Brian John Cleven

PFS INVESTMENTS INC.

TROY, MI · CRD#

J. W. COLE ADVISORS, INC.

GIBSONIA, PA · CRD#

OSAIC WEALTH, INC.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ · CRD#

LPL FINANCIAL LLC

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO · CRD#

Contact Information

This advisor has not claimed their profile yet, so there is no contact information to display at this time.

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Disclosures are events reported to regulators, such as customer disputes, regulatory actions, employment separations, or financial events. Some are resolved, denied, or contested — a disclosure is not a verdict. We recommend asking an advisor directly about any disclosure on their record.

Disclosures on record.

Disclosures can be potential red flags, including customer disputes, regulatory fines, employer terminations, bankruptcies, judgments, liens, or certain criminal activities. Check for any disclosures as part of your thorough research when choosing an advisor.

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Years of Experience

26 years registered in the securities industry

Current & Past Employments

Current

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORSCurrent·CRD# 142457

RIA

1350 Deming Way #480, Middleton, WI 53562

January 24, 2025 - Present

Past

PILLAR WEALTH MANAGEMENT CO.Past·CRD# 118225

RIA

Madison, WI

July 12, 2011 - January 24, 2025

MADISON INVESTMENT ADVISORS, LLCPast·CRD# 110297

RIA

Madison, WI

January 26, 2011 - April 6, 2011

MADISON INVESTMENT HOLDINGS, INCPast·CRD# 110356

RIA

Madiosn, WI

January 28, 2002 - April 6, 2011

MFD DISTRIBUTOR, LLCPast·CRD# 44930

BD

Madison, WI

September 28, 2001 - April 6, 2011

STRONG INVESTMENTS, INC.Past·CRD# 15658

BD

Menomonee Falls, WI

July 7, 2000 - August 10, 2001

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Customer Relationship Summary (CRS / SEC)Latest Form ADV

Current Firm

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS

CRD#: 142457 / SEC#: 801-67462

RIA

Registered Investment Advisory firm - SEC (1/31/2007 Approved)

Contact Information

Main Address

2400 Lakeview Parkway Suite 550, Alpharetta, GA 30009

Phone Number

(678) 867-7050

# of Employees

470

SEC notice filing (53 States and Territories)

Registered to provide investment advisory services in 53 US states and territories.

Documents

Part 2 Brochures

MERIT FINANCIAL GROUP, LLC BROCHURE (6/8/2026)

MERIT FINANCIAL GROUP WRAP FEE PROGRAM BROCHURE (3/31/2026)

Regulatory Assets Under Management

Total Number of Accounts

20,710

AUM (Assets Under Management)

$23,875,298,692

Accountant Surprise Examination Report

Filing Date	Form ADV-E Cover	Form ADV-E Report
01/20/2026	Cover Page	Report

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Other business activities

Information obtained from regulatory filings. Advisors can request corrections through their firm or regulator.

Outside business activity is any business or activity undertaken by an advisor that is outside the scope of their relationship with their firm (e.g., consulting services, real estate, freelance work, teaching, etc.). Investors should stay informed about these activities to ensure no conflicts of interest.

The advisor shows no other business activity.

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Primary Firm SEC Registration

This SEC-registered firm can serve clients nationwide. Some states may require the firm to submit a notice filing if the firm has more than 5 clients or a physical office there. You can view these state-level filings under the section titled "State Registrations and Notice Filings".

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS

CRD#: 142457 / SEC#: 801-67462

RIA

Registered Investment Advisory firm - SEC (1/31/2007 Approved)

State Registrations and Notice Filings

Listed states reflect where the advisor is authorized to serve clients under state regulations.

IAR

means the advisor is registered as an Investment Advisor Representative in this state and is authorized to provide investment advice to clients there.

IAR

Texas
(1/24/2025)

IAR

Wisconsin
(1/24/2025)

Don't see your state listed? The advisor may still be able to work with you under the federal De Minimis Rule, which allows up to five investment advisory clients in a state without registration. Some states, like TX, LA, NE, and NH, may still require registration or notice filing. Contact the advisor or their firm to confirm their investment advisory availability in your state.

Exams

Financial professionals may take different exams throughout their careers based on the types of services they provide and roles they perform.

Series 66 — Uniform Combined State Law Examination

Passed Jul 2000About the Series 66 exam

Series 7 — General Securities Representative Examination

Passed Jul 2000About the Series 7 exam

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CRS (Client Relationship Summary) - RIA

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS — Registered Investment Advisory firm

Version Date: Thu, Aug 01, 2024

Merit Financial Group, LLC (“Merit”) is an investment advisory firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The services and fees for investment advisory services differ from brokerage services and fees, and it is important for retail investors to understand the differences. By visiting www.investor.gov/CRS there are free and simple tools available to research firms and individual financial professionals. This website also provides educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisers and investing.

Merit offers investment advisory services to retail investors, which includes asset management services, needs based financial analysis, as well as comprehensive financial planning. You will engage with us by executing our Asset Management Agreement and/or Advisory Services Agreement, which outlines our relationship in full detail.

Financial Planning and Consulting Services: Financial planning or consulting advice may encompass one or more of the following areas, but not limited to: Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Estate Planning, Charitable Planning, Education Planning, Corporate and Personal Tax Planning, Cost Segregation Study, Corporate Structure, Real Estate Analysis, Mortgage/Debt Analysis, Insurance Analysis, Lines of Credit Evaluation, Business and Personal Financial Planning.
Merit Compass Program: We provide advice to help individuals understand and maximize their employer’s benefit package.
Asset Management: We generally follow an established investment management process with a long-term time horizon. For most clients, we believe that a long-term diversified approach is the most suitable investment strategy. As part of our asset management services, we may create a portfolio consisting of individual stocks or bonds, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), options, mutual funds, variable annuities and other public and private securities or investments. We manage a select group of model asset allocation portfolios, “Merit Model Portfolios” that are used in client accounts, when appropriate. We may also recommend the services of other investment advisers with expertise in certain investment styles to manage a portion of your assets. We choose from a wide variety of investment types and do not use any proprietary products. As part of our standard services, we regularly monitor your investments and regularly review your portfolio. We will contact you at least annually to discuss your portfolio, with interim updates when life or market changes call for it. We do not have an account minimum to engage in our investment advisory account management services.

We typically manage your investment portfolio on a discretionary basis, which gives us authority to buy and sell investments in your account(s) without asking you in advance. You will sign an Asset Management Agreement giving us this authority until either you or we terminate that agreement. Under a non-discretionary arrangement, you must be contacted prior to the execution of any trade in the account(s) under management.

Additional Information: You may find additional details about our relationships, services, and fees in our Form ADV Part 2A – Items 4 and 7, which is available on our website at https://www.meritfinancialadvisors.com/compliance/.

Questions to ask your Professional:

Given my financial situation, should I choose an investment advisory service? Why or why not?
How will you choose investments to recommend to me?
What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education and other qualifications?
What do these qualifications mean?
Given my Financial Advisor can also offer brokerage services, how does this affect me?

Financial Planning and Consulting Fees: If you engage us for comprehensive financial planning or needs-based analysis for retirement or consulting services, you may pay a separate fixed fee or hourly rate.
Merit Compass Program: You pay an annual fixed fee for these services.
Asset Based Fees: You will normally pay an ongoing fee on a quarterly basis for asset management services. This fee is a percentage of the value of the assets in your account(s) and will be paid to us whether trades occur in your account during a quarter. In addition to our asset based fees, you will also pay transaction costs to the broker-dealer executing your trades.
Wrap Fee Program: You will pay us a single annual percentage fee for asset management services that also covers most transaction costs in your account. Therefore, the annual management fee may be higher than a non-wrap account fee. In addition to the foregoing fees, your managed portfolio will incur other expenses. The most common examples are the custodian’s charges for maintenance of your accounts and the internal fees imposed by mutual funds and exchange traded funds. If all or a portion of your assets is managed by a third-party money manager, you will also pay the manager’s advisory fee.

You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you are paying.

More information is available in our Form ADV Part 2A (our “Brochure”) in Items 5 and 12 and Appendix 1, Wrap Program Brochure in Item 4.

Questions to ask your Professional:

Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give you $10,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested?

When we act as your investment adviser, we must act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the investment advice we provide you. Here are some examples to help you understand what this means:

Our asset management fees are calculated as a percentage of the assets we manage for you. This type of fee arrangement could also influence us to recommend that you deposit more assets in your account, which would increase our fees.
Most of our financial professionals are registered representatives of a broker-dealer. Your financial professional can earn additional transaction-based compensation when providing brokerage services through a broker-dealer. The more transactions in your account, the more compensation he or she will earn. This creates an incentive for your financial professional to encourage you to engage in transactions. You are encouraged to learn more about this arrangement by having a discussion with your financial professional.
Our firm’s financial professionals include licensed insurance agents who sell insurance products for a commission. They have an incentive to recommend insurance products to you to increase their compensation.
Although you will not be charged a transaction fee for trades in a Wrap account, we and/or your financial professional pay the broker dealer a per transaction charge for purchases and sales in the Wrap account. The cost to your financial professional and/or the firm, of the transaction charges may be a factor which we and/or your financial professional considers when deciding which securities to select and whether or not to place transactions in the account. This is a conflict of interest.

More information is available in our Form ADV Part 2A (our “Brochure”) in Items 4, 10, 11 and 12 and Appendix 1, Wrap Program Brochure in Item 4.

Questions to ask your Professional:

How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?

Our financial professionals receive a portion of the advisory fees paid by you. Some are paid both a fixed salary and a variable bonus, because of his or her efforts in developing, maintaining client relationships and the amount of assets they may gather.

In addition to working as a financial professional for us, your financial professional may also act as a registered representative of a broker-dealer and/or offer insurance as a broker or agent through numerous insurance companies. These roles create conflicts of interest as discussed above.

Questions to ask your Professional:

Who is my primary contact person?
Is he or she a representative of a broker dealer?
Who can I talk to if I have any concerns about how this person is treating me?

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