Broker Check

Building Legacies,
One Family At A Time

For over thirty years, our work sat on the institutional side of finance, managing a bank's own exposure and advising the largest financial institutions in the world on the trades and hedges that protected them from moves in rates and markets. That same rigor now guides individuals, families, and business owners through the decisions that shape what they keep, what they build, and what continues after them.

Proudly serving military families & first responders.

What We Do Depth Behind Every Decision

What We Do Depth Behind Every Decision

Building and protecting wealth involves questions that rarely have simple answers, from how to invest through an uncertain market to how to prepare for a retirement or a legacy that lasts. Every recommendation gets weighed against your goals, examined for its tax consequences, and explained in terms you can follow, so the reasoning behind each decision is available to you rather than taken on trust. Behind that work sit dedicated teams across investments, annuities, life insurance, retirement plans, business services and planning, which means the depth applied to each part of your plan does not depend on any one person's bandwidth.

Who We Serve Those With Real Decisions Ahead of Them

We work with people across a wide range of
circumstances, each reaching a point where their financial choices carry lasting weight.

Individuals & Families

Individuals & Families

People building and protecting wealth while planning for the futures of the ones they love.

Business Owners

Business Owners

Entrepreneurs whose personal finances and company success are connected closely enough to require coordinated guidance.

Retirees

Retirees

Those preparing to turn decades of savings into income they can rely on for life.

High-Net-Worth

High-Net-Worth

Established investors managing significant assets, complex planning needs, and the legacies they intend to leave.

How We Help Comprehensive Guidance Across Your Financial Life

The pieces of a financial life connect, so they get planned together rather than in isolation.
Tax treatment runs through all of it, since where an asset sits and when a decision gets made determine how much of the result you keep.

Investment Management


Before an allocation decision makes sense, there is a question about the risk already sitting on your balance sheet. Concentrated stock, business equity, or a pension changes what the rest of the portfolio needs to do, and where each holding sits across account types changes what it returns after tax.

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Tax Strategy


Two households can hold identical investments and keep different amounts of what those investments earn. Where an asset is held, when a gain is realized, and the order accounts are drawn down all change that number, which is why this work runs alongside your accountant rather than after the return is filed.

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Retirement Income


Savings become income through a sequence of decisions about which account to draw from first, when to claim Social Security, and how much to convert during the lower-bracket years before required distributions begin

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Protection Planning


Life insurance, disability coverage, and long-term care each answer a different question. The starting point is identifying which events would actually change the plan.

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Education Funding


529 plans, custodial accounts, and trusts each carry different consequences for control, financial aid, and taxes. For families supporting a relative with lifelong needs, the account structure also determines whether benefits eligibility survives an inheritance.

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Business Owner Services



When the company is the largest holding, personal and business decisions stop being separate. Entity structure, succession timing, and how a transaction is taxed determine how much of a lifetime of building actually reaches the household.

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Fiduciary

Recommendations are made in your interest, and you will know how we are paid, what a recommendation costs, and what we considered and rejected before you are asked to decide anything.

Experienced

Thirty years advising the largest financial institutions in the world, across global markets, on the risks they could not afford to carry.

Efficient

Return gets optimized against your risk profile, with tax impact treated as part of the calculation rather than an afterthought at filing time.

Comprehensive

Investments, retirement, insurance, and estate work handled together, supported by dedicated teams across each pillar of the plan.

A Strategic Partnership Backed By The Strength Of Equitable.

A Strategic Partnership Backed By The Strength Of Equitable.

165+

years and counting*

$165B+

assets under management*

4,500+

advisors and counting*

Who We Are A Career at the Center of the Markets

Who We Are A Career at the Center of the Markets

Michael Baudo spent three decades on the institutional side of finance, where the daily work was pricing risk, structuring hedges, and advising major global institutions on transactions where a wrong assumption surfaced immediately and in size. The last and longest stretch of that career was in chief executive leadership. Strategic Direction applies that same analysis to households, at a scale where the stakes are personal rather than corporate. Michael leads every client relationship himself, supported by dedicated teams across investments, annuities, life insurance, and retirement plans, so the depth behind each recommendation runs deeper than any single advisor provides alone.

Our Process How We Work Together

Good advice depends on complete information, so the process starts by finding out exactly what you own, what you owe, and where you are trying to end up.

I. Goals Assessment

The first conversation covers what you own, what you owe, and what the money is meant to accomplish, including the obligations that continue regardless of circumstance. What emerges is a complete picture of the starting position and a clear statement of the destination.

II. Portfolio Construction

Concentrated stock, business equity, or a pension already commits part of the balance sheet to a particular outcome, so the invested assets get built around those commitments rather than in isolation. Tax treatment determines where each asset sits, with return optimized against the risk you are willing to carry.

III. Plan Implementation

Execution is sequenced by which decisions carry the most consequence. The plan then gets revisited when circumstances change, whether that is a business sale, a shift in income, or a change in tax law.

Start With a Conversation

Start With a Conversation

Reach out to set up a first conversation about where things stand and what you want to accomplish. From there, we will see what it would take to move toward those goals.