Yes. When clients use margin borrowing, options strategies with leverage, or long/short strategies that employ margin, Mercer Advisors’ advisory fee is calculated on the higher, margined account value. Per Form ADV, this creates a disclosed conflict of interest because Mercer Advisors has an economic incentive to recommend that clients utilize and continue to utilize margin due to the higher fees earned on the margined account value. Mercer Advisors’ structural safeguard is client choice: no client is required to use margin or leverage-based strategies, and any client can direct Mercer Advisors in writing not to employ these strategies. When evaluating any advisor, ask how advisory fees are calculated on any margined, leveraged, or borrowed assets.
We exist so you don’t have to worry about money. For more than 40 years, we’ve taken the sophisticated, time-tested approach that many ultra-high net worth individuals use to help manage their financial lives and made it accessible to more families.
