2ND STORY WEALTH PLANNERS

Scott M. Brenner, Managing Partner and Founder, and John P. Guinee, Partner, lead investment sourcing and allocation decisions. Both principals have backgrounds in institutional real estate and private markets. The firm's structure means they invest their own capital alongside client families, making every allocation decision a personal one as well.

The firm sources through a network of regional developers, commercial mortgage brokers, and professional contacts built by Brenner and Guinee over multi-decade careers. Opportunities are primarily off-market or lightly marketed, reflecting the firm's preference for direct negotiation rather than competitive auction processes.

2ND STORY operates as a registered investment advisor but functions more like a deal-by-deal co-investment vehicle. The firm does not raise blind-pool funds; instead, it presents individual opportunities to its small group of client families, who invest alongside the principals on a transaction-by-transaction basis.

The firm focuses on direct commercial real estate equity—particularly multifamily and industrial properties—and private credit, including mezzanine debt positions in middle-market operating companies. Its real estate investments span acquisition, development, and repositioning across Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern markets.

The firm deliberately maintains a small, concentrated client base—fewer than twenty families based on available public records—to preserve the co-investment dynamic and personal attention that defines its model. This is not a platform scaling toward hundreds of relationships.

The firm concentrates on Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Florida—regions where its client families hold legacy interests and where the principals maintain deep professional networks. It does not pursue opportunistic or unfamiliar geographies.

No. The firm does not publish AUM figures, does not participate in industry benchmarking surveys, and its regulatory filings do not provide a clear picture of aggregate deployment. This opacity is consistent with its posture as a private family office rather than a commercial asset gatherer.