Elena Bonilla
Professional summary
Elena Bonilla, who also goes by Elena Bourkova, Elena Koyun, is a registered financial advisor currently at MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS located in Madison, Wisconsin and PURSHE KAPLAN STERLING INVESTMENTS located in Albany, New York.
Elena is registered as an IAR (Investment Advisor Representative) and RR (Registered Representative) and started their career in finance in 2025. Elena has worked at 3 firms and has passed the Series 66, Series 7TO and SIE exams.
Question & Answer
Aliases
Other business activities
CRS (Client Relationship Summary) - RIA

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS - Registered Investment Advisory firm
Version Date: Thu Aug 01 2024Merit 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.
Fees and Costs:
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?
Conflicts of Interest:
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?
How do your financial professionals make money?
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?
Certified licenses
Experience
November 3, 2025 - Present
MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS
Office #1: 814 Atlas Avenue, Madison, WI 53714November 4, 2025 - Present
PURSHE KAPLAN STERLING INVESTMENTS
Office #1: 80 State Street, Albany, NY 12207June 16, 2025 - November 3, 2025
HARBOUR INVESTMENTS, INC.
January 17, 2025 - November 3, 2025
HARBOUR INVESTMENTS, INC.
Primary Firm SEC Registration

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS
CRD#: 142457 / SEC#: 801-67462
State Registrations and Notice Filings
Listed states reflect where the advisor is authorized to serve clients under state regulations.
Visual representation of state registrations
(11/3/2025)
(11/4/2025)
Exams
Series 7TO
Date: 1/17/2025
General Securities Representative ExaminationFINRA
Current Firm

MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS
CRD#: 142457 / SEC#: 801-67462
Contact information
SEC notice filing (53 States and Territories)
Regulatory assets under management
| Total Number of Accounts | 31,882 |
| AUM (Assets Under Management) | $ 10,576,048,244 |
Red Flags
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.
Company Information
MERIT FINANCIAL ADVISORS
CRD#: 142457Madison, WI 53714TRUST BUT VERIFY
Monitor Elena Bonilla
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