A. Firm Information
Meridian Wealth Partners, LLC (“Meridian Wealth” or the “Advisor”) is a registered investment adviser with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Advisor is organized as a Limited Liability Company
(“LLC”) under the laws of Pennsylvania. Meridian Wealth was founded in January 2017 and is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Meridian Bank, a Pennsylvania chartered bank with its headquarters at 9 Old Lincoln Highway,
Malvern, PA 19355.
This Disclosure Brochure provides information regarding the qualifications, business practices, and the advisory
services provided by Meridian Wealth. If you have any questions regarding this Disclosure Brochure, please
contact Brian T. Kohute, the Advisor’s Chief Compliance Office (the “CCO”), at (610) 272-4700.
B. Investment Advisory Services
Meridian Wealth offers financial planning and investment advisory services to individuals, high net worth
individuals, trusts, estates, retirement plans, charitable organizations and corporations (each referred to as a
“Client”).
The Advisor serves as a fiduciary to Clients, as defined under the applicable laws and regulations. As a fiduciary,
the Advisor upholds a duty of loyalty, fairness and good faith towards each Client and seeks to mitigate conflicts
of interest. Meridian Wealth’s fiduciary commitment is further described in the Advisor’s Code of Ethics. For more
information regarding the Code of Ethics, please see Item 11 – Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client
Transactions and Personal Trading.
Financial Planning Services
Meridian Wealth will typically provide a variety of financial planning services to individuals and families, pursuant
to a written financial planning agreement. Services are available in several areas of a Client’s financial situation,
depending on their goals and objectives.
Generally, such financial planning services will involve preparing a financial plan or rendering a financial
consultation based on the Client’s financial goals and objectives. This planning or consulting may encompass
one or more areas of need, including, but not limited to, investment planning, retirement planning, personal
savings, education savings, insurance needs and other areas of a Client’s financial situation. The Advisor has
developed a process entitled, The Progression of Wealth® to deliver its financial planning services.
A financial plan developed for or financial consultation rendered to the Client will usually include general
recommendations for a course of activity or specific actions to be taken by the Client. For example,
recommendations may be made that the Client start or revise their investment programs, commence or alter
retirement savings, establish education savings and/or charitable giving programs. Meridian Wealth may also
refer Clients to an accountant, attorney or other specialist, as appropriate for their unique situation. For certain
financial planning engagements, the Advisor may provide a written summary of Client’s financial situation,
observations, and recommendations. For consulting or ad-hoc engagements, the Advisor may not provide a
written summary.
Financial planning recommendations pose a conflict between the interests of the Advisor and the interests of the
Client. For example, the Advisor has an incentive to recommend that Clients engage the Advisor for investment
management services or to increase the level of investment assets with the Advisor, as it would increase the
investment advisory fees paid to the Advisor. Clients are not obligated to implement any recommendations made
by the Advisor or maintain an ongoing relationship with the Advisor. If the Client elects to act on any of the
recommendations made by the Advisor, the Client is under no obligation to implement the transaction through
the Advisor.
Pension Consulting Services
Meridian Wealth provides pension-consulting services to employee benefit plans, government retirement plans,
and their fiduciaries based upon the needs of the plans. Generally, services include review of the existing plan
design, the investment platform, current fees and costs, assisting in the education of employees, and advice and
fiduciary services. The Advisor may make recommendations to improve any of the previously listed. Meridian
Wealth may also work with third-party administrators as needed and assist in the evaluation of new plan vendors.
These services are provided by Meridian Wealth serving in the capacity as a fiduciary under the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). In accordance with ERISA Section 408(b)(2),
the Plan Sponsor is provided with a written description of Meridian Wealth’s fiduciary status, the specific services
to be rendered and all direct and indirect compensation the Advisor reasonably expects under the engagement.
Investment Management Services
Meridian Wealth provides discretionary investment advisory services for its Clients which may be tailored to the
unique needs of the Client. Meridian Wealth works closely with each Client to identify their investment goals and
objectives, as well as risk tolerance and financial situation in order to create a portfolio strategy. Meridian Wealth
will then construct a portfolio, consisting primarily of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), mutual funds and fixed
income securities to achieve the Client’s investment goals. The Advisor may also options and margin. Client
portfolios will generally be implemented in one of Meridian Wealth’s investment strategies. Certain legacy Clients
may have all or a portion of their accounts invested through a managed accounts program. Details regarding
Managed Accounts Programs are below.
Meridian Wealth’s investment approach is primarily long-term focused, but the Advisor may buy, sell or re-
allocate positions that have been held for less than one year to meet the objectives of the Client or due to market
conditions. Meridian Wealth will construct, implement and monitor the portfolio to ensure it meets the goals,
objectives, circumstances, and risk tolerance agreed to by the Client. Prior to rendering investment advisory
services, Meridian Wealth will ascertain, in conjunction with the Client, the Client’s financial situation, risk
tolerance, and investment objective[s]. Each Client will have the opportunity to place reasonable restrictions on
the types of investments to be held in their respective portfolio, subject to the acceptance by the Advisor.
Meridian Wealth evaluates and selects assets for inclusion in Client portfolios only after applying their internal
due diligence process. Meridian Wealth may recommend, on occasion, redistributing investment allocations to
diversify the portfolio. Meridian Wealth may recommend specific positions to increase sector or asset class
weightings. The Advisor may recommend employing cash positions over a period of time instead of immediate
investment. Meridian Wealth may recommend selling positions for reasons that include, but are not limited to,
harvesting capital gains or losses, business or sector risk exposure to a specific security or class of securities,
overvaluation or overweighting of the position[s] in the portfolio, change in risk tolerance of Client, generating
cash to meet Client needs, or any risk deemed unacceptable for the Client’s risk tolerance.
At no time will Meridian Wealth accept or maintain custody of a Client’s funds or securities, except for the limited
authority as outlined in Item 15 – Custody. All Client assets will be managed within their designated account[s] at
the Client’s Custodian, pursuant to the Client investment advisory agreement, please see Item 12 – Brokerage
Practices.
Cash Management Services – In certain situations Meridian Wealth will make available to Client’s a Cash
Management option. Where appropriate the Advisor based on a Client’s needs will recommend a portfolio
consisting of short-term investment vehicles.
Retirement Accounts – When the Advisor provides investment advice to Clients regarding ERISA retirement
accounts or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), the Advisor is a fiduciary within the meaning of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and/or the Internal
Revenue Code (“IRC”), as applicable,
which are laws governing retirement accounts. When deemed to be in the Client’s best interest, the Advisor will
provide investment advice to a Client regarding a distribution from an ERISA retirement account or to roll over
the assets to an IRA, or recommend a similar transaction including rollovers from one ERISA sponsored Plan to
another, one IRA to another IRA, or from one type of account to another account (e.g. commission-based
account to fee-based account). Such a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if the Advisor will earn a
new (or increase its current) advisory fee as a result of the transaction. No client is under any obligation to roll
over a retirement account to an account managed by the Advisor.
Managed Account Programs
For certain legacy Clients, all or a portion of a Client’s investment portfolio may be implemented by utilizing one
or more unaffiliated money managers participating in a managed accounts program at the Client's Custodian (the
“Managed Accounts Program”). The Client will enter into an agreement with the Managed Accounts Program and
the participating money manager[s]. The Advisor will assist and advise the Client in establishing investment
objectives for the account[s], the selection of the money manager[s], and defining any restrictions on the
account[s]. Meridian Wealth will continue to provide oversight of the Client’s account[s] and ongoing monitoring
of the activities of the unaffiliated money managers.
These money managers will develop an investment strategy to meet those objectives by identifying appropriate
investments and monitoring such investments. In consideration for such services, the Managed Accounts
Program will charge a program fee (the “asset-based program fee”) that includes the investment advisory fee of
the money manager[s], the administration of the program and trading, clearance and settlement costs. The
Managed Accounts Program will add Meridian Wealth’s investment advisory fee (described below in Item 5) and
will deduct the overall fee from the Client’s account[s], generally at the start of each calendar quarter. The asset-
based program fee is tiered and varies depending on the size of the account, the asset class of the underlying
securities and the sub-advisor selected.
Meridian Wealth does not receive any compensation from these unaffiliated money managers or the Managed
Accounts Program, other than Meridian Wealth’s investment advisory fee (See Item 5).
The Client, prior to entering into an agreement with a Program Sponsor, will be provided with the Managed
Accounts Program Sponsor's Form ADV Part 2A (or a brochure that makes the appropriate disclosures). In
addition, Meridian Wealth and its Client will agree in writing that that selected Managed Accounts Program
Sponsor and the unaffiliated money managers will manage the Client's account[s] on a discretionary basis.
Robo-Advisory Services
For certain accounts, Meridian Wealth may recommend that all or a portion of a Client’s investment portfolio be
established through an online investment management program offered by Meridian Wealth and the Custodian,
Charles Schwab, Inc. Under this service, Clients will engage Meridian Wealth through an investment management
agreement for these advisory services and then establish an online account through Schwab Wealth Investment
Advisory, Inc. (“SWII”), a subsidiary of Charles Schwab, Inc. SWII is what is often termed a “robo-advisor,” an online
wealth management service that provides automated, algorithm-based portfolio management advice. Robo-
advisors use technology to deliver similar services as traditional advisors, but generally only offer portfolio
management and do not get involved in a Client’s personal situation, such as taxes and retirement or estate
planning. Meridian Wealth chose to affiliate with SWII due to the Investment Platform’s customized portfolio
allocations, automated rebalancing, and competitive fees. Meridian Wealth utilizes SWII to provide additional
diversity, continuous rebalancing, and a rational and balanced approach to the management of smaller accounts,
generally lower than the Advisor’s required relationship size.
Meridian Wealth will have the discretionary authority to instruct SWII with respect to portfolio construction, asset
allocation and other investment decisions, subject to the limitations described herein. SWII will implement the
portfolio and be responsible for the discretionary trading of the ETFs in the Client’s portfolio, including the purchase
and sale of investments and the automatic rebalancing back to targets.
SWII utilizes ETF’s, representing various asset classes for the construction of investment portfolios. As discussed
above, Meridian Wealth will work with each Client to select/construct a portfolio to meets the needs of the Client.
The Client has limited ability to put restrictions on its accounts. The account[s] cannot contain investments that are
not included in the SWII universe of ETFs and cash equivalents.
Meridian Wealth will delegate limited investment discretion to SWII to implement trading and rebalancing within the
parameters of the Advisor’s investment strategies. The Advisor’s investment philosophy is long-term, but the
Advisor may make such tactical overrides to take advantage of market pricing anomalies or strong market sectors.
The Advisor will not actively trade in the Client’s account[s]. Client accounts must maintain a minimum balance of
$5,000 to be eligible for automatic rebalancing.
To establish a relationship through SWII, the Client will be required to enter into an additional agreement with both
SWII and the Advisor that defines the terms of the arrangement and fees to both parties. The Advisor will provide
the Client with SWII’s current Form ADV2A – Disclosure Brochure (or a brochure that contains all required
disclosures). The Advisor’s investment advisory fee is added to the SWII platform fee, which also includes
securities transaction fees. The Advisor does not share in any fees charged by SWII. The Advisor shall only earn its
fees as described in Item 5 below. For additional information regarding the brokerage practices for SWII accounts,
please see Item 12.
C. Client Account Management
Prior to engaging Meridian Wealth to provide investment advisory services, each Client is required to enter into
one or more advisory agreements with the Advisor that define the terms, conditions, authority and responsibilities
of the Advisor and the Client. These services may include:
• Asset Allocation – Meridian Wealth will develop a strategic asset allocation that is targeted to meet the
investment objectives, time horizon, financial situation and tolerance of risk for each Client.
• Portfolio Construction – Meridian Wealth will develop a portfolio for the Client that is intended to meet the
stated goals and objectives of the Client.
• Investment Management and Supervision – Meridian Wealth will provide investment management and
ongoing oversight of the Client’s investment portfolio.
D. Wrap Fee Programs
When in the Clients best interest, Meridian Wealth will include the securities transaction fees, trade away fees,
and certain mutual funds (herein “Covered Costs”) together with investment advisory fees to provide the Client
with a single, bundled fee structure. This combination of fees is typically referred to as a “Wrap Fee Program.”
Meridian Wealth customizes its investment management services for Clients. The Advisor sponsors the Meridian
Wealth Wrap Fee Program solely as a supplemental disclosure regarding the combination of fees. Depending on
the level of trading required for the Client’s account[s] in a particular year, the Client may pay more or less in total
fees than if the Client paid its own transaction fees. Please see Appendix 1 – Wrap Fee Program Brochure,
which is included as a supplement to this Disclosure Brochure.
E. Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2022, Meridian Wealth manages $905,574,005in Client assets, $863,857,225 of which are
managed on a discretionary basis and $41,616,780 on a non-discretionary basis. Clients may request more
current information at any time by contacting the Advisor.