Mercer Global Advisors Review

Disciplinary Questions

After checking the disciplinary records of Mercer Global Advisors, our system found no disciplinary questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.

Conflict Questions

After checking the regulatory records of Mercer Global Advisors, our system has identified the following question(s) to ask. Learn more.

Does Mercer Global Advisors offer mutual funds that have 12b-1 fees?

12b-1 fees increase the total annual cost of owning a mutual fund with no guarantee of higher returns. Some firms receive these fees as payments, which creates an incentive to promote them.

How does Mercer Global Advisors approach insurance sales? What conflicts do I need to be made aware of?

Currently Mercer Global Advisors actively practices as insurance brokers or agents, or they are affiliated with an insurance company or agency. This arrangement creates a conflict where the firm and its representatives may be motivated to insure clients with products, including annuities and life insurance, that generate high sales commissions when lower-cost alternatives may exist.

Does Mercer Global Advisors offer products that have performance-based fees, or does it accept performance-based fees? Will any of my assets be invested in those products?

When performance-based fees are charged, the financial advisor is paid for outperforming a benchmark, typically an index. While this may seem like an attractive compensation structure to ensure your advisor is making your money work for you, often, the managers of those products are incentivized to take inappropriate risks to beat their performance benchmark. For instance, research has shown that mutual funds that use incentive fees take on more risk that funds that do not, and tend to double down and increase their risk following a poor performance. This could be detrimental to a client during down markets.

Does Mercer Global Advisors perform side-by-side management? How does Mercer Global Advisors mitigate conflicts that arise from managing accounts with differing fee structures?

This typically occurs when firms manage mutual funds or hedge funds alongside smaller retail accounts. Side-by-side management can create an incentive for the advisor to favor the larger funds, potentially leading to unequal trading costs and unfavorable trade executions for their retail clients.

Our system found no other conflict questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.