Branden Carney, CFP®

Branden’s career in the financial industry began with Plante Moran Financial Advisors in 2016, after receiving his degree in Finance from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. He then moved on to work as client relationship manager with two other firms before moving into the position of Family Wealth Planner at Melone Private Wealth Family Wealth Planners.

As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, Branden provides comprehensive financial planning strategies for professional athletes, business owners, and high net worth families, to help protect and preserve current levels of wealth as they make their way to and through retirement.

Branden is married to his wife, Katarina, and has four kids: Mariella, Verona, Leletta, and Santino.  In his free time, he enjoys relaxing with family, golfing, and watching the Detroit and MSU sports teams.

 Thought Leadership

• Branden has appeared on the Walter Crosby Podcast: Sales and Cigars.  His episode is Building Trust with Branden Carney.  During the podcast Branden covered:
  • Building trust with your clients. 
  • The full spectrum: With longer retirements now, people have to change the way they think on how to create the money for their retirement. 
  • The variables that might affect your retirement plans.
  • The financial industry is all about planning. 
• Links to Podcast 
  • Spotify: Sales & Cigars: Building Trust with Branden Carney
  • Apple: Sales & Cigars: Building Trust with Branden Carney
  • Website: Sales & Cigars: Building Trust with Branden Carney
• Authority Magazine interview: Investing During The Pandemic: Branden Carney of Melone Private Wealth On What We Should Do With Our Money Considering All of the Volatility and Uncertainty Today
• Branden was been named a 2026 Five Star Wealth Manager* award winner. It was the third year he had been named a Five Star Wealth Manager* This award is recognized by Hour Detroit Magazine Fortune Magazine and featured in Bloomberg Businessweek. This award is given to the top 8% of wealth planners in the Detroit-area.* Click here to learn more

This award was issued on 05/01/2026 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 09/10/2025 through 03/03/2026. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 3902 Detroit-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 262 (7 % of candidates) were named 2026 Five Star Wealth Managers.  The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2025: 3,715, 289, 8%, 5/1/25, 8/21/24 - 2/28/25;  2024: 3,651, 278, 8%, 5/1/24, 9/5/23 - 2/29/24;  2023: 3,550, 312, 8.7%, 5/1/23, 9/5/22 - 3/3/23;  2022: 3273, 304, 9%, 5/1/22, 9/3/21 - 3/11/22; 2021: 3260, 275, 8%, 5/1/21, 8/10/20 - 3/19/21; 2020: 3105, 284, 9%, 5/1/20, 8/1/19 - 3/20/20; 2019: 2987, 347, 12%, 5/1/19, 8/21/18 - 3/19/19; 2018: 3069, 322, 10%, 5/1/18, 8/30/17 - 3/19/18; 2017: 1836, 356, 19%, 5/1/17, 8/24/16 - 2/24/17; 2016: 1961, 630, 32%, 4/1/16, 10/22/15 - 3/9/16; 2015: 2238, 627, 28%, 5/1/15, 10/22/14 - 3/9/15; 2014: 3448, 658, 19%, 5/1/14, 10/22/13 - 3/9/14; 2013: 2762, 749, 27%, 5/1/13, 10/22/12 - 3/9/13; 2012: 2658, 745, 28%, 5/1/12, 10/22/11 - 3/9/12. Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria - required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; to read the rest of disclosure click here