Our Story and Services

With over 3 decades of industry experience, our in-depth knowledge of credit and capital markets allow us to provide novel solutions to a variety of clients from Superfund sites and corporations to ERISA plans and high net worth individuals and families. When it comes to serving our clients, our goal is to go beyond the efficient management of your wealth and help create a road map to guide you towards a future worth striving for. We want to earn your trust through our diligent and transparent communication as well as through the methods with which we are able to address your concerns.

Our team approach provides several competitive distinctions, beginning with a time-tested process for portfolio creation backed by the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) and Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®) designations. We utilize a dynamic and systematic investment philosophy which allows us to be proactive and yet react efficiently to the ever-evolving economic environment by leveraging the intellectual capital and information flow from Morgan Stanley.
Services Include
Check the background of Our Firm and Investment Professionals on FINRA's BrokerCheck.*

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTLEMENT FUNDS

The Lupu Group offers comprehensive institutional consulting services to fiduciaries such as superfunds, retirement plans, foundations, and endowments, to help them address the challenges they face when overseeing large pools of assets.

We provide a clear, prudent process to help you mitigate investment and fiduciary liability risks. Designed to understand and fulfill your responsibilities at every stage of a funds lifecycle, we'll work with you to clearly define your objectives and develop tailored strategies to meet your goals.
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    Cash Flow Modeling Analysis
    Whether in the collection phase or well into their lifecycle, we organize your data of anticipated cash flows and the effects on the corpus of the fund to help determine the appropriate target rate of return.
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    Investment Policy Statement (IPS) Consulting Maintenance
    We'll assist in establishing a formalized document that defines the roles and responsibilities of individuals, in the context of the explicit objectives and assumptions for the assets, to provide current and future fiduciaries a basis for continuity and guidance.
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    Customized Asset Allocation
    Taking everything into account, we'll work with your investment committee to implement a prudent set of targets and ranges for broad asset class inclusion and weightings designed to achieve the appropriate risk/reward profile for the fund.
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    Passive vs. Active Management Analysis
    We believe in controlling investment expenses however possible through low-cost vehicles and maximizing returns from efficient markets where appropriate.

    Additionally, we believe in selecting best in breed active portfolio managers in spaces that warrant a higher degree of expertise.
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    Regular Performance Reporting
    We'll assist the circulation of quarterly reviews to your investment committee to monitor the fund's progress and adherence to its stated IPS goals and parameters.

    We ensure each review is comprehensive and encompasses customized benchmarks and detailed attributions on equity and fixed income components in the context of the overall market.

Solutions for high-net-worth individuals and families

The Lupu Group offers a holistic approach towards managing wealth by simplifying the often complex lives of high-net-worth individuals and their families. As your primary advisor, we'll coordinate an internal team of multi-disciplinary professionals on your behalf to deliver a full suite of solutions and strategies.
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    Investment Management
    We design and provide a comprehensive review of asset allocation with respect to risk tolerance, return expectations, tax treatment, security concentration, and other considerations required by the client based on their financial circumstance.
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    Customized Income Portfolios
    Our experience in credit markets coupled with Morgan Stanley's intellectual capital and skilled trading partners allow us to provide our clients with bond portfolios that are designed to align their cash flow objectives with their liquidity needs.
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    Retirement Planning
    Whether in the accumulation phase, nearing or already in retirement, we offer a complete review of retirement and taxable assets with respect to income needs to help determine appropriate investment and savings strategies.
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    Legacy and Estate Planning
    We have access to a team of dedicated internal wealth strategists that focus on reviewing existing trust and estate plans to help simplify the process of achieving your goals and how you'd wish to have your assets continue to serve your family and/or philanthropic endeavors.
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    Wealth Protection Strategies
    In addition to estate planning, we offer analysis of existing insurance policies to identify potential opportunities to improve cost or coverage and determine if there are gaps in protecting your beneficiaries.
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    Cash Management & Lending Solutions

PURSUING YOUR GOALS TOGETHER

We've developed a strong and active practice that includes a broad range of clients who need professional guidance from managing life-changing events and retirement planning to financing major acquisitions and achieving philanthropic goals.

Our mission is to provide quality strategies customized to your needs. Our goal is to be your primary source of financial advice. To this end, we concentrate our efforts on developing long-term relationships through a commitment to quality client service.
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    Discovery Process
    We'll take time to fully understand you, your family, and your goals when it comes to leaving a legacy you can be proud of. Whether you’re funding education, managing insurance risks, or looking to purchase a home we consider all your objectives beyond retirement planning when building your financial roadmap.
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    Forming Your Strategy
    Using your life goals as our compass, We’ll leverage the resources of Morgan Stanley to create a risk-balanced asset allocation and portfolio management strategy to help guide you towards success.
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    Implementing Your Plan
    We'll pair extensive investment research with planning analysis to provide prudent and proactive advice with the goal of encompassing changes that may impact our approach such as with personal circumstances and the financial environment.
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    Measuring Your Success
    We'll maintain an open, ongoing dialogue to share metrics around your portfolio and the capital markets environment. Ultimately, we’ll measure your progress towards your planning goals of comfort, success, and well-being into and throughout retirement.

Location

100 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 1900
Santa Monica, CA 90401
US
Direct:
(310) 319-5223(310) 319-5223

Meet The Lupu Group

About Maria Lupu

Maria has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, utilizing her in-depth knowledge of both credit and capital markets to service a variety of clients while ensuring a level of trust that their best interests will always be the foremost priority. Maria provides both institutional consulting services to various entities including corporations, Superfund sites, and ERISA plans as well as working closely with high-net-worth individuals and families.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2023, Maria was a Senior Vice President at RBC Wealth Management, as a member of the Institutional Consulting Group and as a Senior Portfolio Manager. She was consistently a member of the President and Chairman’s council. Maria began her investment advisory career at Wells Fargo, where after a 9 year tenure, she transitioned her practice to A.G. Edwards as an institutional consultant.

Maria holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) and Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®) designations, the Series 7, 31, and 66 securities licenses, as well as life, health and long-term care insurance licenses.

Maria was born in Romania and moved to Los Angeles at a young age. She currently lives in Pacific Palisades with her two beloved Wheaten Terriers and spends her free time playing competitive tennis, traveling around the world and figuring out her new real estate remodeling project. Maria graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu and is very involved with her community and member of the advisory board at the Riviera Country Club.

“I’ve always enjoyed working in the capital markets and finding ways to use them to help our clients succeed. One of my biggest enjoyments in my practice is interacting with clients and becoming familiar with the diverse backgrounds of the people we work with and understanding what their specific needs are. Getting to know them as well as we do really helps energize us in our work and help align our team’s extensive experience with our clients’ goals.
Securities Agent: CT, FL, HI, IL, MA, NC, NJ, NV, NY, OK, OR, TN, TX, WA, AL, AZ, CA, CO; General Securities Representative; Investment Advisor Representative; Managed Futures
CA Insurance License #: 0D21649

About Lauren Mobley

With over 15 years of industry experience, Lauren began her career on the insurance side of the financial services industry and shortly thereafter accepted a position with Lupu Wealth Strategies to pursue her interests in the capital markets and portfolio management. Lauren is dedicated to serving the needs of our clients in a multifaceted capacity. While attending to daily account and client portfolio maintenance, Lauren focuses on investment manager due diligence, performance reporting, reconciliation, and trade execution. Additionally, she provides a formalized framework to help fiduciaries adhere to their duties on institutional relationships.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Lauren worked at RBC Wealth Management, as a Senior Financial Associate. She originally joined the team at their former firm, A.G. Edwards and moved to RBC Wealth Management in the fall of 2008. Lauren holds the Series 7 and 66 securities licenses, as well as life, health and long-term care insurance licenses.

Lauren was born and raised in California, growing up in a small town in Silicon Valley. She later moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California with an academic scholarship, earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Global Business & International Finance. She lives in Beverly Hills and enjoys cooking, skiing and traveling around the country to visit her friends and family.
CA Insurance License #: 0F82364
Wealth Management
Global Investment Office

Portfolio Insights

Ready to start a conversation? Contact The Lupu Group today.
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.

For more information, please see the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC Client Relationship Summary.

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2Morgan Stanley’s investment advisory programs may require a minimum asset level and, depending on your specific investment objectives and financial position, may not be appropriate for you. Please see the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC program disclosure brochure (the “Morgan Stanley ADV”) for more information in the investment advisory programs available. The Morgan Stanley ADV is available at www.morganstanley.com/ADV.

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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.

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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.

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5Morgan 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.
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, charitable giving, philanthropic planning and other legal matters.

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6Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC is a registered Broker/Dealer, Member SIPC, and not a bank. Where appropriate, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC has entered into arrangements with banks and other third parties to assist in offering certain banking related products and services.

Investment, insurance and annuity products offered through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC are: NOT FDIC INSURED | MAY LOSE VALUE | NOT BANK GUARANTEED | NOT A BANK DEPOSIT | NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY

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7Products and services are provided by third party service providers, not Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”). Morgan Stanley may not receive a referral fee or have any input concerning such products or services. There may be additional service providers for comparative purposes. Please perform a thorough due diligence and make your own independent decision.
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, charitable giving, philanthropic planning and other legal matters.

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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.

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Awards Disclosures
CRC 6491812 (04/2024)