Private Wealth & Estate Planning Services

Financial planning is the comprehensive process of organizing your income, expenses, investments, taxes, estate structure, and long-term goals into one cohesive strategy. Wealth management goes deeper—it actively manages your investment portfolios, coordinates tax-efficient withdrawals, and oversees the implementation of your plan over time. At Sentinel, we integrate both disciplines to ensure every piece of your financial picture works in concert, adapting as your life and markets evolve.

We coordinate the legal, financial, and personal elements of your estate by reviewing asset titling, beneficiary designations, wills, and trusts for consistency and alignment. We organize holdings across taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts to support efficient transitions over time. For complex structures, we collaborate with estate attorneys to design instruments like irrevocable trusts or charitable remainder trusts. Our goal is to reduce unnecessary tax exposure, streamline asset transfer, and keep your wealth out of public probate court—ensuring it reaches your heirs gracefully and on your terms.

Modern portfolio theory, developed by Nobel Laureate Harry Markowitz, focuses on eliminating unsystematic risk through deliberate diversification across asset classes, geographies, and sectors. At Sentinel, we apply this framework by constructing globally diversified, tax-efficient portfolios designed to isolate only the systematic risks you're compensated for taking—what we call PRIME risks: Purchasing Power, Reinvestment, Interest Rate, Market, and Exchange. Every portfolio is guided by an Investment Policy Statement, stress-tested under historical market conditions, and monitored continuously to ensure it remains aligned with your goals and resilient through market cycles.

We design structured withdrawal plans coordinated across your taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts to generate steady income while protecting against sequence-of-returns risk and longevity risk. Using bucketed strategies—near-term cash flow insulated from market volatility, paired with growth-oriented allocations for longer horizons—we model income streams that flex with market conditions without forcing panic decisions. Each plan is stress-tested against historical bear markets, recessions, and inflationary periods to ensure it can endure the unexpected, no matter how long you live.

Legacy planning at Sentinel goes beyond simply naming beneficiaries or setting up trusts. We help families articulate their values, educate their heirs, and establish guardrails that protect both the wealth and the relationships it affects. This often includes staged inheritance structures, multi-generational trusts, and supervised pilot pools of assets that allow beneficiaries to practice stewardship before full inheritance. We address real-world risks like divorce, debt, and mismanagement while honoring your philanthropic or faith-based intentions—ensuring your values continue as a living reflection of purpose, discipline, and love for those who follow.

Yes. We've supported over 20 families with special needs members for the long term, bringing 25 years of specialized experience to this deeply personal planning area. Our process is intentionally designed to consider lifelong support needs, coordinate with attorneys and care planners when required, and structure financial plans that preserve government benefit eligibility while ensuring quality of life. We understand the complexities these families face and provide dedicated guidance to protect both financial security and peace of mind across generations.

Your financial plan is a living document that evolves with your life and market conditions. We conduct formal reviews at least annually, and more frequently during major life transitions such as retirement, inheritance, divorce, or the sale of a business. Between scheduled reviews, we continuously monitor your portfolio for style drift, tax opportunities, and market shifts. You'll also have direct access to your advisory team for questions or strategy adjustments as your circumstances change—ensuring your plan remains aligned, adaptive, and resilient.

Sentinel Asset Management serves clients across nine states: Connecticut, Maryland, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. We operate five offices strategically located in Bethesda, MD; Fairfield, CT; Rockville, MD; Middletown, CT; and West Haven, CT. Whether you prefer in-person meetings at one of our offices or virtual consultations, we provide the same comprehensive, personalized service to clients throughout our service areas.