Current/Sherman Group

Describe your practice.

When you work with the Current/Sherman Group, you enter into a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. As a Wealth Management Advisory Team, we spend substantial time to develop a thorough understanding of who our clients are, how they think and what matters most to them. The relationship combines our financial experience with an in-depth knowledge of our clients’ priorities, goals and long-term vision of their future. We help to plan for life’s anticipated and unanticipated changes, changes in the economy and the markets and work with our clients to maintain a flexible strategy that can be adjusted accordingly. Overall, we believe excellent financial advice and service is what each of our clients deserve and we strive to make every interaction exceed expectations.

Who is your ideal client?

Our clients are made up of highly affluent individuals, families, corporate executives and professionals. We also work with medium-sized corporations and non-profit organizations. Many of our clients are in or are nearing retirement, own or run successful businesses and have the dual needs of managing their businesses and personal lives as well as the long-term planning needs for their family. Our team is responsible for more than $650 million in client assets, we limit the number of clients we work with and we take our responsibility of total wealth management very seriously. Our clients appreciate our holistic view of their financial and estate picture and desire sophisticated, thoughtful planning strategies to meet their goals.

Describe your customer service model.

Our wealth management clients enjoy numerous levels of customized service from our team. Each member of our administrative team is an organized, experienced professional. We provide regularly scheduled in-person performance reviews at customized intervals that each client selects. We make regular phone calls to discuss the portfolio and any items that require attention. We provide detailed monthly statements, up-to-the minute online internet access, wireless mobile access, quarterly performance reports, printed research reports and e-newsletters. Most importantly, we are a team of professionals that takes the time to know what each of our clients’ individual service preferences are and we make sure we deliver them.

What is your investment philosophy?

We believe each client has unique objectives, goals, tolerance for risk and expectations of returns. Therefore, we customize our clients’ portfolios to meet their specific personal characteristics. However, since the common theme of all of our portfolios is broad diversification over multiple asset classes, we invest with a long-term focus, using a customized asset allocation as a guideline. We see no benefit in taking more risk than is necessary to achieve the client’s planning goals and we pay particular attention to making the portfolios as tax-efficient as possible. When appropriate we use alternative investments to help reduce risk in a portfolio or add potential return.

Can you describe the process you take new clients through?

We begin each relationship by taking a holistic view of our client’s assets, liabilities, cash-flows, estate planning and insurance plans. From this starting point we then help our clients articulate their goals and objectives. We coordinate with our client’s outside advisors such as their CPA and estate planning attorney to develop a true team approach to the client’s needs. We use an advanced probabilistic wealth forecasting tool to run numerous scenarios that we review with our clients and establish concrete goals. Retirement income and education expenses are common concerns for our clients as well as succession planning of a family business or a significant asset. We have regularly scheduled meetings to review progress, make any necessary adjustments and ensure that our clients are on track to meet their goals.

Describe your risk management philosophy. Would you care to elaborate, given the volatile market conditions we are encountering?

The least amount of risk we can take to achieve our client’s goals is our primary focus. We determine what rate of return is necessary to achieve our client’s goals and thoroughly discuss their personal risk tolerance. As we discussed earlier, we employ multiple asset classes to assist in risk reduction. Non-Correlated assets or Negatively Correlated assets help to reduce volatility in our portfolios. These alternative assets typically have the ability to reduce the highs and lows and make for a more consistent return stream. Comparing a volatile portfolio with very high “highs” and very low “lows” to a more consistent, less volatile portfolio makes it clear that consistency is more important. Also we recommend rebalancing portfolios at regular intervals back to their target allocation. This helps take advantage of market movements and reduce volatility.

Merrill Lynch

50 N. Laura St., 37th Floor

Jacksonville, FL 32202

Dana Current • 904.634.6165

Steven Sherman • 904.634.6174

Dana Robert Current, CFM, CRPC • Senior Vice President–Investments, Wealth Management Advisor

Dana Current is a Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor in the Merrill Lynch North Florida Complex headquarters in Jacksonville, FL. He is also a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and a Certified Financial Manager. Originally from Westport, CT, Dana graduated from Bryant University with a degree in Business Management and has been with Merrill Lynch since 1987. He is a member of the firm’s Circle of Excellence, and has been a member of the firm’s Advisory Council to Management for the Florida district. In 2010, his team at Merrill Lynch, “The Current/Sherman Group,” was named Merrill Lynch North Florida Complex “Team of the Year” for excellence. Dana has substantial experience assisting clients with complex investment, retirement and estate planning issues working closely with estate planning advisors and is frequently asked to speak on these topics. Dana is active in many civic and charitable organizations including being committee chair for the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, a board member of HEAL! for autism and a past board member of Discovery Montessori School. Dana is also a volunteer youth coach for the YMCA and Ponte Vedra Junior Developmental Football. Dana, his wife Jane and their children, Emily and Charlie, are active members of Christ Episcopal Church and have been residents of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL since 1989.

Steven Sherman, CFM, CRPC • Senior Vice President–Investments, Financial Advisor

Steve is a Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor in the Merrill Lynch North Florida Complex headquarters in Jacksonville, FL. He is a graduate of Florida State University with a degree in Accounting. Originally from New Jersey, Steve started in the investment industry in 1985 and joined Merrill Lynch in 1989. Steve is a member of the firm’s Circle of Excellence, and he has been a training advisor to the firm in our corporate headquarters as well as a manager in the Jacksonville office. Steve’s ability to develop intricate solutions to our clients situations is a true attribute and is appreciated by all of our clients. Steve is past president of the Jewish Community Alliance (JCA) and a board member of the Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast Florida, Inc. In 1989 Steve was selected as one of the “40 under 40 who make a difference in Jacksonville” by the Jacksonville Business Journal. In 2010 and 2011 Steve was named to Barron’s Top 1,000 Advisors list. He is also a steward of Jacksonville Community Council Inc. and a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville. Steve, his wife Theresa and sons Brian and David live in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.