Joining AXA Advisors in NYC, New York November 1998, Brian Patterson spent the first three years of his financial services career in the corporate office setting forming valuable relationships and gaining the education and knowledge necessary to begin a private asset management practice. In April, 2002 he changed roles and moved to the AXA Advisors’ Woodbridge, NJ office as a Financial Consultant and quickly became the leading asset manager for all AXA Advisors’ New Jersey offices. In January of 2005, he accepted the role of Branch Asset Manager and has served as the wealth and asset management authority for what has now become Equitable Advisors' New Jersey branches in Edison, Morristown, Wall Township and Woodbridge since that time.
Wishing to bring his expertise and unique experience to a further range of clients, Brian founded Ascendancy Wealth Management in November of 2014. The company was founded first and foremost to provide a premier service model to clients as well as our potential and future clients. Through relationships with Linsco Private Ledger, Equitable Network, AB Global, and many other mutual fund and private management companies he was able to enhance the Ascendancy Wealth Management asset management process and provide the best recommendations to those seeking financial advice and counseling.
Seeking a true work-life balance and new career direction, Sandy Daus joined Ascendancy Wealth Management in 2015 with the goal bringing Brian’s clear vision and business model to a wider audience. With her ambition focused on company growth and development, Sandy worked towards expanding Ascendancy Financial Group’s operations and service model by providing the utmost level of customer service - not only to clients, but to the group’s partners and advisors as well. With many years of experience developing and streamlining processes, and as the primary resource for advisors and staff alike, Sandy continues to strive for excellence and efficiency.
Michael Maggiore joined Brian and Ascendancy Wealth Management in 2016 as a partner, and together they developed a white glove service model for their clients starting from their main office in Woodbridge, NJ. With their combined experience, Brian & Mike were able to bring decades of portfolio management expertise and comprehensive private wealth planning to the households they served.
As the number of clients, we were able to serve increased, we began expanding our Wealth and Asset Management team by asking Christian Stine to join our group in 2016 as a Junior Analyst. With Brian’s coaching and oversight, as well as learning from our internal mutual fund partners and their analytics teams, he began growing his expertise in portfolio management by creating an exclusive Ascendancy Financial Group Investment Model that benefits our clients by making certain that their tolerance for risk and objectives are managed to meet expectations. We pride ourselves on intimately knowing our clients and making critical decisions with confidence by leaning on the expertise of our colleagues and vast network of professionals. This proprietary model is still utilized today by our advisors and partners, and Christian continues to bring his ever-expanding market expertise to each and every client we serve.
In January of 2020, Jonathan Massey merged his team with that of his long-time outstanding money manager, Brian Patterson, to form Ascendancy Financial Group. With a deep roster of top professionals and back office staff, Ascendancy provides the highest level of white glove service and expertise in wealth management, insurance, business/group planning and benefits. As President and Financial Coach, Jon brings his clients all the resources needed for creative, visionary planning and execution.
Expanding on our experience and range of services, George Kachmar and Margarita Mayor also joined the Ascendancy Financial Group as expert specialists in their respective fields.
George Kachmar has been a Financial Advisor since 2008 and joined Ascendancy Financial Group in 2018 to provide additional experience and services to our clients. Focusing on creating benefits platforms for small to medium-sized businesses while also helping individuals mitigate risk through insurance and financial planning, George’s expertise allows Ascendancy Financial Group the ability to offer comprehensive benefits and retirement solutions to business owners and their employees. George and his team have successfully implemented turnkey solutions to handle the compliance, administration, review and daily needs associated with benefit programs.
Margarita Mayor began her full-time career in financial services on the Fixed Income trading desk at JP Morgan Securities Inc., then subsequently spent 17 years with Tradeweb Markets LLC. Marge transitioned from the Institutional side of Finance to the Retail side of Finance in 2016 as focusing on the strong need for women advisors.
Marge also joined Ascendancy Financial Group in 2018 and follows a holistic, goals-based approach to Financial Planning through proactive engagement, thoughtful collaboration and partnership.
Our “New” Building
For many years, our Woodbridge, NJ office served as our headquarters for client services and operations. This structured yet collaborative office environment afforded us ongoing support, which allowed for growth opportunities and for the expansion of our company and brand. It was these many years of initial investment in both resources and technology that have allowed us to continue to offer our clients access to future-leaning financial planning tools, all-encompassing insurance coverage and wealth building services not found elsewhere.
However, our focus began to shift at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and we began to reassess the ways in which we could reach and remain available to our clients. An opportunity presented that would allow us to work closer to our homes and families, as well as be more readily available for our clients. In August 2021 we secured the purchase of an historic building in Colts Neck, NJ which has allowed us to begin taking care of our client’s needs within proximity to their own homes.
What’s more, we were delighted to learn the history of the building we had purchased. As part of the original Colts Neck Village founded in 1700, the building was constructed on what was at that time the Minisink Indian Trail, which hailed all the way from the region embracing the Great Lakes and had become a stage coach route. Originally built in 1830, the building was the town’s local honey shop from 1830-1850, before then becoming the local blacksmith’s shop owned by Garret Thomas and then the Culver’s from January 1852-1927. It then became the Atlantic Township Fire Co. # 1 in 1927 and remained the only fire house to serve the people of Colts Neck and the surrounding area for over 26 years until a new firehouse was dedicated in 1953.
Our Firm Today
We are proud to be recognized as an award-winning financial planning firm, and of the communities and causes we serve. We have expanded our service area nationally by also establishing locations up and down the East coast – from New York City, New York to Naples, Florida. We are also very proud that our journey has led us to our new headquarters in Colts Neck, NJ, where we proudly display our 191-year-old building’s New Jersey Historical Site marker.
Currently Ascendancy Financial Group oversees over $1B in total assets under care, while helping our clients navigate life’s most complex situations and plan for inevitable surprises along the way.
It is our 150 plus years combined experience in outstanding money management, as well as our commitment to the white-glove service policy we have created, that encourages our clients to continue to trust and invest in our expertise in planning for their own futures.
We encourage our clients to come in to visit and enjoy the warmth and history of our new Colts Neck, NJ headquarters’ private setting, as it is this closeness to the past - in the present - that inspires our unique client-advisor partnerships and the combined achievement of all of life’s greatest milestones.
This new chapter in our history has inspired our own Growth Story, and we hope that you will join us in creating many milestones ahead in yours.