Merit Financial Advisors

• A percentage of assets under your management
• Hourly charges
• Fixed fees (other than subscription fees)
• Other

Item 5.E lists how the firm is compensated for its advice; Items 5.B, 6.A, and 7.A show whether its people or related companies can also earn commissions. Percentage of assets, fixed, hourly, subscription, and performance-based fees come from clients (a performance-based fee depends on investment results); commissions come with a sale or a trade, often from the company behind the product. How fees, commissions, and other arrangements differ

See the firm's brochure (dated June 8, 2026) for its fees and any account minimum, on the SEC's IAPD site.

$23,875,298,692 as of October 2026, filing dated September 24, 2026.

A measure of scale, not skill or returns. Discretionary means the firm decides trades; non-discretionary means clients approve each one. What assets under management means

A firm with no individual clients is an institutional manager even if it manages billions; the mix tells you whom the practice is built around.

• Financial planning services
• Portfolio management for individuals and/or small businesses
• Portfolio management for businesses (other than small businesses) or institutional clients
• Pension consulting services
• Selection of other advisers (including private fund managers)
• Educational seminars/workshops

Legal name

Merit Financial Group, LLC

Also doing business as

FIDUCIARY SERVICES, MERIT, MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS, REASON FINANCIAL, THE FAMILY HUG

Registration

SEC-registered investment adviser. Status as filed: Approved.

Registered since

2007 (19 years)

Employees

Total: 470. Performing investment advisory functions: 229.

Wrap fee program participation

Yes.

Custodians (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3))

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC

Custodians holding 10% or more of the firm's separately managed account assets, as filed on Form ADV (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3)). A custodian holds client assets; it does not endorse or supervise the firm. AdvisorCensus has no relationship with any custodian.

Other offices (Schedule D, Section 1.F)

24 other offices, as of the October 2026 filing

Albany, GAAlpharetta, GABerwyn, PABoca Raton, FLCharlotte, NCChicago, ILDenver, COFrisco, TXIssaquah, WAMadison, WIMiddleton, WINew Cumberland, PAPocatello, IDRockville, MDSan Antonio, TXSebring, FLSheboygan Falls, WISouthlake, TXSpokane, WATacoma, WAWest Bend, WIWhitefish Bay, WIWilliamsport, PAWilton, CT

States registered or notice-filed

53 states or jurisdictions

AKALARAZCACOCTDCDEFLGAHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMAMDMEMIMNMOMSMTNCNDNENHNJNMNVNYOHOKORPAPRRISCSDTNTXUTVAVIVTWAWIWVWY

SEC-registered investment advisers are examined by the SEC. SEC, state, and exempt registration

None Reports no disclosure items on Form ADV Item 11. View on IAPD.

Item 11 asks about criminal, regulatory, and civil events involving the firm and its advisory personnel. The detail of each yes answer is on the IAPD record. Reading a firm's disclosures

Regulatory assets under management: $2,878,009,928 in the October 2021 data and $23,875,298,692 in the October 2026 data, up 730%.

Total employees: 142 in October 2021 and 470 in October 2026.

As filed in each year's data for the same month. Assets under management move with markets as well as with clients coming and going; they measure scale, not skill or returns. Most firms update these figures once a year.

1. October 2026
   • Updated its list of owners and control persons (Schedule A).
2. April 2026
   • No longer lists the business name Safeguard Wealth Management.
   • No longer lists the business name Global Wealth Advisors.
   • Employees performing advisory functions went from 144 to 229.
   • Regulatory assets under management went from $10,576,048,244 to $23,875,298,692 (+126%).
   • Changed its office addresses in Boca Raton, FL.
   • Changed its office addresses in Spokane, WA.
   • Added an office in Alpharetta, GA.
   • Added an office in Chicago, IL.
   • Added an office in Denver, CO.
   • Added an office in Madison, WI.
   • Added an office in Middleton, WI.
   • Added an office in Pocatello, ID.
   • Added an office in Rockville, MD.
   • Added an office in San Antonio, TX.
   • Added an office in Sebring, FL.
   • Added an office in Whitefish Bay, WI.
   • No longer lists an office in Boynton Beach, FL.
   • No longer lists an office in De Pere, WI.
   • No longer lists an office in Diamond Bar, CA.
   • No longer lists an office in Greenwood Village, CO.
   • No longer lists an office in Manitowoc, WI.
   • No longer lists an office in Raleigh, NC.
   • No longer lists an office in Roswell, GA.
   • No longer lists an office in San Diego, CA.
   • No longer lists an office in Tulsa, OK.
   • No longer lists an office in Westfield, NJ.
   • Updated its list of owners and control persons (Schedule A).
3. December 2025
   • Registered or notice-filed in PR.

Compared month to month from the SEC's monthly adviser data and the state compilation feed. Owners and control persons are summarized, never named.