Darsh Kumar, CFP®
My Mission Statement
About Me
Darsh focus is in comprehensive financial planning and retirement planning. He takes pride in his caring approach and listens to uncover each client's individual needs and priorities to help achieve their goals. He enjoys working closely with his clients to offer innovative strategies to help meet their complex needs. Darsh takes the time to understand every client to develop a diversified portfolio of investments focused on their specific objectives, aspirations, and risk tolerance.
Since joining Morgan Stanley in 2016, Darsh has earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification to keep up with the most current strategies that may be available to his clients. He also holds the FINRA Series 7 and 66, as well as the Life, Variable and Health Insurance licenses. In his prior career, Darsh was a Ph.D. Staff Researcher and Project Team Lead at General Motors for more than two decades. Darsh deeply understands the needs of corporate executives and is highly detail oriented. He has been on the same side of the table of his clients and has an abiding respect for their priorities. As a life-long learner, Darsh holds a Ph.D and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
A resident of Troy, Michigan, Darsh has two sons and three grandchildren. He is passionate about his community and is actively involved with the Salvation Army, UNICEF, Bharatiya Temple of Troy, and the Sankara Eye Foundation. Outside of the office, he enjoys yoga, music, college football, and reading.
NMLS#: 1554845
Meet the Team
A lawyer, a doctor, a professor, a sales rep, and two new guys walks into a building with countless resources…
And while that may be the plot to the next comedy blockbuster, here at The GMA Group at Morgan Stanley it is the accumulation of life experiences that has led to decades of service across many industries. Once aggregated, this Financial Advisory team brings variety of thought and strategies well equipped to help suit you, your family, and your business.
Four members of the team are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS™(CFP®), but each have a different areas of focus that they focus on together. This allows for the GMA Group to be a a full-service practice with a feedback sharing culture to better serve our clients.
Senior Vice President, Wealth Management, Financial Advisor, Portfolio Management Director, Insurance Planning Director, Family Wealth Advisor, Financial Planning Specialist,
Workplace Advisor – Equity Compensation
Email: Joe.Fisher@morganstanley.com
Phone: (248) 740-7149
Senior Vice President, Wealth Management, Financial Advisor, Executive Financial Services Director, Insurance Planning Director, Portfolio Management Director, Financial Planning Specialist, Workplace Advisor – Equity Compensation
Email: David.Zukowski@morganstanley.com
Phone: (248) 740-7101
First Vice President, Wealth Management, Financial Advisor, Workplace Advisor – Equity Compensation
Email: Brian.Blaker@morganstanley.com
Phone: (248) 740-7168
Financial Advisor, Portfolio Manager, Financial Planning Specialist
Email: Matthew.Merrifield@morganstanley.com
Phone: 313-343-8425
Vice President, Wealth Management, Financial Advisor, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™,
Workplace Advisor - Equity Compensation, Portfolio Manager
Email: JC.Wilhelm@morganstanley.com
Phone: (248) 740-7142
Registered Senior Client Service Associate
Email: kim.vallet@morganstanley.com
Phone: (248) 740-7179
Senior Client Service Associate
Email: jennifer.kafoury@morganstanley.com
Phone: (248) 740-7188
Comprehensive Financial Planning
Regardless of what stage your life is in - moving ahead in your career, enjoying retirement, or somewhere in between - as your Financial Advisors, I can help you achieve your financial goals.
Using a suite of tools that includes goal-specific analysis, I can work with you to create a realistic, holistic strategy that integrates the various aspects of your financial life, including your investments and cash management needs.
I can create your personal roadmap to help achieve and protect your goals — a framework that makes the connection between your life goals and your financial resources and provides a baseline for future discussions.
I thoroughly review your mortgage, car loans, credit cards, and any other debts that you may have in order to help determine where you can save on interest and create a timeline for your debt payments by prioritizing which ones should be paid off first.
I take care of your retirement accounts and other investments based on your comfort level with risk and your current tax circumstances, tailoring your financial strategy to your unique situation, needs, and goals.
I take an extremely close look at your financial profile to decipher what type(s) of insurance most fit your needs, and determine if your current insurance policies are best suited for you and your goals.
Leading up to and through retirement, I help you identify the most appropriate ways to obtain the income you need and help ensure that you are on track to achieve for financial goals.
Regardless of your current financial circumstances, it is crucial to have a backup plan for your money. I regularly review your finances with you and coordinate with your estate attorney to help ensure that your wishes are met in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.
This helpful resource outlines the 2025 tax rate schedule, education and health savings account limits, retirement contribution and deduction limits, among other information. With tax season seemingly always right around the corner, it's best to be as informed as possible.
A Tradition of Serving Your Financial Needs
As your Portfolio Manager, I will work closely with you to understand your needs while maintaining the focus and discipline necessary to guide your portfolio in the most challenging market cycles. A disciplined, four-step investment process underpins the program and helps to develop a long-term perspective about building and managing wealth.
By leveraging the global resources of Morgan Stanley, I am able to monitor the events that affect your financial objectives. I also study trends and developments that shape the investment environment, drive the economy and ultimately impact your portfolio's performance. You'll find that your experience with me, training and investment philosophy offer guidance—both in ongoing portfolio management decisions and understanding investment risk while keeping your long-term goals in view.
- Establish Financial Objectives
- Define Investment Strategy
- Evaluate and Select Investments
- Ongoing Review Process
- Personalized Portfolios
- Comprehensive Communications
- Client Focus
- Asset-Based Fee
Cybersecurity Resource Center
Your security is our top priority. Morgan Stanley proactively defends our systems and monitors our digital landscapes to anticipate issues before they arise and responds appropriately when they do.
The Firm is actively supporting a multitude of layers of security. Security includes the following; strong encryption protocols designed to protect your data, continuous monitoring to help detect and prevent fraudulent activity in your accounts, routine testing of our systems to identify potential vulnerabilities, and independent reviews by outside security firms to penetration test our applications and evaluate our processes.
Safeguarding your assets and personal information is paramount to us. Learn about our extensive security measures and take advantage of our numerous resources and ideas that are geared towards helping you stay protected on the World Wide Web.
Whether it's strengthening your passwords or treating emails from unknown senders with more caution, you can take a number of steps to help reduce the threat of identity theft, online scams, malware, fraud and more.
As companies accelerate the move toward cloud computing, cybersecurity challenges have unequivocally intensified. Learn how two key software markets are poised to converge to mitigate new threats.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) allows you to add additional verification to confirm your identity and protect access to your accounts. This can help safeguard your accounts in the event that your username and password are compromised.
Cryptocurrency's rising popularity has been accompanied by an increase in scams.. Scammers gravitate towards cryptocurrency because payments can be instantaneous and are typically irreversible. Cybercriminals may ask for cryptocurrency payments upfront with varying incentives, such as doubling investments, fake giveaways or job training.
While you can't eliminate the risk of being a victim of a cybercrime, you can control how you react if your identity, accounts, devices or information is compromised. Responding quickly and comprehensively limits the damage from being hacked, facilitates a rapid recovery and provides you with some needed peace of mind.
Location
Portfolio Insights
Financial Wellness
- Reduce employee stress,
- Improve retention and engagement, and
- Set themselves apart by offering comprehensive financial wellness benefits.
1Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors or Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for legal matters.
2Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors or Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for legal matters.
3Morgan Stanley offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences or review our Understanding Your Brokerage and Investment Advisory Relationships brochure available at www.morganstanley.com/wealth-relationshipwithms/pdfs/understandingyourrelationship.pdf.
4When Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors (collectively, “Morgan Stanley”) provide “investment advice” regarding a retirement or welfare benefit plan account, an individual retirement account or a Coverdell education savings account (“Retirement Account”), Morgan Stanley is a “fiduciary” as those terms are defined under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”), as applicable. When Morgan Stanley provides investment education, takes orders on an unsolicited basis or otherwise does not provide “investment advice”, Morgan Stanley will not be considered a “fiduciary” under ERISA and/or the Code. For more information regarding Morgan Stanley’s role with respect to a Retirement Account, please visit www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/dol. Tax laws are complex and subject to change. Morgan Stanley does not provide tax or legal advice. Individuals are encouraged to consult their tax and legal advisors (a) before establishing a Retirement Account, and (b) regarding any potential tax, ERISA and related consequences of any investments or other transactions made with respect to a Retirement Account. Individuals should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning, charitable giving, philanthropic planning and other legal matters.
5Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC does not accept appointments nor will it act as a trustee but it will provide access to trust services through an appropriate third-party corporate trustee.
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters.
6Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is the trade name of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, a registered broker-dealer in the United States. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is a business of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.
Check the background of our Firm and Investment Professionals on FINRA's BrokerCheck*.
The information, products and services described here are intended only for individuals residing in states where this Financial Advisor is properly registered as described in this site.
Morgan Stanley reserves the right, to the extent permitted under applicable law, to retain and monitor all electronic communications. Morgan Stanley will not accept purchase or sale orders via any Internet site, social media site and/or its messaging systems. Morgan Stanley does not endorse and is not responsible and assumes no liability for content, products or services posted by third-parties on any Internet site, social media site and/or its messaging systems. All electronic communications are subject to terms available at the following link:
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The securities/instruments, services, investments and investment strategies discussed in this material may not be appropriate for all investors. The appropriateness of a particular investment, investment strategy or service will depend on an investor's individual circumstances and objectives. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC recommends that investors independently evaluate particular investments, strategies and services, and encourages investors to seek the advice of a Financial Advisor or Private Wealth Advisor. This material does not provide individually tailored investment advice. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it.
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors or Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Individuals should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for legal matters.
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”) is not implying an affiliation, sponsorship, endorsement with/of the third party or that any monitoring is being done by Morgan Stanley of any information contained within the website. Morgan Stanley is not responsible for the information contained on the third-party website or the use of or inability to use such site. Nor do we guarantee their accuracy or completeness.
The views, opinions or advice contained within third party websites or materials are solely those of the author, who is not a Morgan Stanley employee, and do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, or its affiliates. The strategies and/or investments referenced may not be appropriate for all investors as the appropriateness of a particular investment or strategy will depend on an investor's individual circumstances and objectives.
*References to length of service at Morgan Stanley include years at Morgan Stanley and predecessor firms.
CFP Board owns the marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements.
The use of the CDFA designation does not permit the rendering of legal advice by Morgan Stanley or its Financial Advisors which may only be done by a licensed attorney. The CDFA designation is not intended to imply that either Morgan Stanley or its Financial Advisors are acting as experts in this field.
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