Steven J. Musmanno

About Steven J. Musmanno, MBA, AIFA

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Steven J. Musmanno is a Long Island investment executive who spends his working days on a question most employees never think about: how the money in their company retirement plan is invested, and who is watching over it. He is a Co-Managing Principal and the Chief Investment Officer of APS Pension & Financial Services in Melville, New York.

The firm behind the work

APS Pension & Financial Services has worked with closely held businesses for more than four decades. Its services cover the full life of a retirement plan:

• Designing the plan
• Third-party administration
• Actuarial consulting
• Asset management
• Succession planning tied to retirement, tax and transfer issues

The firm has two investment-focused affiliates:

• APS Investment Management (APSIM): the institutional fiduciary arm, which works with plan sponsors.
• APS Wealth Management, LLC: an SEC registered investment adviser that manages portfolios for individuals and businesses.

Steven is Chief Investment Officer across the firm and APSIM. He also co-founded APS Wealth Management, where he serves as a Managing Member and Chief Compliance Officer.

What a Chief Investment Officer does at APS

Steven’s job is to set the direction for how the firm invests:

• He oversees the overall investment strategy.
• He sets the asset allocation policy behind APSIM’s risk-based portfolios, which are model portfolios built around different levels of risk so plan participants can choose an approach that fits them.
• He leads portfolio management and oversees day-to-day trading.
• He is responsible for the investment policies and accounts of the firm’s wealth management clients.

Decisions for the institutional side go through the APSIM Fiduciary Investment Committee, which Steven chairs and where he serves as Chief Fiduciary. A committee structure means investment choices are discussed, measured against each plan’s written policy, and recorded. For employers, that written record matters, because it is how a plan shows its decisions were made carefully.

He also works with the firm’s actuarial and administration team as a pension and qualified plan consultant. That connects the investment side to plan design questions, such as which type of plan suits a particular business.

Who the firm works with

APSIM provides ERISA plan governance and independent advisory services to:

• 401(k) plans sponsored by private companies
• 403(b) plans sponsored by nonprofit organizations
• Defined benefit pension plans

The work includes helping sponsors write investment policy statements, managing the funds offered in a plan, and building risk-based model portfolios. APSIM also conducts independent fiduciary assessments, which are outside reviews of how an existing 401(k) or 403(b) plan is being run.

Steven views the company retirement plan as more than an employee benefit. For a business owner, he sees it as a centerpiece for tax management, for building wealth, and for spreading out the risk of having so much tied up in one company.

A career that started on Wall Street

Steven started his career at Merrill Lynch in New York City. In the firm’s investment banking and private client area, he:

• Provided equity portfolio strategy to high-net-worth clients
• Helped syndicate direct placement programs on new equity issues

He went on to become Vice President of Institutional Research Marketing, heading marketing and sales for Merrill Lynch’s Emerging Markets Equity Research group. That background in research and portfolio strategy carries into how he approaches investment oversight today.

Education and credentials

• MBA in finance, New York University Stern School of Business
• Undergraduate degree, State University of New York at Oswego
• Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst (AIFA), a designation focused on assessing fiduciary practices, meaning how well a retirement plan’s investment process follows a defined standard of care

Outside the office

Health and fitness are a big part of life for Steven and his family. He has run several marathons and half marathons and has described a full Ironman triathlon as his next goal. The family’s volunteer time follows the same theme, and the American Heart Association is one of the organizations they support.

Long-distance running and long-term investing have something in common. Both reward a plan set in advance, steady effort over time, and the discipline to stick with the plan when conditions change.

Quick facts

• Name: Steven J. Musmanno, MBA, AIFA
• Based in: Melville, New York
• Current roles: Co-Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer, APS Pension & Financial Services. Chief Investment Officer, APS Investment Management. Co-Founder, Managing Member and Chief Compliance Officer, APS Wealth Management, LLC
• Focus: ERISA fiduciary governance, 401(k), 403(b) and defined benefit plans, risk-based portfolios, wealth management

Steven J. Musmanno is an investment adviser representative of APS Wealth Management, LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. This page is for general information only and is not investment advice.

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