Guides › Financial Advisor Fees
Updated September 28, 2026. Quick answer: Merit Financial Advisors is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser (CRD #142457, confirmed ACTIVE this session via SEC IAPD). Per its own current fee brochure, a $500,000 account would run up to $12,500 a year (the published maximum) under its published fee schedule. Already a client and thinking about leaving? Budget $50 if Schwab custodies your account. This review covers what its fee brochure and current SEC registration confirm today; this firm also has a fiduciary-status page and minimum-investment page on this site.
For a closer look at this firm: Merit Financial Advisors Alternatives.
Merit Financial Advisors at a glance
| Fact | What Merit Financial Advisors’ own pages say |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | Merit Financial Group, LLC |
| Registration | Merit Financial Group, LLC is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser (CRD #142457, confirmed ACTIVE this session via SEC IAPD). |
| Fee on a $500,000 account | Up to $12,500 a year (the published maximum), per its own current brochure |
| Minimum to open an account | See the minimum-investment page for Merit Financial Advisors |
| Cost to leave (exit fee) | $50 if Schwab custodies your account |
What Merit Financial Advisors’ own fee schedule charges
CRD 142457 is ACTIVE and SEC-registered (Approved 1/31/2007), confirmed live via IAPD on 2026-09-28. The brochure dated June 8, 2026 states total AUM of $10,576,048,244 (about $10.58 billion) as of December 31, 2024. No dollar minimum fee is stated for the direct asset management fee; Item 7 notes the firm may impose a minimum fee or minimum account balance but discloses no figure.
“The annual investment advisory fee charged ranges up to a maximum of 2.50% of the assets held in the account.”
Merit’s Item 5 sets a single stated ceiling of up to 2.50% of AUM for its direct asset management fee, so the figures below price a new client at that maximum rate; no dollar minimum fee applies to override it.
| Account balance | Annual fee |
|---|---|
| $250,000 | $6,250 |
| $500,000 | $12,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $25,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $50,000 |
See the full breakdown, including how the figure is calculated, on Merit Financial Advisors’ own fee page.
Registration
Merit Financial Group, LLC is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser (CRD #142457, confirmed ACTIVE this session via SEC IAPD).
This is a registration confirmation only, not a fiduciary-standard verdict (a registered investment adviser can still be a dual registrant with a broker-dealer, which changes which standard applies in each capacity). For the fiduciary-standard question itself, see the fiduciary-status page for Merit Financial Advisors.
What it costs to leave
Merit Financial Group, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “Upon notification of termination or within a reasonable time after learning of your termination of our services, we will seek to return pro-rata, a refund of unearned advisory fees.” Merit Financial Group, LLC names four possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own published fee schedule states “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC / National Financial Services LLC (Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services), SEI Investments Management Corp, and Argent Trust Company disclose no comparable line item (an honest gap).
The full walkthrough for Merit Financial Advisors is on our how to leave Merit Financial Advisors page; the general mechanics of switching financial advisors and a dated termination letter apply regardless of firm.
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- Form ADV Part 2A (June 8, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1047500
- SEC IAPD firm summary (CRD #142457, checked September 28, 2026): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/142457
Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing directly on Merit Financial Advisors’ own current fee brochure, linked above, and a fresh SEC IAPD registration check run the same day. As of September 28, 2026, this site publishes a fiduciary-status page and a minimum-investment page for Merit Financial Advisors; where the exit-fee page already exists it is linked above and drawn from that already-sourced page. Any fact we could not independently confirm is named as an honest gap rather than presented as verified. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice, and it is not a substitute for reading Merit Financial Advisors’ own Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS. We have not used Merit Financial Advisors as a client. Merit Financial Advisors did not pay for, review, or influence this content. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.
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