Merriman is a financial advisor firm that operates three total offices in Seattle, Washington; Spokane, Washington; Bellevue, Washington; and Eugene, Oregon. This is a rather large firm, as it manages billions in client assets. Merriman also holds a spot on SmartAsset’s lists of the top financial advisors in Seattle and top financial advisors in Washington State.
As a fee-only firm, all of Merriman's compensation comes from client-paid fees. On the other hand, a fee-based firm would earn compensation from client fees and third-party commissions.
Merriman Background
Merriman opened in 1983. Fast forward to 2012, and Merriman joined Focus Financial Partners, LLC, the largest network of wealth management firms in the U.S. As a result, Focus Financial became the principal owner of Merriman, making the firm a subsidiary in the process.
There are certified financial planners (CFPs) working at Merriman, but its team’s certifications don’t stop there. In addition to CFPs, the firm employs accredited estate planners (AEP), chartered financial counselors (ChFC), accredited wealth management advisors (AWMA) chartered SRI counselors (CSRIC) and more.
Merriman Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
Merriman specifies that most of its clients are either individuals and families saving for retirement or retirees. The firm’s typical client base consists of high-net-worth and non-high-net-worth individuals, estates, trusts and a single pooled investment vehicle.
Although Merriman reserves the right to waive its minimum investable asset requirements, the firm institutes some minimum annual fees. For wealth management clients, the minimum fee is $5,000, whereas investment management clients adhere to a $2,000 minimum.
Services Offered by Merriman
Merriman is unique in that it has created a few advisory programs that offer services within the investment advisory vertical. The firm also provides financial planning, though. Take a look over Merriman’s offerings below:
- Holistic financial planning
- Retirement planning
- Retirement income management
- Investment planning
- Estate planning
- Insurance analysis and planning
- Charitable gift planning
- Investment services
- MarketWise program
- Asset allocations across a mix of low-cost mutual funds
- Regular rebalances
- TrendWise program
- Active management
- Asset allocations throughout global asset classes and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
- Leveraged Global Opportunity Fund
- Goal of achieving capital appreciation through a market-timing approach
- MarketWise program
Financial planning clients will traverse through a preplanned process with their Merriman advisor. This is done to ensure that their final plan is satisfactory for their personal needs. Here’s a breakdown:
- Discovery meeting: This consists of a conversation about your financial resources, goals for the future, health and any other factors.
- Strategy meeting: During this consultation, your advisor will present a custom investment plan just for you.
- Implementation meeting: If you have any leftover concerns about your investment plan, you can ask your advisor now.
- Progress meetings: You and your advisor will get together every 90 days to discuss the performance of your plan and how well you’re progressing toward your goals.
Merriman Investment Philosophy
Most clients of Merriman are subscribed to one of the firm’s two main advisory programs: MarketWise and TrendWise. MarketWise utilizes a globally diversified portfolio that primarily consists of low-cost mutual funds. These securities are mostly made of value, small-cap and profitable stocks. MarketWise employs a passive investing strategy, meaning it avoids consistent trading to try and beat benchmarks.
TrendWise, on the other hand, uses a much more active management style. Merriman has created a “trend-following timing system” that will track major movements in the market and adjust your holdings to match them. ETFs, exchange-traded notes (ETNs) and mutual funds are the most common investment types in this program. The trend-following timing system is applied to a totally different set of securities, such as domestic and international stocks, bonds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), commodities and more.
Fees Under Merriman
Wealth and investment management clients at Merriman must follow an annual, asset-based fee schedule. In contrast to other firms that require quarterly fee payments, Merriman charges fees on a monthly basis, in arrears. The average daily balance of the previous month is the value that these rates will be calculated based on. Clients can choose to either have their fees deducted from their account balance, in arrears or have an invoice sent to them.
| MarketWise Fees for Wealth Management Clients | |
| Assets Under Management | Annual Fee |
| Up to $1,000,000 | 1.00% |
| $1,000,000 - $3,000,000 | 0.80% |
| $3,000,000 - $5,000,000 | 0.60% |
| Over $5,000,000 | 0.40% |
| TrendWise Fees for Wealth Management Clients | |
| Assets Under Management | Annual Fee |
| Up to $500,000 | 1.35% |
| Over $500,000 | 0.90% |
| Fees for Investment Management Clients | |
| Assets Under Management | Annual Fee |
| All assets | 1.25% ($5,000 maximum) |
Check out the table below to see estimates for how Merriman’s fees translate to actual fee amounts:
| *Estimated investment management fees do not include brokerage, custodial, third-party manager or other fees, which can vary in amount. | |
| Estimated MarketWise Wealth Management Fees at Merriman* | |
| Your Assets | Merriman Fee Amounts |
| $500K | $5,000 |
| $1MM | $10,000 |
| $5MM | $38,000 |
| $10MM | $58,000 |
What to Watch Out For
Merriman has no legal or regulatory disclosures listed on its Form ADV.
Opening an Account With Merriman
Calling Merriman Wealth Management at (206) 285-8877 is the easiest way to become a client. However, the contact page on Merriman’s website includes a form that asks for your name, email, number and a short overview of your situation. If you fill this out, one of the firm’s advisors with reach out to you.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
How to Make the Jump Into Investing
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