Merit Financial Advisors: Platform Profile

Overview

Merit Financial Advisors is the consumer brand used by SEC-registered adviser Merit Financial Group, LLC.

Current legal identity:

• Brand: Merit Financial Advisors
• Investment adviser: Merit Financial Group, LLC
• CRD: 142457
• SEC number: 801-67462

The current brochure does not support one universal Merit fee or minimum.

Its direct asset-management fee can be negotiated up to 2.50%, while advisers can use different pricing methodologies and some independent-contractor relationships add separate platform fees.

May fit better for

• households seeking financial planning and investment management together;
• clients comfortable with adviser-negotiated pricing;
• investors wanting access to a national adviser network;
• clients who need review of outside or held-away investments;
• eligible investors considering non-traded or alternative investments;
• households comfortable evaluating advisory, brokerage and insurance roles separately.

May fit less well for

• users who want one public universal fee schedule;
• investors who assume the brochure's illustrative tier table is Merit's standard pricing;
• clients seeking an algorithm-only low-cost robo;
• users who want one universal custodian;
• investors who assume the 2.50% ceiling is an all-in cost cap;
• clients who want no additional platform or third-party manager expenses.

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Direct asset-management fees can be up to 2.50%

Current brochure:

• Direct asset management fee ceiling: 2.50%
• Fee negotiable: Yes

The exact fee can depend on:

• adviser;
• account value;
• account type;
• service complexity;
• agreed fee method;
• relationship history.

There is no one current firmwide minimum

Current disclosure says Merit may impose a minimum fee or minimum account balance as set forth in the client's advisory agreement.

Merit can use tiered, linear or flat asset-management fees

Current brochure permits multiple methods.

The client's agreement controls.

The 1.50% / 1.25% / 1.00% table is an example only

Merit's brochure contains an illustration showing how a hypothetical tiered fee could apply to a $500,000 account:

• first $100,000 at 1.50%;
• next $150,000 at 1.25%;
• remaining $250,000 at 1.00%.

That table explains the mechanics of tiered billing.

It is not the firm's published standard schedule.

Lovable must not extract those three percentages into the canonical “Merit pricing” field.

Independent-contractor adviser relationships can add platform fees

Current brochure describes additional platform fees for clients of independent-contractor investment adviser representatives.

• Independent contractor platform fee corporate team managed: 0.25%
• Independent contractor platform fee IAR managed: 0.35%
• Platform fee additional possible: Yes

This is one of the most important Batch 57 cost-layer disclosures.

Held-away account technology can add another cost

Merit can use a platform to manage or provide trading authority over eligible held-away assets.

Current brochure describes a platform cost around 0.30% annualized that Merit may pass through in whole or in part depending on the arrangement.

Keep the platform charge separate from the negotiated Merit advisory fee.

Billing can be in advance or arrears

Current brochure supports different billing timing by agreement.

Wrap relationships are not a universal current product state

Merit has a wrap-fee brochure and can maintain wrap arrangements, including legacy/transferred relationships and certain existing programs.

The existence of a wrap brochure does not mean every new Merit account is a wrap account.

A wrap fee also does not guarantee that every underlying investment or third-party product expense is included.

Merit does not accept performance-based fees under the ordinary advisory brochure

Current disclosure:

• Performance based fee: No

Private or non-traded investments can still have their own economic structures and risks.

Alternative and non-traded investments can be used

Current brochure allows portfolios to include non-traded public or private securities or investments where appropriate.

Product-specific qualification, valuation, liquidity and fee terms control.

Adviser, broker and insurance roles must remain separate

Merit's public materials describe a business that can include advisory relationships as well as commission-based brokerage or insurance activity through applicable entities and licensed professionals.

The canonical review is for the RIA relationship through Merit Financial Group, LLC.

Current public “assets served” is broader than advisory AUM

Merit's current public materials can report a combined asset figure that includes advisory assets, brokerage assets, employer-plan assets and ESOP assets.

Store the metric label and date if imported.

Assessment

Merit's most important due-diligence fact is not the 2.50% ceiling by itself.

The actual economics can depend on:

negotiated advisory fee + adviser model + possible 0.25%/0.35% platform fee + held-away platform cost + outside-manager/product costs.

The second guard is the illustrative tier table. It is an example of fee math, not a standard schedule to publish as Merit's headline pricing.