Chad Wilcott

Our Approach

**Our Approach** **Your goals are the foundation of every recommendation we make.** Our approach begins with understanding what matters most to you, your family, your values, and the future you envision. Through thoughtful conversations and ongoing collaboration, we develop a personalized wealth management strategy designed to align your financial resources with your life goals. Rather than focusing solely on investments, we take a comprehensive view of your financial life. We help coordinate the many moving pieces that can influence long\-term success, including wealth accumulation, retirement planning, tax\-efficient strategies, risk management, business planning, legacy considerations, and multigenerational wealth transfer. As your life evolves, your financial strategy should evolve with it. That is why we maintain an ongoing relationship centered on regular reviews, proactive guidance, and disciplined decision\-making. By adapting to changing market conditions and life circumstances, we help keep your plan aligned with your priorities. Our goal is simple: to provide clarity, confidence, and a structured path forward so you can focus on what matters most while knowing your financial life is being managed with care, experience, and purpose. **Understanding You as an Investor** Before discussing investments, I believe it's important to understand you. That means learning about your goals, your concerns, your time horizon, and how you define financial success. It also means understanding how you have reacted to market opportunities and challenges in the past, so we can build a strategy you can remain confident in through changing market conditions. The result is a personalized investment approach designed to help you pursue your goals while maintaining the level of risk and flexibility that is right for you and your family. **A Long\-Term Relationship** Life is constantly changing, and your financial strategy should evolve along with it. As your family, career, business interests, and priorities change over time, we review your strategy regularly and make adjustments when appropriate. Our goal is to help ensure your financial approach remains aligned with what matters most to you, not only today, but throughout the years ahead. We believe the strongest client relationships are built on trust, communication, and a shared commitment to long\-term success. By working together, we help provide the guidance, perspective, and support needed to navigate life's opportunities and challenges with confidence.

How We Help

**How We Help** **Customized Wealth Management** True wealth management is about more than managing investments. It is about helping you make informed decisions across every aspect of your financial life and helping to ensure those decisions support the goals that matter most to you. My team and I work closely with individuals, families, retirees, and business owners to address a broad range of financial priorities, including investment management, retirement planning, retirement income strategies, business transition planning, wealth transfer, and multigenerational legacy planning. By taking a coordinated approach, we help simplify complex financial decisions and provide greater clarity and confidence for the future. **Bringing Resources Together** Many financial challenges require more than a single solution. As a Merrill client, you have access to the extensive resources and capabilities of Merrill and the banking convenience of Bank of America, including investment insights, banking and lending solutions, and trust and fiduciary services when appropriate. Our role is to help coordinate these resources and bring the right expertise together at the right time, creating strategies that are aligned with your goals, priorities, and long\-term vision. **Guidance Through Every Stage of Life** Financial priorities change over time, and your strategy should evolve with them. Whether you are building wealth, preparing for retirement, navigating a significant liquidity event, managing a growing estate, or planning for future generations, we provide ongoing guidance designed to help you adapt with confidence while remaining focused on your long\-term objectives. We believe the greatest value of an advisory relationship extends beyond investments alone. It comes from having a trusted team to help you evaluate opportunities, navigate important decisions, and stay aligned with what matters most throughout life's many transitions. *^\*Banking products are provided by Bank of America, N.A. and affiliated banks, Members FDIC and wholly owned subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation.^* *^\*Trust, fiduciary and investment management services, including assets managed by the Specialty Asset Management team, are provided by Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation ("BofA Corp."), and its agents.^*

What Matter Most

**What Matters Most** Financial success means different things to different people. For some, it means retiring with confidence and maintaining the lifestyle they have worked hard to achieve. For others, it means supporting family, building a successful business, creating a lasting legacy, or having the freedom to pursue new opportunities and experiences. We believe meaningful financial planning begins with understanding what matters most to you. By taking the time to learn about your goals, priorities, and values, we can develop personalized strategies designed to align your financial resources with the life you envision. **Life Events \& Financial Decisions** **Health** Planning for healthcare expenses today and throughout retirement, helping you maintain confidence and financial flexibility through every stage of life. **Home** Whether you're purchasing a home, downsizing, relocating, remodeling, or acquiring a vacation property, we help you evaluate the financial implications of life's important decisions with clarity and confidence. **Family** Supporting the people who matter most through thoughtful planning for children, grandchildren, aging parents, and future generations, while preparing for life's expected and unexpected transitions. **Lifestyle** Creating the financial freedom to enjoy the experiences, travel, hobbies, and opportunities that bring meaning, fulfillment, and purpose to your life. **Giving** Aligning charitable giving with your personal values and helping you make a meaningful impact on the causes, organizations, and communities you care about most. **Career \& Business** Navigating retirement, business succession, liquidity events, career transitions, and new opportunities as your goals evolve over time. **Financial Priorities** Bringing together investments, retirement planning, tax considerations, risk management, cash flow, and legacy planning into a coordinated strategy designed around your unique objectives. **How We Measure Success** We believe successful wealth management is about more than investment performance alone. True success is reflected in your ability to pursue the goals that matter most to you, make financial decisions with confidence, and enjoy the clarity that comes from having a thoughtful plan in place. Markets will rise and fall, but a well\-designed financial strategy provides perspective, discipline, and direction. Our role is to help you stay focused on what matters most, navigate important financial decisions, and adapt as life evolves. Success isn't simply about growing wealth. **It's about using wealth as a tool to help create security, opportunity, freedom, and lasting impact for the people and causes that matter most.**

Philosophy

**Philosophy** **Advice Built Around What Matters Most** The financial world is constantly changing. Markets fluctuate, opportunities emerge, and life often takes unexpected turns. While those factors may be beyond our control, we feel that having a thoughtful plan and a trusted advisor can help bring clarity and confidence to important decisions. I believe effective wealth management begins with understanding what matters most to you. Every client has unique goals, priorities, values, and circumstances, which is why I take the time to listen, learn your story, and understand what you hope to achieve. Only then can we build strategies that reflect your objectives and support the life you envision. My role extends beyond managing investments. I strive to serve as a trusted advisor who helps clients navigate life's opportunities, challenges, and transitions while keeping their long\-term goals at the center of every decision. Whether you are preparing for retirement, planning for future generations, managing a business transition, or navigating a significant financial event, my team and I are committed to providing thoughtful guidance every step of the way. At the heart of our philosophy is a simple belief: successful wealth management is not measured solely by investment performance. It is measured by your ability to achieve meaningful goals, make informed decisions with confidence, and enjoy the clarity that comes from having a clear plan for the future. By combining personalized advice with the extensive resources of Merrill and the banking convenience of Bank of America, we help simplify financial complexity, coordinate strategies across all areas of your financial life, and provide guidance designed to support you and your family for years to come. **Guiding Principles** Put your goals and priorities at the center of every decision. Listen first and provide advice tailored to your unique circumstances. Focus on long\-term outcomes while remaining adaptable to change. Build lasting relationships founded on trust, communication, and accountability. Provide clarity, confidence, and direction through every stage of life.

Personalized planning

**Helping you create a personalized plan** At Merrill, we go beyond the traditional role of an advisor. * Your goals, concerns and attitude about investing are the foundation of your plan. * We actively listen and provide personalized advice — ensuring we understand what matters most to you and your family. * We're committed to creating a personalized plan that evolves with you to help you live well today while preparing for the future.

Team and resources

**Giving you access to our teams and solutions** Your advisor is one part of an experienced team dedicated to helping you achieve your goals. Acting as your single point of contact, your advisor provides personalized strategies and connects you with: * Bank of America specialists, such as mortgage or trust professionals * Timely insights from BofA Global Research1 to help you stay informed and navigate ever\-changing markets * A [full suite](https://www.ml.com/solutions/all.html) of Merrill investing and Bank of America banking solutions ^1^~BofA Global Research is research produced by BofA Securities, Inc. ("BofAS") and/or one or more of its affiliates. BofAS is a registered broker\-dealer, [Member SIPC](http://www.sipc.org/), and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation ("BofA Corp.").~

Recognition