No commissions, no ads, no advice. This Equitable Advisors profile draws only on public records, each linked so you can confirm it yourself.

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The short answer: is Equitable Advisors a fiduciary?

It depends on your account: Equitable Advisors is a fiduciary in its advisory programs, and follows the Regulation Best Interest standard as a broker. Publicly, it files with the SEC as Equitable Advisors (CRD #6627). As of its latest Form ADV (filed September 30, 2026), the firm reported $47.3 billion in regulatory assets under management for about 76,027 clients, who between them hold 99,022 accounts because one client can hold several. According to its Form CRS (March 2026), asset management clients typically pay a quarterly negotiated fee as a percentage of assets.

The firm is a dual registrant, so the standard of care changes with the type of account you hold. In its advisory programs it acts as an investment adviser with a fiduciary duty. In brokerage accounts it acts as a broker-dealer under Regulation Best Interest (a best-interest obligation at the time of a recommendation, not a continuous fiduciary relationship). Our recommendation: ask your Equitable advisor, in writing, which type of account you hold, because that answer sets both the standard of care and how you pay. Get started with Truthifi

What "fiduciary" means: a fiduciary is legally bound to place a client's interests above its own. (More on fiduciary duty, or compare other firms on the Truthifi /advisors hub.)

Equitable Advisors at a glance

✅ Verified from public filings, last checked October 5, 2026. Equitable Advisors (SEC CRD #6627) is a fiduciary in its advisory programs, on a fee-based basis, with $47.3 billion in regulatory assets under management. Every figure below links to its primary source.

What	Equitable Advisors	Source
SEC CRD	#6627	IAPD
Registration	Investment adviser and broker-dealer (dual registrant)	IAPD
Registered since	September 22, 1978 (SEC)	IAPD
Fiduciary?	Yes in advisory programs, Reg BI in brokerage	SEC Reg BI
Fee model	Fee-based (commissions + advisory)	Form ADV Item 5.E
How it's paid	A percentage of assets under management, hourly charges, and fixed fees	Form ADV Item 5.E
Regulatory Assets Under Management	$47.3 billion (Form ADV filed September 30, 2026)	IAPD
Clients / accounts	76,027 clients holding 99,022 accounts (47,356 discretionary)	IAPD
Employees	5,674 (4,664 in advisory roles)	IAPD
Ownership	Public-company subsidiary	Equitable Holdings SEC filing
Disclosures	Records carry disclosure items (common at this size). Review them directly	IAPD
HQ	New York, NY	IAPD

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Equitable Advisors fees: what you'll pay

According to its Form CRS (March 2026), asset management clients typically pay a quarterly negotiated fee as a percentage of assets. The firm's share of that fee is capped at 2.5% a year, and other program and product costs can apply. Planning may be asset-based, flat, or hourly.

• Account minimum: Brokerage accounts may have a minimum balance, and each advisory program has its own minimum.
• Planning and hourly work: Financial planning clients may pay asset-based fees, flat fees, or hourly rates.
• Brokerage accounts: Brokerage clients typically pay a scheduled commission or markup or markdown on each trade, plus certain transaction fees.
• Other costs you may pay: Accounts may carry IRA, termination, transfer, and low balance fees, plus fund expenses and annuity surrender fees.

In a brokerage account you generally pay commissions and product costs (mutual fund sales loads, markups, annuity commissions). In an advisory program you pay an asset-based advisory fee instead of per-trade commissions, plus the underlying fund expenses. For how that compares with other pricing models, see Fee-only financial advisor: costs and how to find one and Are you paying too much? Why that might be the wrong question.

Who owns Equitable Advisors, and what conflicts does it disclose?

Equitable Advisors, LLC is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH). Former parent AXA has since fully exited, and EQH is widely held by public shareholders. (Equitable Holdings SEC filing)

Every adviser has conflicts of interest. These are the ones it names in its Form CRS (March 2026):

• In brokerage, the financial professional benefits more when clients trade more often.
• AUM fees rise with account value, giving the firm an incentive to encourage more assets.
• Proprietary products from affiliates such as Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company, AllianceBernstein, and 1290 Funds earn affiliates fees.
• Its Form CRS (March 2026) states that professionals must meet minimum proprietary product sales to qualify for health and retirement benefits.
• The firm receives revenue sharing marketing support payments from product providers.
• The firm receives an advisory reallowance fee from LPL based on advisory assets custodied there.
• The firm receives transaction charges, service fees, cash sweep fees, marketing support, and 12b-1 fees from funds and ETFs.
• The firm or professional may receive a finder's fee from a mutual fund company.
• Its Form CRS lists further conflicts beyond these eight; read the full list there before you open an account.

How its financial professionals are paid: Professionals earn commissions on trades, part of advisory fees, and other compensation tied to proprietary product sales. Whether those incentives cost you more is a separate question from the fee rate itself (why "am I paying too much?" can be the wrong question).

Equitable Advisors SEC record: disclosures

To check Equitable Advisors' regulatory record, start with the firm's own filings. Like most large firms, Equitable Advisors may carry disclosure items in its regulatory records. At that scale the count alone doesn't measure wrongdoing or quality: more representatives means more chances for an item, yet a single item can still reflect real misconduct. Read what each one describes at the source before drawing a conclusion. Its Form CRS also answers Yes to "Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?" Look it up at Investor.gov, and compare how other large firms' records read on the Truthifi /advisors hub.

On the record, the firm has been registered with the SEC since September 22, 1978, makes notice filings in 52 jurisdictions, and reports 5,674 employees, 4,664 of them (about 82%) in investment advisory roles, according to its Form ADV (2026). Some people search "is Equitable Advisors legit?" Registration is easy to confirm: it has a public CRD and public filings anyone can pull. That registration confirms the firm is real and regulated, not that it's the right match for your needs.

Reading Equitable Advisors reviews against the public record

Star ratings and client comments describe what working with a firm felt like. They usually don't show what the firm reports to regulators. Before you weigh Equitable Advisors reviews, check three things this profile takes from the public record. First, how it's paid: advisory and brokerage accounts follow different pay structures, which is why the standard of care depends on which one you hold. Second, who owns it and what conflicts it discloses. Third, any disciplinary history disclosed in its Form ADV. The conflicts of interest its Form CRS names are set out above. Reviews rarely mention them. We'd suggest asking your advisor, in writing, which of those named conflicts touch your own accounts.

How to verify Equitable Advisors yourself

Here's how to confirm all of it in three steps:

1. Check the SEC adviser record (IAPD): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/6627.
2. Read the filings (Form ADV / Form CRS): linked from the IAPD page.
3. Confirm the entity: match Equitable Advisors (CRD #6627, legal name EQUITABLE ADVISORS, LLC) so you're reading the right firm.

What Equitable Advisors does and who it serves

According to its Form CRS (March 2026), Equitable Advisors offers brokerage and advisory services, including asset management programs and financial planning. On its Form ADV it reports providing financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, small businesses and institutions, pension consulting, selection of other advisers, and educational seminars.

It reports providing financial planning to 251 to 500 clients in its last fiscal year (Form ADV Item 5.H), a count the form keeps separate from the client totals below.

Its Form ADV (Item 5.D) breaks its clients down by type, about 76,027 in all:

Client type	Clients	Assets managed
Individuals	39,439	$9.74 billion
High-net-worth individuals	35,521	$35.93 billion
Pension and profit-sharing plans	441	$525.9 million
Charities	214	$280.7 million
Corporations or other businesses	412	$776.1 million

Read the table by share rather than by count. High-net-worth individuals are about 47% of clients but hold roughly 76% of the assets in this table, so the firm's book leans on its larger relationships (Form ADV, 2026).

Those 76,027 clients hold 99,022 accounts: 47,356 discretionary (the firm can trade without seeking your approval first) and 51,666 non-discretionary (Item 5.F). That puts about 48% of accounts under discretionary control. Its main office is in New York, NY.

It reports that it or a related person has custody of certain client assets, which brings extra safeguards such as surprise examinations. The specifics are in its Form ADV.

One household at Equitable can hold a brokerage account under Reg BI and an advisory account under a fiduciary duty at the same time, each paid differently. That makes a move between the two a decision in its own right. A recommendation to shift money from brokerage into an advisory program, or back, can change both the standard of care and how you pay, so ask which standard applies before any transfer.

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Confirming the firm is the easy part. Seeing everything you hold is the valuable one.

Equitable's own Form CRS lists affiliate proprietary products, an LPL advisory reallowance, and 12b-1 and revenue-sharing payments. Those costs sit inside products and arrangements, not as one line on a statement. Add a held-away retirement plan or a spouse's portfolio, and the picture shows up scattered and unreconciled. This is where Truthifi comes in.

How Truthifi can help

Truthifi links your accounts read-only and shows what you own, how it's allocated, how it's performing and where the risk sits, including single-stock exposure, returns next to a benchmark, a fee breakdown of the fees on each account, by type, and your Truthifi Score. You can share the accounts you choose with your advisor at Equitable Advisors.

Prefer your own AI? A paid Truthifi plan lets you connect an AI assistant that supports MCP sign-in, such as Claude (how to ask AI about your real investment accounts). Truthifi Connect is the lighter membership for people who only want to use their own assistant. Questions about your fees need Monitoring or Monitoring Plus+. See how Truthifi keeps your accounts secure

Ask AI about your Equitable Advisors accounts

Once your accounts are connected read-only, you can ask in plain English:

• "What do I own across my Equitable Advisors accounts and everything else, and how is it allocated?"
• "What am I paying in fees across all of these accounts?"

Try it with Truthifi: start for free at app.truthifi.com and run a Monitoring Checkup (limits apply).

No commissions, no ads, no advice: Truthifi is not an investment adviser and doesn't give investment, tax or legal advice. Its access to your bank and brokerage accounts is read-only. Start free (limits apply). Monitoring Checkup is free. Plans, connection limits and pricing are on the pricing page → truthifi.com.

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FAQ

Is Equitable Advisors a fiduciary? It depends on your account. In its advisory programs it acts as a fiduciary. In brokerage accounts it follows the SEC's Regulation Best Interest standard. Ask which type of account you have.

What does Equitable Advisors charge? Asset management clients typically pay a quarterly negotiated fee as a percentage of assets. The firm's share of that fee is capped at 2.5% a year, and other program and product costs can apply. Planning may be asset-based, flat, or hourly. Brokerage accounts may have a minimum balance, and each advisory program has its own minimum. Source: its Form CRS (March 2026). The full fee schedule is in its Form ADV Part 2A.

Who owns Equitable Advisors? Equitable Advisors, LLC is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH). Former parent AXA has since fully exited, and EQH is widely held by public shareholders.

Does Equitable Advisors have complaints or disclosures? Its regulatory records may carry disclosure items, as is common at its size. A disclosure is not proof of wrongdoing. Read any directly on BrokerCheck and the firm's Form ADV. Its Form CRS also answers Yes to "Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?" Look it up at Investor.gov.

Is Equitable Advisors legit? Equitable Advisors is registered with the SEC (CRD #6627) and its filings are public on the SEC's IAPD site, which confirms it is a real, regulated firm. Registration doesn't tell you whether it's the right fit or what you'll pay, so read the fee and conflict sections of its Form ADV and Form CRS.

Can AI help me check whether I'm getting good value? Yes. Start free (limits apply): Monitoring Checkup is free, and connection limits by plan are on the pricing page. You can also connect an AI assistant you already use (such as Claude). On Monitoring or Monitoring Plus+ you can ask it, in plain English, about the fees on each of your accounts. Truthifi is not an investment adviser and doesn't give investment, tax or legal advice.

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About this profile

Truthifi built this profile from the firm's own SEC filings (Form ADV and, where filed, Form CRS). Every page is reviewed by the Truthifi Team before publishing. The Truthifi advisor fact packs are an ongoing series checking U.S. investment advisers against their public filings, one firm at a time.

Read next from the Truthifi blog

• What is a fiduciary?
• Fee-only financial advisor: costs and how to find one
• Are you paying too much? Why that might be the wrong question
• How to ask AI about your real investment accounts
• Robo-advisor vs. human financial advisor: which is better?
• All advisor fact packs on Truthifi

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A note on sources. The facts on this page come from publicly available documents, Equitable Advisors' SEC and FINRA filings and its Form CRS, each linked inline so you can verify it yourself (SEC data current as of October 5, 2026). This is general information, not financial or legal advice, and Truthifi is not affiliated with Equitable Advisors. Regulatory records change, so always confirm against the official sources linked above. Spot something that should be corrected? Email us at support@truthifi.com.