Max Haspel, CEPA®
Managing Director, Senior Wealth Advisor & President of Colony Business Owner Services
Focus Areas
Pre- and Post-Liquidity Planning
Business Transition Planning
Multi-Generational Planning
Philanthropic Planning
Private Strategies
Coaching
Author
Client Specialty
Business Owner
Family Enterprise
Recognitions
Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors, NY, (2020-2023)
Community
Fiver Children’s Foundation Board Member
Colgate University Alumni Council Member
Colgate Alumni Club of Long Island Past President
Community Sailing Program Commodore
Endowment Investment Committee Member
Volunteer Firefighter
Max is the President of Colony Business Owner Services, a Senior Wealth Advisor and Managing Director. With over 25 years of experience, Max leads Colony’s national Business Owner Services practice and its Long Island-based team in serving the needs of successful entrepreneurs and their families. He and his team specialize in advising business owners on exit planning by helping prepare owners, their businesses, and their families for success during and after the transition. Max founded, grew and ultimately exited a business, and has experience in business exits both as an advisor and entrepreneur.
Through Colony Family Office, Max and his team deliver a vast array of relevant services including investment management, tax planning, multi-generational gifting and wealth transfers, family wealth education, family governance, philanthropic advice and business management. Max is also actively engaged in investment- and wealth-planning research and is a member of Colony’s Investment and Executive Committees.
Max is a co-author of the book Personal Financial Planning for Executives and Entrepreneurs: The Path to Financial Peace of Mind (Second Edition). He has been named one of Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors for New York. Long Island Business News awarded him a Business & Finance Award, which recognizes financial professionals for their outstanding performance as financial stewards of Long Island’s corporations, governments, and nonprofit organizations.
He helped develop and refine Colony’s time-tested wealth management client process, one that provides structure and transparency starting at the initial meeting and lasting inter-generationally.
Max founded Blue Water Advisors in 2000 and merged it with The Colony Group in early 2018. Previously, he was an equity research analyst at firms including Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, where he learned the inner workings of Wall Street, investment research, capital raising, and mergers and acquisitions.
Max graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. He remains active in the Colgate community and is an Emeritus Member of the Alumni Council and a past President of the Colgate Alumni Club of Long Island. A lifelong learner, Max attended the Advest Institute at Harvard and obtained a Wharton Certificate in Retirement Planning.
Max’s personal passions include traveling with his wife and teenage children, fishing, sailboat racing and skiing.
Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors criteria (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023): Based on an algorithm of qualitative criteria, mostly gained through telephone and in-person due diligence interviews, and quantitative data, including years of experience, revenue trends, AUM, compliance records, client retention, best practices, and approach to working with clients. The following advisors received this recognition: Liz Talbot (2023), Richard Steinberg (2019-2021), Ron Rubin (2018, 2020), Craig Jones (2019-2022), Jeremy Kuhlen (2019-2020), and Max Haspel (2020-2023). Ron Rubin’s 2018 recognition was based on information submitted by Bridgewater Wealth & Financial Management prior to its merger into The Colony Group on January 1, 2018. Best-in-State Next-Generation: Chris Johnson (2023).