Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #86 - Solomon Private Wealth: Trust Outlasts Tech When Wealth Meets Identity
Join Certified Exit Planning Advisor Bradley Small of Solomon Private Wealth LLC as he guides business owners from valuation to a values-driven exit. Learn how to accurately assess your company’s worth, boost your sale multiple, and close the wealth gap needed for a confident 30-year future—while crafting a post-sale life rich with family, philanthropy, travel, or board service instead of regret.
Bradley shares three decades of market wisdom, launching his firm amid upheaval, and how faith plus community service shape his integrity-first approach. Discover why AI can’t replace human judgment in turbulent times, the power of starting exit planning years early, building a trusted team, and passing on both capital and character to the next generation.
Welcome to the Good New York Castle. Today I'm thrilled to be speaking with Brendanly Small. He is the owner of Solomon Private Wealth. Hello. Brendan, how are you doing today?
SPEAKER_02:We're doing great. It's a beautiful fall day out there, Young.
SPEAKER_01:It's wonderful. And I love this season. So, Brendan, can you please tell our listeners about your company, Solomon Private Wealth?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to do that. And it's a pleasure to be introduced to you and your program. Solomon Private Wealth is just that. We are private wealth managers. We do wealth management, we do investment management, and we help uh business owners with their exit planning strategies, and we help families really think strong and hard about their legacy. So not only what they're doing for their uh current wealth management needs and investment management, retiring, uh college planning, whatever their goals might be, but we really try to emphasize on uh legacy. Really, what is the legacy that they want to leave for uh their children and their grandchildren? Same thing with business owners and their exit planning.
SPEAKER_01:So when you say the exit plan, you're speaking for business and how to exit out of their career.
SPEAKER_02:Correct. So um earlier in this year 2025, January 2025, I was designated as a certified exit planning advisor under the Exit Planning Institute. So EPI um prepares, exams, trains advisors in their certified exit planning advisor role. And so part of our firm, not all of it, but part of our firm helps business owners value their business, look at opportunities for the future, how do they increase their multiples? And then along that journey, what we focus on is their personal um planning and wealth management. Uh we calculate what's called the wealth gap. We help them figure out how much do they need. Um, everyone wants to sell their business for a high sum, but how much do you need once that business is sold? And then what is your life like after you sell your business? Uh, that's a big change. Uh people have their identity tied up in their business. They might have started it like I did. I'm a business owner. I started my business 30 years ago. My identity over the past 30 years as a as a as a father, as a business owner, as a community-involved person, uh, a member of my church, right? All of that's tied up in our identity and uh in our values. And when that business goes away, we should make sure that we have our identity grounded in uh and whatever we might be doing, getting involved with our family, maybe grandchildren, maybe charities, maybe community, maybe travel. Maybe there's a chance to finally travel and see the world uh now that uh they've sold their business. But there's a lot to go into that planning, and it takes a few years to come up with a real proper exit planning strategy. Um and again, that's that's strictly for those types of clients. We have many other clients that have been with us for 30 years and they've navigated the ups and downs of the markets, and um it's all about the relationship and trust and service. And um we have clients that have gone with us for 30 years, and obviously they're comfortable with our services and our relationship and trusting us and with our advice.
SPEAKER_01:Bradley, I really appreciate you digging deeper into that area and sharing some insight with our listeners because we don't know who is in a position of looking for an exit strategy from their business and the emotional aspect that they're wrestling with while they are contemplating exiting, something that they've been so passionate about over the years. And I'm sure that's gonna resonate with a lot of people who fall in that category. So thank you for digging a little deeper and sharing that with our listeners. What's the backstory, Bradley? How did you get into this business?
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Um, well, I've always been interested in new investment markets. Uh even when I was finishing high school going into college, so I did my undergraduate uh degree in business uh economics and accounting at Gordon College. And uh I I lived at home, I worked two jobs, I played hockey for a scholarship to get myself through college, so um I was blessed to be able to do that. And uh when I finished um my degree there, I went to the North Shore Chamber of Commerce. I worked as their finance manager, and all along I always knew that I should be involved with um investment management, investment planning, wealth planning. Um I noticed my own family didn't really do that well, and um and I saw a lot of other families that really needed a trusted person. Um there's a lot of advisors out there, a lot of great advisors, but the key to the relationship is trust, right? Handy trust. And um and I started at and worked at a lot of the major firms, a lot of the names that people know and hear, and went through different iterations. Um a lot of the firms that that I I worked for just don't exist anymore. And they made four ethical decisions. And so five years ago I left that environment and started solving private wealth, wisdom to wealth. I'm actually trying to uh promote the fact that King Solomon was the wisest man, the um the most generous man and the wealthiest man, right, um, in his kingdom and situation. And so that's where that came from, really to have integrity in this business, um trust and integrity. And Solomon made mistakes, right? We all make mistakes. But um, if you look up King Solomon today, he's worth$2 trillion in today's dollars, right? That's about five Elon Musks in my uh my current calculation, right? So if you added up all the wealthiest people in the world, King Solomon still supersedes them. And so that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to use wisdom. Nowadays, all this AI, there's a lot of information out there, but how much of it is wise, right? You can get data, information, answers, but can you trust them? Um, do they care about you? And um so you know, we can use those tools to our advantage, but in the end, people want to trust people, and uh we've been doing this for 30 years, so um uh I'm blessed to know my clients have been with me for 30 years and through a lot of iterations, um, a lot of market cycles, a lot of changes. When I started in the business, the smartphone didn't exist, the internet didn't exist. I did my MBA at Babson, the Olin Graduate School of Babson. When we did group projects, we met in the library. There was no such thing as Zoom or text or whatever. So um we've come a long way, we've seen a lot of changes, and uh we'll we'll continue to see them, right? Markets will go through their cycles.
SPEAKER_01:I loved everything that you said, it resonated very well. Great, thank you. So, Bradley, what are some myths or misconceptions that you've discovered in your in your industry over the years?
SPEAKER_02:Um, yeah, misconceptions. Um one I think is that there is one fit for somebody's personal needs, their family, their situation. Everyone's situation is unique and different. And and again, I think technology does a great job of helping us be more effective and efficient with our time and our resources. Um, but in the end, I think what is advertised a lot that I see really is not sufficient for long term. Relationships in this in this industry, people want to have trusting relationships, and so I think the misconception is that you can plug anything into technology, it will give you the right answers all the time, every time. And I just uh I believe that the human experience will never be overcome by the technological revolution, if you will, right? So we pride ourselves to be human in our approach and with our relationships with clients.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, beautiful trust and relationship goes along.
SPEAKER_02:That's yeah, that's that's that's what I have seen. That's what I have seen, right?
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, without that, it doesn't matter what business you're in, it will crumble. But when you have established a relationship with the individual and build on that trust and do what you say you're gonna do and deliver what you say you're gonna deliver, I think it goes a long way. And it and it covers over some of the slip along the way. When people know you, they know your intentions, and that covers some of that layer of mistakes that we make in our lives at times.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I know AI is making a lot of mistakes right now. I just read something this morning that they shut it down because it was hallucinating too much. So we're all in the same boat, we all make mistakes. The question is, is are we making mistakes or are we lacking integrity? And um, you know, so we really try to um focus on the fact that uh trust is the key in a relationship.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, beautiful. So, Bradley, outside of work, what do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_02:Well, um, charity is actually uh a big part of who I am. It's it always has been. Um I grew up in Beverly, and 30 years later, full circle, back into this area. I'm attending uh Garden City Church, which is uh same building that I grew up in, which was kind of interesting to be back in there 30 years later. So that's a lot of fun for me. Great people. See, my faith is very important to me. And just the name of the business, we try to encourage even our clients to really look at their values, right? Value-centric planning and portfolio management. Um I uh dropped out of um golf a few years ago and was uh excited to get a sailboat, so I keep a sailboat in Beverly Harbor. I actually sailed it down from Lake Champlain right down the Hudson back past uh West Point and Manhattan. Um that was several years ago. I like to travel. I'm blessed to be friends with uh Veronica Boccelli, Andrea's wife. I see them in Boston backstage every year. You can go to my website and see some photos. I go to Italy and help support the uh Boccelli Foundation where we help build schools and hospitals and water trucks and places like Haiti or other um environments, you know, that uh always need help. The charities that I'm involved with locally, I started this cars for charity, Solomon Fund, and we help support W Bootstraps, Light Fridge, Amira, Pelican Fund, Wool for the Deaf. Um we all just got together a few weeks ago here in the coming center parking lot and raised money for for these charities by having fun, you know, with cars. So um again, you can see you can take a look at the uh the website, SolomonPrivateWealth.com. You can see a lot of the activities, the community involvement. Uh so that's what uh what I enjoy doing.
SPEAKER_01:God bless you for standing in the gap.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Many would love to be able to stand in the gap, but fall short of that. So God bless you. You're a blessed person as a result of all that you've mentioned, 30 years and doing good every time you turn around. That's why you're still standing. God bless you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thank you. Life is short. I lost my brother when he was 33, and uh my I watched my parents right pass away. And um, the preciousness of life and how short it is is why I'm in this business. I really do enjoy helping people not just look at beating the markets or buying, getting the right stock or whatever it might be. I mean, those things come and go, right? The markets go up, the markets come down. But really, you know, take pausing and taking time and really thinking about your why, right? Your why. Why am I doing this? What what is what legacy can I leave?
SPEAKER_01:What is your purpose?
SPEAKER_02:Correct, your purpose. And someday, Solomon Private Wealth, in my prayers, will continue on. Somebody else will be leading the charge, and they will have um somebody that had paved the way to do it differently.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, love it. So, Bradley, um changing gears, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenges that you rose above and can now say that because of that experience, you're better, you're stronger. What comes to your mind?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, I can. Um several years ago, went through some difficult environment and times. Nobody plans to go through a divorce, right? So uh that happened eight years ago, and during that time there was a lot of difficult challenges with different relationships in my prior business situation, and uh you know that's just a difficult time to go through. And um uh without going into a lot of the details, right, um, in a public forum, I can tell you that overcoming, and obviously God was very important to me in that overcome that environment. If I shared details, and everyone keeps telling me I need to write the book, I need to write the book. Um, it was a lot of experiences. Um, and I started Solomon Private Wealth in the midst of that. And here we are five years later, um, thriving, growing, serving our clients, bringing on new clients, adding new people to our team, um adding new uh services to our offerings, and um you know, continuing to grow. So, again, without getting into a whole lot of detail, um, I was told that most people wouldn't survive one of those instances. I had to go through three of them at the same time. Uh, enough that my son, who had some of his own challenges, is now a backcountry snowboarder climbing mountains. My daughter has her own business that she started years ago in college. My youngest son is doing very well in the automotive world, had his own health challenges to get through. And um, so I think if you keep the faith, be positive, keep looking up. Um again, God is God is centric to my life, and um uh that overcoming has actually allowed a lot of other people to look at their own situation and say, well, I can do it too, right? And so um I've really had a full circle journey.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. That's the takeaway to hear the testimony of someone. It sounds like you were being shifted for destruction purposes, but through that shifting, you were able to rise above the ashes, and now you're blooming and blossoming. And to God be all the glory for that. You know, that is very encouraging for anyone to hear the snippet of what you just wrote.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and and eventually the book will be uh will be finished.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you for chairing Bradley.
SPEAKER_02:You're welcome.
SPEAKER_01:So please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Solomon Private Wealth LLC.
SPEAKER_02:I think the uh main thing to remember is that Solomon Private Wealth was created because I spent 25 years working in certain environments. And um, for whatever reason, I'm not quite sure why those entities don't exist the way they they originally founded or created, and so we just want to do it a little bit differently. We're not here to say anything negative about any other firms or individuals. We just choose to do things from a position of integrity. We make mistakes, everybody does, but we we know where our heart is, we know how we serve our clients. Clients have been with us for 30 years. That to me speaks for itself. Um you don't maintain relationships like that unless you really care. And so we do care. Um we care about our clients, we care about our services, we care about our communities, we care about giving back. It's blessed to be a blessing.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I love it. Thank you. Everything that you just said, it just gets richer and richer.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thank you. I appreciate the uh opportunity to share.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. So, how can our listeners learn more about Solomon Private Wealth? Do you have a website? Can you share it?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, very easy to remember. SolomonPrivatewealth.com. Um you can find our website there. We have a lot on our services, we have information about how we're active in the community and some of the events. Again, I'm on the board of directors for the North Shore Chamber of Commerce. So we we do a lot of uh you know activities and events to support the community. Uh, you can look at us on LinkedIn under myself, Bradley Small, or under Solomon Private Wealth. Uh there's a Facebook account for that as well. Instagram is just starting. In our business, our compliance is is front and center, right? So we we we're always lagging in the rest of the business world and what we can do and what we can say, and you know, even this interview, right? There's a lot of uh rules and and around what you can do or what you can say. So um, but that's the best way to reach us. We're in the Cummings Center in Beverly at 100 Cummings Center in Beverly Mass. Uh, our phone number is 781-996-2899, and um, you can find my email address, contact information at SolomonPrivateWealth.com.
SPEAKER_01:Bradley, thank you. We certainly appreciate you being on the show today. We've learned so much about Solomon Private Wealth, and we wish you and Solomon Private Wealth all the very best moving forward. Thank you again.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast of World Paper, local business.com. That's 112NOTCOR.com.