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

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The short answer: is Steward Partners a fiduciary?

Yes. Steward Partners is a fiduciary when it acts as your investment adviser, and with $36.7 billion in client assets it is among the larger SEC-registered investment advisers. Publicly, it files with the SEC as Steward Partners Investment Advisory (CRD #283004). As of its latest Form ADV (filed September 22, 2026), the firm reported $36.7 billion in regulatory assets under management (a firm-reported figure). Its Form ADV (Item 5.E) lists how it is paid: a percentage of assets under management, hourly charges, and fixed fees. You don't have to take anyone's word for it: the filings are public and quick to check.

Its Form ADV also reports that the firm itself is registered as a broker-dealer, and brokerage accounts fall under Regulation Best Interest instead. Ask which capacity covers each of your accounts. The firm must tell you. Get started with Truthifi

Our take: because Steward Partners is registered as both an investment adviser and a broker-dealer, the fiduciary question here is settled account by account, not firm-wide. It reports 72,273 accounts against at least 42,764 clients, so many households hold more than one account, and a single relationship can mix both standards. Get in writing which of your accounts are advisory and which are brokerage before you compare fees.

What "fiduciary" means here: on advisory accounts, Steward Partners is legally bound to place your interests above its own; on brokerage accounts, Regulation Best Interest applies instead. (More on fiduciary duty)

Steward Partners at a glance

✅ Verified from public filings, last checked October 5, 2026. Steward Partners (SEC CRD #283004) is a fiduciary when acting as your adviser, on an advisory-fee basis, with $36.7 billion in regulatory assets under management. Every figure below links to its primary source.

What	Steward Partners	Source
SEC CRD	#283004	IAPD
Registration	Investment adviser and broker-dealer	IAPD
Registered since	March 16, 2016 (SEC)	IAPD
Fiduciary?	Yes, when acting as your adviser	SEC adviser standard
Fee model	Advisory fees (no commissions reported in Item 5.E)	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	$36.7 billion (Form ADV filed September 22, 2026)	IAPD
Client accounts	72,273 (61,340 discretionary)	IAPD
Employees	549 (310 in advisory roles)	IAPD
Ownership	Parent-owned	Form ADV Schedule A
Disclosures	Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary questions. Read them on IAPD	IAPD
HQ	Stamford, CT	IAPD

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Steward Partners fees: what you'll pay

Steward Partners charges advisory fees. According to its Form ADV (Item 5.E), it reports no commissions for its advisory services. The same filing reports broker-dealer, insurance or other sales activity by the firm or a related company, and that business can be paid by commissions. Ask how each part of the relationship is paid; the fee schedules sit in its Form ADV Part 2A.

Advisory fees are what clients pay the adviser directly. Commissions earned through a related broker-dealer or insurance business are a separate source of pay.

At Steward Partners, high-net-worth households carry the book: per Item 5.D (2026), they hold $27.89 billion, roughly 76% of the $36.7 billion it manages. The 18,249 individuals outside that bracket average about $373,000 each, under a third of the roughly $1.19 million a high-net-worth client averages. If your balance sits nearer the smaller figure, ask whether a fixed or hourly fee would cost you less than a percentage of assets. Two primers help frame that conversation: Are you paying too much? Why that might be the wrong question and Fee-only financial advisor: costs and how to find one.

Who owns Steward Partners, and what conflicts does it disclose?

The Steward Partners ownership picture is on file with the SEC. Steward Partners is owned by Steward Partners Holdings, LLC, as listed in Schedule A of its Form ADV. (Form ADV Schedule A)

Its Form ADV Part 2A describes the firm's conflicts of interest, including how it and its advisers are paid. That document tells you how the firm can be paid; it can't show what you are actually paying on your own accounts. Truthifi's fee breakdown lists the fees on each linked account, by type, so you can hold them up against what Part 2A discloses. Get started with Truthifi

Steward Partners SEC record: disclosures

To check Steward Partners's regulatory record, start with the firm's own filings. Steward Partners' 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. On IAPD, open each disclosure and note its date, the authority involved and how it was resolved. Because the firm is also a broker-dealer, its brokerage-side record can be searched on FINRA BrokerCheck as well.

On the record, the firm has been registered with the SEC since March 16, 2016, makes notice filings in 52 jurisdictions, and reports 549 employees, 310 of them (about 56%) in investment advisory roles. Set against at least 42,764 clients, that is roughly 138 clients for each advisory employee, so it is fair to ask how many households your own adviser covers. As for whether Steward Partners is legit: its registration, CRD and filings are public and verifiable. That confirms it's a real, regulated adviser, but it says nothing about what you pay or what you earn.

Reading Steward Partners reviews against the public record

A star rating tells you how a client felt about the service. It won't tell you that, according to Item 5.F, most Steward Partners accounts are discretionary, so the firm can trade in them without asking first. Before you weigh Steward Partners reviews, hold them against three things from the record. First, the advisory-fee model sits alongside a broker-dealer and insurance business. Second, the firm is owned by Steward Partners Holdings, LLC, and Part 2A lists its conflicts. Third, its Form ADV answers Yes on disciplinary history.

How to verify Steward Partners 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/283004.
2. Read the filings (Form ADV / Form CRS): linked from the IAPD page.
3. Confirm the entity: match Steward Partners (CRD #283004, legal name STEWARD PARTNERS INVESTMENT ADVISORY, LLC) so you're reading the right firm.

To set these figures against other firms, browse the Truthifi /advisors hub.

What Steward Partners does and who it serves

On its Form ADV, Steward Partners reports providing financial planning, portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, pension consulting, and selection of other advisers.

It reports providing financial planning to about 1,000 clients in its last fiscal year (Form ADV Item 5.H), a count the form keeps separate from the client totals below. Against at least 42,764 clients, that is roughly 2%. Planning is on the service list, but the filing suggests most clients receive portfolio management without a separately reported plan. If you expect a financial plan, ask whether it is included in your fee or billed on its own.

Its Form ADV (2026) Item 5.D breaks its clients down by type, at least 42,764 in all:

Client type	Clients	Assets managed
Individuals	18,249	$6.81 billion
High-net-worth individuals	23,474	$27.89 billion
Pension and profit-sharing plans	506	$450.9 million
Charities	126	$316.1 million
State or municipal government entities	Fewer than 5	$1.4 million
Corporations or other businesses	408	$1.25 billion

It reports 72,273 client accounts, more than the at least 42,764 clients counted above (many clients hold more than one account), 61,340 discretionary (the firm can trade without seeking your approval first) and 10,933 non-discretionary (Item 5.F). Its main office is in Stamford, CT.

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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You've vetted the firm. Now make sure the advice runs on the full picture.

Confirming Steward Partners is registered takes a few minutes. Any advisor can only act on what they can see, and what they see is partial: scattered accounts, an old rollover, costs that never surface on a statement. 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 Steward Partners. Get started with Truthifi

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+. Get started with Truthifi · See how Truthifi keeps your accounts secure

Ask AI about your Steward Partners accounts

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

• "What do I own across my Steward Partners 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. Connection limits for each plan are on the pricing page → truthifi.com.

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FAQ

Is Steward Partners a fiduciary? Yes, when acting as your adviser. Its Form ADV reports that it is also a broker-dealer, and brokerage accounts fall under Regulation Best Interest instead. Ask which capacity covers each of your accounts.

Is Steward Partners fee-only? Not necessarily. Its Form ADV (Item 5.E) reports no commissions for advisory services, but the filing also reports broker-dealer, insurance or other sales activity by the firm or a related company, which can be paid differently. Ask how everyone you deal with is paid. The details are in its Form ADV Part 2A.

Who owns Steward Partners? Steward Partners is owned by Steward Partners Holdings, LLC, as listed in Schedule A of its Form ADV.

Does Steward Partners 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.

Is Steward Partners legit? Steward Partners is registered with the SEC (CRD #283004) 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.

Can AI help me check whether I'm getting good value? Yes. Start free (limits apply): Monitoring Checkup is free, and connection limits for each plan are listed 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, Steward Partners' SEC and FINRA filings, 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 Steward Partners. Regulatory records change, so always confirm against the official sources linked above. Spot something that should be corrected? Email us at support@truthifi.com.