Facet Wealth is an online financial advisor service that was founded in 2016 and has grown to 18,000 members. The company pairs you with a dedicated certified financial planner (CFP) to create a comprehensive financial plan and charges a flat fee based upon the complexity of your situation.

Similar to other advisor services, Facet offers an free consultation to see if the service is right for you. You can either submit a form through Facet's website to have a "Facet expert" contact you, or call the company directly to set up this consultation.

This initial consultation typically lasts about 30 minutes. During this time, a representative from Facet will get to know you and your situation. After your consultation, Facet will send you a packet to explain how the service works and what they could offer you.

If you decide to become a member, Facet will pair you with a dedicated finanical planner that has a certified financial planning (CFP) license. Facet says that most clients typically meet with their advisor 2 to 3 times per year, but you can schedule more appointments than that if needed.

Standard brokerage accounts - A standard brokerage account simply allows you to hold the investment portfolio Facet recommends for you. Facet offers individual or joint brokerage accounts.

Retirement accounts - IRAs (individual retirement accounts) are designed specifically to help you save and invest for retirement, and often come with tax benefits. Facet offers a Roth, Traditional, SEP, Rollover and SIMPLE IRA.

Solo 401k - A solo 401k is a 401k that is designed for a business owner that does not have any full time employees. If you are a business owner with no employees, it can be a good way to invest for retirement for yourself and your spouse if he or she earns income from your business.

Facet uses custodians - Keep in mind that Facet does not directly hold your account. Instead, they manage your investments within your account through a custodian. Facet manages exisiting accounts at Fidelity, Apex, TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab.

If you have investment accounts, but they are not currently at one of these custodians, Facet does require that you move your accounts over to one of them which is not always ideal. If you are opening a new account with Facet, they will hold your account at either Apex or Fidelity. ‍

The fees and account minimum that Facet charge are both good and bad - let us explain. Facet charges a flat fee ranging from $2,400 to $8,000 per year based upon the complexity of your situation. Unfortunately, Facet does not publish a specific break down of what each service costs, so you will have to go through the free consultation to find out what your exact costs will be.

Facet appears to have the stance that they way they charge fees is in your best interest. However, this pricing model is not that beneficial if you have a smaller amount of money to invest. For example, lets say that you have saved up $25,000 and want to use Facet as your advisor service.

If you were to have the lowest cost of $2,4000 on this amount, your fee for the year would be equivalent to a whopping 9.6% per year. For reference, the average fee for a human financial advisor is around 1% for the year. In order for your costs at Facet to be around this mark, you would need to have $240,000 managed at the service.

The flip side of this argument is that the costs of Facet can be quite low when your money grows. For example, lets say that you had $1 million managed through Facet. If you were on the lowest cost plan for Facet ($2,400 per year), your fees would be equivalent to 0.24%. This is well below the industry standard of 1%.

Additionally, Facet does not require you to have a certain amount of investable assets to start using the service. Although this can help get you in the door, most of your money that you transfer to Facet can be eaten way by fees if you only transfer in a small amount.

Facet offers access to their advisors via phone or video conference. Other online advisor services typically allow you to speak with a team of human advisors, but they do not give you a dedicated advisor. This is where Facet stands out - you get your own dedicated advisor.

You can speak to your advisor as much or a little as you would like, but Facet says that most of their members meet with their advisor 2 to 3 times per year. During your first year, you will typically meet with your advisor more than this as they are getting to know you, so they can build a comprehensive plan.

All of Facet's advisors hold certified financial planning (CFP) certification and are held to fiduciary standards. This means they are legally required to act in your best interest. Additionally, Facet's flat fee pricing means that your advisor does not make money off of commissions from investments they recommend for you.

Facet does a good job at offering a wide range of financial services. The company does not limit their advice to specific financial topics and instead aims to be able to provide advice on any financial decision you face. Your dedicated advisor can help you in the following areas - employee benefits, compensation, cash flow, career, retirement, real estate, investments, insurance, taxes, and college.

Facet uses a web portal to track your assets, liabilites and overall financial plan. You can use the tool to track your progress towards goals in the areas listed above. As you update information online, your advisor will be notified so that you are always on the same page.

Facet offers both email and phone support Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 9:00 pm ET. Keep in mind that these options are for general customer service. If you want to speak with your advisor, you have to schedule an appointment via phone or video conference.

Facet does not offer any other advisor options other than the ones discussed above. You get access to your dedicated certified financial planner that helps you create a comprehensive financial plan. With that being said, you may need all of the services that Facet offers or just a few depending upon your circumstance so the exact "advisor options" needed can vary person to person.

1. Low cost on high account balances

When compared to other advisor services that charge a percentage of your assets that they manage per year (AUM pricing model), the flat fee of Facet can be quite low on high account balances. For example, say that you stuck with Facet over the long haul and ended up with $1 million at the company. If you had the lowest price, your flat fee would be equivalent to 0.24% per year which is well below the industry standard of 1%.

2. Dedicated certified financial planner

Unlike other online advisor services that give you access to a "team" of advisors, Facet pairs you with a dedicated advisor. Most online advisors do not offer this and instead allow you to speak with whatever advisor they have available at that time. This is a huge benefit of Facet as you will have an advisor that will truly understand your needs as they get to know you over time.

3. Wide range of services

Finally, Facet does a good job at offering a wide range of planning and financial services. Facet does not limit their advice to just investments or retirement, but instead aims to be able to assist you with any financial decision or question you may have.

1. High fees on small account balances

The main knock against Facet is that their fees are extremely high if you have a small account balance. For example, if you had $24,000 managed at Facet, your fees for the year would be equivalent to 10% assuming the lowest pricing that Facet offers. This is ten times higher than the industry average - yikes.

If you don't have a large amount of money to transfer to Facet, you would be much better off starting with another online advisor service from Schwab, Vanguard, or Fidelity as your costs would be significantly lower. You could then transfer your assets back to Facet once your account balance was large enough to justify the costs.

2. Hard to predict exact costs

Facet does not publicly disclose how they determine what price you will pay, which ranges from $2,400 to $8,000 per year. This can make it difficult to compare it to other advisor service on a cost basis since you will not know your price until you schedule an initial consultation with Facet.

Facet is right for you if: