Carry: Platform Profile

Overview

Carry combines several businesses that are easy to blur together if the review focuses only on the brand.

The current platform offers:

• Solo 401(k) plans;
• Traditional and Roth IRAs;
• taxable brokerage accounts;
• stocks, ETFs and mutual funds;
• robo-advisor and cash-management products;
• alternative investments;
• crypto in self-directed IRAs.

The critical distinction is that the legal provider changes with the product.

Current Carry disclosures identify:

• The Vibes Company Inc. as the membership/platform parent;
• Carry Advisors LLC as an SEC-registered investment adviser for applicable managed/advisory accounts;
• Global Carry LLC as a broker-dealer introducing applicable brokerage accounts;
• DriveWealth LLC as the carrying broker for brokerage accounts;
• American Estate & Trust, Inc. (AET) as the custodian for self-directed IRAs used for alternatives and crypto;
• Grasshopper Bank, N.A. as the banking provider for Carry Solo 401(k) bank accounts.

This is therefore not one account with every regulatory protection applying to every asset.

May fit better for

• self-employed investors seeking an integrated Solo 401(k) platform;
• investors who want both public markets and alternatives in one broader ecosystem;
• investors using backdoor or mega-backdoor Roth workflows;
• users willing to pay a membership fee for integrated retirement-plan tools;
• investors sourcing private real estate, private-company or private-fund opportunities;
• investors who want crypto inside a self-directed IRA.

May fit less well for

• investors who want a free brokerage-only IRA;
• investors who assume every Carry account is held by the same custodian;
• users who want Carry Advisors to select self-directed alternative investments for them;
• investors unwilling to pay $499 annually for alternative-investment access;
• users who need instant processing of private deals;
• investors who want SIPC or FDIC protection to apply to alternative assets or crypto.

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Core and Pro are membership tiers, not investment-management fees

Current Carry pricing states:

• Core:
• Annual: $299
• Public markets: Yes
• Solo 401K: Yes
• IRA: Yes
• Alternatives: No
• Crypto: No
• Pro:
• Annual: $499
• Includes Core: Yes
• Alternatives: Yes
• Crypto in IRA: Yes

Current FAQ material also references monthly equivalents in some contexts, but the main consumer page displays $299/year and $499/year.

The annual membership fee should not be mechanically combined with:

• custodian fees;
• crypto transaction fees;
• fund expense ratios;
• robo-advisor/advisory fees;
• alternative-investment issuer fees.

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Alternative investing requires Pro

Current Carry materials state that alternative investing is available only on the Pro tier.

Examples of alternative investments supported in current materials include:

• real estate;
• startup/company equity;
• private funds;
• other investor-sourced private opportunities subject to review.

Current alternative-investment instructions warn that the end-to-end process can take several weeks and that Carry cannot guarantee processing before a deal deadline.

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Carry's self-directed IRA uses AET

Current disclosures identify:

• SDIRA custodian: American Estate & Trust, Inc. (AET)
• Carry Advisors manages SDIRA alternatives: No

The accountholder directs the alternative investment.

Carry provides workflow and platform infrastructure.

This also means securities protections attached to a separate brokerage account should not be copied onto an AET-held self-directed alternative asset.

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Carry also has brokerage IRAs through a separate stack

Current Carry disclosures state that brokerage accounts are introduced by Global Carry LLC and carried by DriveWealth LLC.

The current site also states that IRA plans used for brokerage products can be opened through DriveWealth.

That means a Carry user can encounter different legal wrappers under one login.

"All Carry IRA assets are custodied by AET."

and do not write:

"All Carry IRA assets are carried by DriveWealth."

Both would flatten separate product structures.

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Current AET alternative-asset fees are separate from membership

Carry's current fee page publishes the following AET references for IRA alternatives and crypto:

• AET alternative IRA:
• Account maintenance: $0
• Crypto transaction: 1%
• Position processing reference excluding crypto: $100 per position
• ACH deposit withdrawal: $0
• Incoming outgoing wire admin fee: $0
• Conversion or recharacterization: $0

The page describes the $100 line as a sending/receiving wire-related fee excluding crypto and labels it per position.

Preserve that wording conservatively rather than inventing a simpler universal transaction fee.

The key point is that the $499 Pro membership is not the only possible cost.

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Solo 401(k) alternative-asset fees are different from IRA alternative fees

Carry's current fee page separately lists Solo 401(k) alternative transactions.

Current references include:

• Solo 401K alternatives:
• Account maintenance: $0
• Outgoing US wire: $0
• Outgoing non US wire: $0
• ACH transfer: $0
• Incoming US wire: $0

The product wrapper changes the fee table.

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Carry Solo 401(k) assets must remain on Carry under the current setup

An August 2026 Carry FAQ states that all Carry Solo 401(k) plans must maintain all plan assets on Carry and that the platform does not support a Carry Solo 401(k) with assets custodied at another firm.

That is a meaningful operational constraint for someone trying to split a plan between several providers.

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Current Solo 401(k) functionality is broader than a standard brokerage plan

Carry currently emphasizes:

• pre-tax Solo 401(k) accounts;
• Roth Solo 401(k) accounts;
• after-tax accounts for mega-backdoor Roth workflows;
• participant loans where eligible;
• alternative investments on Pro;
• public-market investing;
• automated contribution and investment workflows.

The plan can be useful for a self-employed investor who wants tax-planning and investment administration integrated.

It is more operationally complex than an ordinary brokerage IRA.

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Crypto belongs to the AET self-directed IRA structure

Current Carry disclosures state:

• Crypto available: Yes
• Crypto account wrapper: Self-Directed IRA with AET
• Crypto transaction fee: 1%
• FDIC crypto: No
• SIPC crypto: No

Crypto is not protected simply because another Carry account uses a FINRA/SIPC brokerage firm or an FDIC-insured bank.

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Public-market SIPC and bank FDIC protection are product-specific

Current Carry disclosures distinguish:

• SIPC coverage for applicable DriveWealth brokerage securities/cash under brokerage rules;
• FDIC coverage for qualifying cash swept to program banks;
• FDIC banking protection for qualifying Solo 401(k) bank deposits at Grasshopper Bank;
• no FDIC/SIPC protection for crypto held in the AET self-directed IRA structure.

The platform should never show one global "insured" badge for Carry.

Assessment

Carry is broader than a self-directed IRA custodian and narrower than an all-purpose wealth manager.

Its strongest differentiator is bringing several tax-advantaged account workflows into one software environment.

That breadth creates the review's biggest risk: legal-role confusion.

AET, DriveWealth, Global Carry, Carry Advisors and Grasshopper Bank do not provide interchangeable services. The protections and fees attached to one wrapper should not be applied to another.

The second major issue is pricing. $499 per year unlocks alternatives on Pro, but alternative investments and crypto can still generate separate custodian or transaction fees.