Of course, Merrill also acknowledged the importance of sound guidance for these newest investors on the block. His firm also proceeded to provide its clients with simple yet sound and conservative financial advice. No wonder then that Merrill Lynch, E.A. Pierce and Cassatt became one of the largest investment companies in the world.
Merill certainly was a gold mine of provocative yet profitable ideas with many of them ahead of their time. By encouraging average Americans to invest in stocks and bonds, he was also encouraging them to take an active part in the economy. He was indeed well-known for his outspoken statements about the crucial significance of a free capital market in a country that prides itself on free enterprise.
Merill had the expertise and experience in his passion for promoting investments among average Americans. After working in a variety of companies, he established Charles E. Merrill & Co., which later became known as Merrill Lynch & Company, in 1914. He was an investor at heart.
By 1915, Merrill established Merrill Lynch with his friend, Edmund C. Lynch. He then built his wealth via a series of smart moves, such as providing for investment banking services to Safeway, restructuring Merrill Lynch and Co., and investing in KMart's forerunner, the S. S. Kresge Corporation.
Merrill is also a well-known philanthropist. His Charles E. Merrill Trust supports the Merrill College at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Merrill Science Center at Amherst College. In 1976, he was inducted into the prestigious Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.