Is Modera Wealth Management a Fiduciary? Fees, Ownership & SEC Record (2026 Profile)

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Is Modera Wealth Management a Fiduciary? Fees, Ownership & SEC Record (2026 Profile)

Truthifi Bot

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Published

ยท

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Modera Wealth Management โ€” Truthifi fact check: fiduciary status, fees, and SEC/FINRA record

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Is Modera Wealth Management a Fiduciary? Fees, Ownership & SEC Record (2026 Profile)

Truthifi Bot

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Published

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Updated

Modera Wealth Management โ€” Truthifi fact check: fiduciary status, fees, and SEC/FINRA record

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

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  1. Check the SEC adviser record. Open the SEC's IAPD record for Modera Wealth Management (CRD #155649) and confirm its registration.

  2. Read the filings. Review the Form ADV / Form CRS and any disclosure section linked from the IAPD page.

  3. Confirm the entity. Match CRD #155649 / Modera Wealth Management so you're reading the right firm.

The short answer: is Modera Wealth Management a fiduciary?

Yes. Modera Wealth Management is a fiduciary: as a fee-only registered investment adviser, it owes you a duty to act in your interest for the whole advisory relationship, and it isn't a broker-dealer. Modera Wealth Management is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #155649) and reported $17.7 billion in regulatory assets under management as of its latest Form ADV (filed September 14, 2026), across 6,308 clients. Because it's fee-only, it's paid by clients and earns no commissions on products. According to its Form CRS (September 14, 2026), clients pay the greater of a minimum fee or a percentage of assets under management, assessed quarterly in advance. It's all in the public filings. A few minutes is enough to confirm every line yourself.

Its Form ADV doesn't report a broker-dealer registration or a related broker-dealer, so the adviser's fiduciary standard is the one that applies to its advice.

What "fiduciary" means: a fiduciary is legally bound to place a client's interests above its own. (More on fiduciary duty)

Modera Wealth Management at a glance

โœ… Verified from public filings, last checked October 5, 2026. Modera Wealth Management (SEC CRD #155649) is a fiduciary for the whole advisory relationship, on a fee-only basis, with $17.7 billion in regulatory assets under management. Every figure below links to its primary source.

What

Modera Wealth Management

Source

SEC CRD

#155649

IAPD

Registration

Registered investment adviser (RIA), not a broker-dealer

IAPD

Registered since

November 16, 2010 (SEC)

IAPD

Fiduciary?

Yes, for the whole advisory relationship (fee-only RIA)

SEC adviser standard

Fee model

Fee-only

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

$17.7 billion (Form ADV filed September 14, 2026)

IAPD

Client accounts

21,420 (20,425 discretionary)

IAPD

Employees

238 (106 in advisory roles)

IAPD

Ownership

Employee-owned

Modera: Our Story

Disclosures

Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary questions. Read them on IAPD

IAPD

HQ

Westwood, NJ

IAPD

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Modera Wealth Management fees: what you'll pay

According to its Form CRS (September 14, 2026), clients pay the greater of a minimum fee or a percentage of assets under management, assessed quarterly in advance. Some services are charged fixed or hourly fees.

  • Account minimum: The firm does not require a minimum account size, but clients pay the greater of a minimum fee or the percentage-of-assets fee.

  • Planning and hourly work: For legacy clients, monitoring, consulting and coaching services carry fixed fees invoiced quarterly in advance. Hourly or fixed-fee-only engagements are billed in two installments.

  • Other costs you may pay: Clients also pay custodian, account maintenance, transaction, surrender, wire, and fund or annuity management fees.

Modera Wealth Management is fee-only: its Form ADV (Item 5.E) reports client-paid fees, such as a percentage of assets, hourly or fixed fees, and no commissions. That structure avoids commission conflicts. Fee-only doesn't automatically mean low-cost. It means the cost is the advisory fee, stated plainly.

Fee-only means the firm is paid only by its clients, never by commissions on the products it recommends.

Who owns Modera Wealth Management, and what conflicts does it disclose?

Who really owns Modera Wealth Management? The public record answers it plainly. Modera Wealth Management is independently managed and majority employee-owned, run by a board of managers with roughly one-third of staff serving as shareholders. It also has a minority investment from Tria Capital Partners. (Modera: Our Story)

Every adviser has conflicts of interest. These are the ones the firm names in its Form CRS (September 14, 2026):

  • More assets mean more fees, giving the firm an incentive to encourage clients to increase assets.

  • Hourly or fixed fees exclude implementation, creating an incentive to recommend additional paid advisory services.

  • The firm pays referral fees to third parties and employees who refer clients.

How its financial professionals are paid: Financial professionals receive a salary and may get a bonus tied to firm profitability, new clients, and growth in client assets.

Modera Wealth Management SEC record: disclosures

To check Modera Wealth Management's regulatory record, start with the firm's own filings. Modera Wealth Management's Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary-history questions. A disclosure can be a regulatory, civil or criminal matter involving the firm or a related person. Read each item in context on IAPD before drawing conclusions. Any Modera Wealth Management disclosures sit on the public record, not on anyone's characterization of them. Its Form CRS also answers Yes to "Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?" Look it up at Investor.gov.

On the record, it has been registered with the SEC since November 16, 2010, makes notice filings in 44 jurisdictions, and reports 238 employees, 106 of them in investment advisory roles. Some people search "is Modera Wealth Management legit?" Registration is easy to confirm: it has a public CRD and public filings anyone can pull. Registration shows it's a real, regulated adviser, not that it's the right fit for you.

Reading Modera Wealth Management 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 Modera Wealth Management reviews, check three things this profile takes from the public record. First, how the firm is paid: it reports being paid only by its clients and takes no commissions, which makes it fee-only. Second, who owns it and what conflicts it discloses. Third, whether its Form ADV reports any disciplinary history. The conflicts of interest its Form CRS names are set out above. Reviews rarely mention them. Read reviews alongside the record, not instead of it.

How to verify Modera Wealth Management yourself

Prefer to confirm it firsthand? Three steps:

  1. SEC adviser record (IAPD): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/155649.

  2. Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_155649.pdf.

  3. Confirm the entity: match Modera Wealth Management (CRD #155649) so you're reading the right firm.

What Modera Wealth Management does and who it serves

According to its Form CRS (September 14, 2026), Modera offers financial planning, wealth management, and portfolio management services to retail investors. On its Form ADV it reports providing financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, small businesses and institutions, pension consulting, and selection of other advisers.

It reports providing financial planning to about 4,500 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 6,308 in all:

Client type

Clients

Assets managed

Individuals

2,475

$1.05 billion

High-net-worth individuals

3,443

$15.13 billion

Pension and profit-sharing plans

111

$397 million

Charities

195

$627.8 million

Corporations or other businesses

84

$468.1 million

It reports 21,420 client accounts, more than the roughly 6,308 clients counted above (many clients hold more than one account), 20,425 discretionary (the firm can trade without seeking your approval first) and 995 non-discretionary (Item 5.F). Its main office is in Westwood, NJ.

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.

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

Confirming Modera Wealth Management is registered takes a few minutes. No advisor, however good, sees your whole financial life by default. The held-away retirement plan, a spouse's portfolio and the costs inside a fund show 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 Modera Wealth Management.

Prefer your own AI? A paid Truthifi plan lets you connect an AI assistant that supports MCP sign-in, such as Claude. 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+.

Ask AI about your Modera Wealth Management accounts

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

  • "What do I own across my Modera Wealth Management accounts and everything else, and how is it allocated?"

  • "What am I really 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. Link up to 10 connections. Plans and limits are on the pricing page โ†’ truthifi.com.

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FAQ

Is Modera Wealth Management a fiduciary? Yes. It's a registered investment adviser (CRD #155649), so it owes a fiduciary duty when it advises you. Its Form ADV doesn't report a broker-dealer registration or a related broker-dealer.

What does Modera Wealth Management charge? Clients pay the greater of a minimum fee or a percentage of assets under management, assessed quarterly in advance. Some services are charged fixed or hourly fees. Source: its Form CRS (September 14, 2026). The full fee schedule is in its Form ADV Part 2A.

Who owns Modera Wealth Management? Modera Wealth Management is independently managed and majority employee-owned, run by a board of managers with roughly one-third of staff serving as shareholders. It also has a minority investment from Tria Capital Partners.

Does Modera Wealth Management have complaints or disclosures? Yes. Its Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary-history questions. Read each item on IAPD, in context. A disclosure is not by itself proof of current wrongdoing. 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 Modera Wealth Management legit? Modera Wealth Management is registered with the SEC (CRD #155649) 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 lets you link up to 10 connections. 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.

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A note on sources. The facts on this page come from publicly available documents, Modera Wealth Management's SEC 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 Modera Wealth Management. Regulatory records change, so always confirm against the official sources linked above. Spot something that should be corrected? Email us at support@truthifi.com.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. It should not be construed as a personalized recommendation regarding any investment, financial advisor, or financial product. All calculations use hypothetical scenarios and historical return assumptions; actual results will vary. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation. Truthifi is an investment monitoring platform โ€” not a financial advisor, broker-dealer, or tax professional. Truthifi does not manage assets, recommend investments, sell financial products, or provide personalized financial advice. Truthifi earns no revenue from advisor referrals, product commissions, or AUM fees. Statistics and data cited reflect publicly available sources current as of the articleโ€™s publication date. Sources are linked throughout.