Zoe Financial is an online service that connects you with a vetted financial advisor. The company does not offer advisory services itself. Instead, Zoe finds the best financial advisors across the country by using a strict advisor vetting process and connects you with these advisors.

Zoe Financial is pretty easy to use and works using three steps. First, you will begin by filling out a short questionaire on Zoe's website. You will be asked about your age, zip code, financial goals, household income, and assets.

Based upon your answers to these questions, Zoe will recommend several advisors that could be a good fit for you. From there, you can enter your contact information to schedule a complimentary call with these advisors in order to find the one that is best for you.

The final step is to open and fund an investing account through Zoe's Wealth Platform which is where you will work with your advisor. Through the platform you can see your net worth and track the performance of your portfolio.

Most of the advisors within Zoe's network allow you to keep your investment accounts at any of the major custodians. This would include Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and APEX Clearing and Pershing. These brokers simply hold your investment accounts and your advisor will help manage them.

Since Zoe's network of advisors work with these major custodians, you can typically open any of the account types that these custodians offer. This would include brokerage accounts, Roth and Traditional IRAs, Trusts, College 529 plans and more.

Keep in mind that some advisors require you to have your investment accounts at a certain custodian. During your intial consultation, it is a good idea to ask your advisor what custodian they work with and what account types they can help you manage.

Zoe is free to use. The company is paid by the advisors in their network, since the advisors want to get access to you. Every time a client signs up to work with an advisor, Zoe gets paid a flat fee or an ongoing recurring fee from the advisor that they paired you with.

Although Zoe is free to use, you will be charged a fee by the advisor that you end up working with. After all, they are providing a valuable service and should be compensated. The exact fee that you will end up paying will vary by advisor since Zoe works with so many different advisors.

Traditionally, most advisors charge a percentage of the assets that they manage (AUM pricing model). So, if your advisor manages $100,000 for you, they might charge a 1% fee on that amount per year which would equal $1,000.

During your initial consultation with an advisor Zoe recommends for you, it is a good idea to ask that advisor about their fees so you can guage how much of your money will go into their pocket. In general, you don't want your advisor to charge you more than a 1% fee on an annual basis.

Keep in mind that you might also need a certain amount of investable assets to work with an advisor within Zoe's network. According to Zoe, they have advisors that can "service all income and asset individuals." When you fill out the initial questionaire, Zoe will ask how much money you have and match you with an adivsor that can service you based upon what you have.

With that being said, some advisors in their network might require you to have at least $150,000 in order for you to work with them. Zoe themselves say that their average client has "over $750,000 in investable assets." If you don't have this, don't worry. It is still a good idea to go through Zoe's process and schedule a call with an advisor to see if you meet the requirements.

Zoe works with advisors in all 50 states. Almost all advisors will be able to meet with you over the phone or through a video conference. It is also possible to be paired with local advisor in which case you might be able to schedule an in person appointment.

1. Financial advisor vetting and connecting

Since Zoe's primary service is to connect you with an advisor, they have a strict vetting process to ensure you only work with the top advisors in the nation. According to Zoe, more than 95% of advisors who apply to work with the company are rejected. Zoe finds the remaining 5% of advisors using the following criteria.

Zoe starts by looking at the qualifications the advisor holds. An advisor must have one or more required designations (CFP, CFA, CPA) in order to move to the next phase. From there, advisors must have a minimum of 5 years of experience to keep moving through the process.

Next, Zoe makes sure that the advisor will act in your best interest. One of the ways Zoe does this is that they do not work with advisors who make commissions off of investments that they recommend to you. This can eliminate potential conflicts of interest between yourself and your advisor.

Finally, advisors are evaluated on their overall subject knowledge and client experience that they offer. Zoe uses this process to eliminate 95% of applicats. This ensures that no matter who Zoe recommends for you, you can be confident they have been properly vetted.

2. Educational resources

Zoe has a blog that they update frequently with financial news, topics and advice. Zoe also has a video library and pdf type guides on a range of financial topics. The videos go the most in depth and are often around 45 minutes in length. The resources that Zoe has are not out of this world, but it is nice to see the company provide some free resources.

Zoe offers customer support over the phone Monday through Sunday from 8 am to 11 pm ET. Text and email support are also available 24/7. Keep in mind that these customer service options are to address issues or concerns with the services Zoe offers directly and are not a way to speak with your advisor.

Zoe Financial does not offer any other advisor options besides the ones listed above. The beauty of Zoe is in its simplicity. You simply enter your information, and Zoe will recommend several advisors that would be a good fit for you. From there, you can set up calls with each recommended advisor and work with the one that best suits your needs.

1. Easy to find a vetted advisor

The biggest advantage of Zoe is the simplicity. All you have to do is fill out a 6 step questionaire and Zoe does the rest. Not only does Zoe do the work of finding the advisor, but they also vett every advisor in their network which means you don't have to. Boom - easy to use.

2. Free to use

If you had to pay a few hundreds dollar fee to Zoe in order to get matched with an advisor, the service would be much less attractive. Thankfully this is not the case as Zoe makes money off of the advisor and gives the service to you 100% for free.

3. Advisors offer a wide range of services

Since Zoe has such a strict vetting process, most of the advisors in their network can provide a wide range of services. Advisors can help you plan for retirement, choose investments, manage debt, assist with estate plannig and more.

1. Fees and account minimum are not clear up front

The disadvantage of Zoe is that it is hard to judge what fees you will pay up front. Remember, Zoe is free to use, but you will pay fees to the advisor you work with. Zoe has over 4,000 advisors in their network and it is likely that fees will vary greatly by advisor. As we previously stated, it is a good idea to ask any advisor Zoe recommends for you about the fees they charge during your initial call.

Zoe is right for you if: