Generational Wealth

Building and preserving wealth requires a long-term perspective grounded in your values, legacy and evolving financial complexity. For more than 40 years, Ferguson Wellman has helped ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families navigate significant wealth with clarity and confidence. Today, our generational wealth segment manages $3.2 billion as part of Ferguson Wellman’s $10.5 billion in assets under management, serving clients whose financial lives benefit from additional resources, personalized strategies and proactive guidance designed to support both current and future generations.

Sammi Pahlow, Charissa Anderson and Alex Harding

Ultra-High-Net-Worth Services

Our generational wealth clients often require more specialized planning, coordination and proactive guidance. We offer an integrated suite of services designed to simplify complexity, preserve wealth across generations and support every aspect of your financial life.

Estate and Trust Planning Team

We added a third member to our complex estate and trust planning team with the addition of a Wealth Strategist with over 15 years of experience as a full-time estate planning attorney. Our team is available to meet with you to review, educate and explore estate and tax planning strategies to fit your goals and situation. We work with your existing counsel as they guide the planning process.

Private Family Office, Octavia Group

Launched in 2021, Octavia Group is our private family office designed to help take the day-to-day financial demands of running a household off your plate—bill pay, monthly financial reporting, facilitate insurance review, tax document organization, LLC annual reporting and other daily financial management tasks. We designed Octavia for ultra-high-net-worth clients who want to reclaim time, reduce complexity, and stay confidently on top of their entire financial picture.

Expanding Alternative Investments

We provide access to assets in private markets for long-term appreciation, income, and diversification. Our team of analysts will evaluate alternative investment opportunities already owned or sourced by our clients as a service to our generational wealth clients.

Complex Charitable Planning

Being a steward of wealth opens opportunity for strategic philanthropy. We help clients and their advisors navigate advanced giving structures and aligning charitable objectives with tax, estate, and legacy planning goals to maximize impact for clients with philanthropic intent.

Comprehensive Wealth Management

Financial analysis, forecasting and tax planning for retirement, college savings, Roth conversions, annual giving and risk management remain the foundation of our ongoing planning. Our team has a depth of experience in these and many planning techniques to help our clients make the best decisions to meet lifestyle and wealth transfer objectives in tax efficient ways.

Individual Securities

We construct bespoke portfolios utilizing individual securities, allowing for a strategy tailored to your unique circumstances. This approach provides the granular control necessary to enhance tax efficiency, ensuring your wealth is managed with high-touch precision.

Banking and Credit Solutions

Through external relationships, we facilitate access to banking and credit facilities. When the timing is right, using credit instead of selling investments may help preserve liquidity and support tax-aware decision-making. We help clients evaluate lending solutions, including pledged asset lines, margin loans, and mortgages.

Investment Education and Family Governance

An effective intergenerational transfer of wealth requires more than well-drafted documents; it requires shared understanding and sound decision-making across generations. We provide structured, accessible investment education for heirs and emerging family decision-makers, and we facilitate family meetings (or coordinate with trusted specialists) to support governance practices, communication, and alignment on long-term objectives—enabling your family to steward wealth with clarity and purpose.

Business Transition Support and Analysis

Our team has expertise in extensive pre-sale planning for privately-owned businesses, including defining a process, building a team, sale structure, tax mitigation and deferral and incorporation of legacy planning for optimal long-term tax and family impact. We provide comprehensive long-term wealth modeling, intergenerational wealth transfer strategies, and family governance.

Aggregated Reporting

We are investing significantly this year in more robust reporting capabilities that will allow us to provide consolidated reporting across your entire balance sheet. We will share more about our enhanced reporting capabilities throughout this year.