Courtesy of the Continuum Group
Team Name: The Continuum Group
Firm: Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Senior Members: Scott Siegel, Steven Rosbash, Bill DeMatteo, Joseph Carmody, Jaynie Siegel
Location: New York, NY
Team Custodied Assets: $7.5 billion
Background: Scott Siegel began his career in 1984 on the institutional fixed-income side before shifting to Bear Stearns in 1997 to advise high-net-worth clients. After Bear’s acquisition by JPMorgan, he led J.P. Morgan Securities while maintaining his client practice, joining Morgan Stanley in 2013 to build what is now The Continuum Group. Steven Rosbash, a former Goldman Sachs credit trader and Millennium portfolio manager, joined in 2014 and serves as CIO. Joseph Carmody began at UBS in 2007 and came to Morgan Stanley in 2013, focusing on financial planning and estate strategy. Jaynie Siegel came up through Morgan Stanley’s advisor training program and joined the team in 2018; She now leads next-generation and planning initiatives. Today, the 17-member team serves about 125 families, primarily business owners and entrepreneurs.
Client Relationships: Clients are served in pods with a senior advisor, a backup advisor, and a service associate—with specialists looped in as needed. “We see ourselves as a family office,” says Scott Siegel. “Each person may play a different role depending on what the client needs.” Rosbash says the model allows for nearly full in-house coverage: “We don’t want to be viewed simply as asset managers… Ninety-nine percent of what any client needs can be handled on this team.”
Competitive Edge: “Our experience matters most when markets get volatile,” says Siegel. “We’ve seen every cycle—when clients want to sell, we’re often the ones saying it’s time to buy.”
Unlike many peers, The Continuum Group manages most portfolios internally. “We have our own CIO, traders and portfolio managers for both fixed income and equities,” says Siegel. Rosbash adds that their institutional roots drive a risk-management mindset: “It’s about building strong risk-adjusted returns while keeping an eye on potential potholes.”
Investment Strategy: The group runs proprietary single-stock and ETF portfolios complemented by tax-loss-harvesting strategies and broad sector diversification. “We want real diversification—by sector, by strategy, by risk driver,” says Rosbash. On the fixed-income side, the goal is predictable, tax-advantaged income. “We’re not trying to take risk on the bond side—we want coupons that actually get paid,” he adds. The team also vets private-market opportunities directly through Morgan Stanley’s open-architecture platform. Recent preferences include private-equity secondaries (“attractive return profiles and quicker distributions”), special-situations credit over plain-vanilla private credit, and infrastructure tied to energy and digital build-outs. “We aim for exposures you can’t easily find in public markets and for absolute returns across the cycle,” says Rosbash. Carmody also ensures investments align with planning: “Many of our clients face estate-tax exposure, so asset location and liquidity strategy are integral parts of the plan.”
Best Advice: Avoid concentration and leverage. “Over-concentration is the first thing we warn about—every cycle ends,” says the elder Siegel. “Everyone wants to chase AI, but cycles don’t last forever.” Rosbash adds: “Over-leverage and over-concentration are the two fastest ways to get into trouble, whether in markets or real estate.” Jaynie Siegel underscores the team’s philosophy: “Most of our clients come to us to preserve wealth,” she says. “It’s not about beating a benchmark—it’s about helping them sleep at night.”
