Forbes: New Jersey's Best-Kept Secret No Longer

Full-Service Financial Firm R. Seelaus & Co. Is Growing and Thriving.

A changing of the guard. A new asset management division. New offices in San Diego and Chicago. Certification by the state of New Jersey as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE).

These are exciting times at R. Seelaus & Co., and new CEO Annie Seelaus thinks it’s high time to tell the world the full-service financial firm has much to offer both individual and institutional investors. Seelaus took the reins in early 2015 as her father, Richard Seelaus, the firm’s founder, assumed a “big picture” consultative role.

“We’ve been around for over 30 years,” she says. “All areas of our business are growing and thriving. We’ve weathered financial crises, we have great momentum and very talented people, and we couldn’t be more excited about the future. It’s time we stopped being New Jersey’s best-kept secret.”

R. Seelaus & Co. recently welcomed Ben Seelaus, Annie’s brother, as chief operating officer. He was previously a managing director and head of U.S. Government Bond trading for Morgan Stanley.

Perhaps most exciting, R. Seelaus & Co. has just entered into an exclusive partnership with MunicipalBonds.com, the trusted leader in online municipal bond content for investors and financial advisors. This initiative will allow R. Seelaus & Co. to amplify its world-class thought leadership, which covers all aspects of the municipal bond, fixed-income and wealth management businesses via articles, video, webinars, white papers, social accounts, podcasts and more across the MunicipalBonds.com platform.

MunicipalBonds.com users who are seeking a better, higher-quality transactional and service experience in the municipal bond, fixed-income and wealth management markets will be given priority service by the R. Seelaus & Co. team.

While R. Seelaus & Co. has historically focused exclusively on “safe haven,” fixed-income investing, two years ago the firm added fee-based asset management, financial planning and equity investing with the acquisition of Granite Springs Asset Management, LLC, a whollyowned subsidiary and SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Seelaus notes the firm’s fees are very competitive.

The firm’s transactional broker business, with its focus on selling individual bonds, remains strong. Indeed, “having direct access to someone who understands the ins and outs of which types of bonds are appropriate for each person is more important than ever in today’s rate environment,” Seelaus says. “I think it’s very difficult for individual investors to find money managers with expertise in the fixed-income world, or to find a firm like ours where we will walk the client through the process of constructing a bond portfolio based on their individual circumstance. This is not one-size-fits-all or robo investing.” According to Seelaus, the firm has a “lengthy and proven track record of being very good at investing in individual bonds.”

Relationships Come First

Seelaus says the firm’s new offices in Chicago and San Diego will allow it to reach “even more” institutional investors such as asset managers and pension funds. She also notes that the firm’s municipal bond trading desk was recently enhanced with the addition of two traders, an underwriter and an analyst.

For all the changes R. Seelaus & Co. has seen in the past couple of years, the firm is as committed as ever to providing the highest level of hands-on personal service. “Our clients enjoy direct access to their portfolio managers and direct access to the people making decisions about their portfolios,” Seelaus says. “They find this very reassuring.

“With all of the emphasis today on electronic trading and electronic investing, at R. Seelaus & Co. we still believe this is first and foremost a relationship business.”

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