, Naval Base San Diego) and played All-Navy Soccer in the US Armed Forces Tournament.

Although admitted to Harvard Business School and Wharton, he chose to earn his MBA from Kellogg because he had the opportunity to live with a Forbes 400 Family. At Kellogg, he was the Aronson Memorial Scholar in Accounting and scored in the 99th percentile (760) on the GMAT. Joe earned his BA in Chemistry while completing the Navy ROTC Full Scholarship program at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. He was a four-year starter and four-year letterman on the Varsity Soccer Team where he was voted Varsity Captain and selected to the NCAA Division I All-Conference Team.

In memory of his late father—a New York City teacher of 30 years, Joe founded MBA Corps, a 501 (c) 3, tax exempt, non-profit corporation that assists small business owners in creating jobs in economically depressed and asset depleted communities. Joe’s Philanthropic activities also included the Executive Council of Silver Shield Foundation (founded by George Steinbrenner, former principal owner of the New York Yankees), the Principal’s Health and Safety Committee of his children’s grammar school and the District PTA Scholarship Committee. He, too, is past president of the Kellogg (Northwestern University) NYC Alumni Club, past president of the NYC Business School Alumni Clubs Association, and a past member of the Business Round Table for the President of United States’ Digital Freedom Initiative.

Joe focuses on providing investment consulting and wealth management services for Ultra High Net Worth Families and Individuals, Family Offices, Business Managers for A-List Talent, Multi-family Offices, Foundations & Endowments, Corporate Pension Plans and Non-Profit organizations focusing on long-term wealth accumulation and preservation. His goal is to ‘Bring the Discipline of Institutional Investing to Individuals’ and other entities that do not enjoy the generous staffing of Ivy League Endowments. At the end of the day, his intention is to keep ‘the Rich’ rich. His approach is to gain a keen understanding of one’s current financial state and one’s future aspirations across all aspects of one’s personal life, investments and business interests. He then tailors a plan—elegant in its simplicity, using access to a full suite of sophisticated strategies and timely tactics. Essentially, he delivers a simple solution on top of a high resource base --based upon the client’s risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs and overall investment goals. Joe believes in becoming an essential financial steward, a true team member and truly valuable problem solver. He focuses on helping identify issues, organize, optimize and simplify financial lives to allow clients to maximize their financial well-being and quality of life.

How is this done? Through optimizing an objective function: Minimizing Fees and Taxes while Maximizing Risk Management, Investment Performance, and True Diversification—as correlation, which drives diversification, is a dynamic variable, not a constant as is widely believed.

Joe lives in New York with his wife, two children, and his trusty dogs—Biscuit, Belle and Bear, a golden retriever, yellow lab and mix, respectively.

Range of Services

We provide access to a range of services that reflect the needs of ultra-affluent individual and institutional clients:


WEALTH MANAGEMENT
ATM Access through Bank of America, N.A.
Checking from Bank of America, N.A.
Credit Cards from Bank of America, N.A.
Securities-Based Lending
Residential Real Estate Lending from Bank of America, N.A.
Structured Lending:
-Aircraft
-Yachts/Marine Vessels
-Hedge Funds
-Fine Art
-Investor Commercial Real Estate
-Recreational Real Estate
Asset Allocation, reviewing, reporting
Traditional Investment selection and management
Alternative Investment selection and management
Private Equity
Hard Asset Management: Real Estate, Timer, Oil & Gas
Bank financing management through Bank of America, N.A.
Liability and Insurance oversight
Life Insurance
Integrated Lifetime/Estate Planning Services/Succession Strategies
Trust structures and administration, compliance and reporting
Philanthropy: integrated charitable plans and family foundations
Access to Family Office Services
Access to Concierge Services: travel, domestic staff management, elite services
Cash Management
Cash flow management: bill payment
Special Transactions e.g. Rule 144 Sales

1042 Exchanges: Qualified Replacement Property

CORPORATE BENEFIT SERVICES
Equity Compensation Plans
Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans
Defined Contribution Plans
Defined Benefits Plan


*Asset allocation does not ensure profit or protect against loss in declining markets. 

*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.

*NMLS ID 579923 

I follow the deep-seated Merrill tradition of participating in the communities we serve. This drives my interest in spending time volunteering with organizations in our community.
I follow the deep-seated Merrill tradition of participating in the communities we serve. This drives my interest in spending time volunteering with organizations in our community.

About Me
Welcome

My 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. I help you design and implement a personalized plan intended to help you and your family pursue financial goals while helping manage investment risk. My approach is to focus on potential solutions that can help turn goals into reality.

About Merrill

Bringing fresh perspectives to your financial life
The financial decisions you make today can help determine the future you build for yourself and your family. Carving a clear path forward starts with connecting your life and finances. A Merrill advisor provides access to the investing insights of Merrill and banking capabilities of Bank of America to help you make informed decisions as you pursue your goals.

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Joseph DeBono is registered to do business in CA, CT, FL, IL, MA, ME, MI, NC, NJ, NV, NY, WA.