Fintegrity is an independent, fee-only fiduciary adviser (CRD #292421) serving Fairfield County families who invest more than $2 million. You work directly with founder and managing principal Jeffrey Barnett, and our performance reporting is independently verified for GIPS compliance. See how we meet the four criteria every high-net-worth family should demand.
The Fairfield County wealth picture
Fairfield County is among the wealthiest places in the country — consistently near the top nationally for per-capita income — and its wealth has a distinct character. Towns like Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien, Westport, and Fairfield are home to hedge fund and private-equity principals, finance and corporate executives, and business owners, many of whom relocated from New York and hold complex, alternative, and concentrated assets. That profile creates planning problems a generic, product-driven relationship handles poorly.
Problem one: Connecticut is the only state with a gift tax
This is the one that catches Fairfield families off guard. Connecticut’s estate-and-gift-tax exemption is $15 million per person in 2026 (mirroring the federal figure), with a flat 12% rate above it — but Connecticut is the only state in the country that also taxes large lifetime gifts. New York residents can gift assets out of their taxable estate with no state gift tax; Connecticut residents cannot. For a Fairfield family above the exemption, the usual lifetime-gifting playbook — GRATs, spousal trusts, and other transfers heavily used by hedge fund and private-equity families here — has to be structured with Connecticut’s gift tax explicitly in mind, and Connecticut offers no spousal portability. Getting this wrong is expensive; getting it right takes coordination between your investment plan and a Connecticut trusts-and-estates attorney.
Problem two: complex, concentrated, and illiquid wealth
Fairfield County wealth is disproportionately tied up in alternative and concentrated positions — carried interest and fund interests, pre-IPO or restricted stock, and deferred compensation. These are harder to value, harder to diversify, and heavily tax-sensitive. Staged diversification, tax-lot management, and charitable strategies offer a disciplined way to reduce concentration risk without an outsized tax hit, which is exactly the kind of high-stakes problem a fee-only fiduciary should be solving with you.
Problem three: the New York connection
Many Fairfield residents still earn income in New York or moved from the city for its lower income-tax rate (Connecticut’s top rate is 6.99%, well below New York City’s combined 14.776%). For those who still work in New York, the state taxes those wages and Connecticut provides a credit — an interaction that isn’t automatic and benefits from active coordination. Connecticut also taxes capital gains as ordinary income, with no preferential rate, so the timing of gains matters here too.
Geography is a non-issue
Most Fairfield County clients work with us primarily by secure video, with in-person meetings available by appointment at our Tenafly, New Jersey office. Wherever in the county you live, the relationship works the same way.
What working with Fintegrity looks like for a Fairfield County family
Illustrative scenarios, not specific clients:
- A Greenwich hedge fund or private-equity partner with carried interest and an estate above the exemption, who needs a gifting strategy built around Connecticut’s gift tax.
- A finance executive who relocated from Manhattan and wants investment and tax decisions coordinated across the New York connection.
- A retired partner in New Canaan or Westport holding concentrated fund and equity positions, who needs a diversification and income plan that manages both risk and tax.
