How Much Does Merrill Guided Investing Cost? Pricing and Fees (2026)
Last updated August 2026
Short answer
Merrill Guided Investing charges Percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current). Because that is not a percentage of assets, the cost does not rise as your balance does, which cuts both ways: proportionally cheap on a large account, relatively expensive on a small one. On top of that you pay the expense ratios of whatever funds are held, which every provider passes through. Your money has to live with Merrill Guided Investing rather than the broker you already use, and in a taxable account moving it can create a tax bill. Verify current pricing on Merrill Guided Investing's own site.
What Merrill Guided Investing charges
The headline figure: Percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current), for bank of America customers who want managed portfolios in the same app. A questionnaire sets a goal and risk level, and Merrill invests in model portfolios built by its investment office, rebalancing automatically. A higher-priced tier adds access to a financial advisor. Preferred Rewards status at Bank of America can reduce the fee, which is the main reason existing customers choose it.
What you still pay on top
- Fund expense ratios. Whatever ETFs or funds sit inside the portfolio charge their own fee, deducted inside the fund rather than billed to you. A broad index fund is often 0.03% to 0.10%; a specialist fund charges more.
- Trading costs. Commissions where they apply, plus the bid-ask spread on everything bought and sold, which is real even where the commission is zero.
- Tax. Moving money into Merrill Guided Investing from an existing taxable account usually means selling, and selling can create a capital gain. That one-off cost is easy to overlook when comparing annual fees.
Merrill Guided Investing pricing against the alternatives
| Product | Cost | Holds your money? | What the fee buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merrill Guided Investing | Percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current) | No (holds your money at Merrill) | Bank of America customers who want managed portfolios in the same app |
| Betterment | ~0.25%/yr | No (holds your money) | Set-and-forget automated investing |
| Wealthfront | ~0.25%/yr | No (holds your money) | Hands-off investing with planning built in |
| SoFi | Free automated investing | No (holds your money) | Beginners in one money app |
| Schwab Intelligent Portfolios | No advisory fee; ETF expenses apply (verify current) | No (holds your money at Schwab) | Hands-off investing with no advisory fee, if you accept the cash allocation |
Comparing on headline price alone misses the more consequential variable, which is whether your assets have to move. A product that manages money it holds is doing a different job from one that reads an account you already have, and the fee difference reflects the work rather than a discount.
Where Walnut fits on price
Since this is our site, plainly: Walnut is free. There is no paid plan, no subscription and no fee on assets, because it connects the brokerage you already have rather than taking custody of your money, so there are no assets under management to charge on. You still pay your broker's commissions and your funds' expense ratios, which you would pay anyway. The full breakdown is on the Walnut pricing page.
That is not automatically the better deal. Merrill Guided Investing charges Percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current) because it does something Walnut deliberately does not: it manages the money for you, and the discipline of automation is worth paying for if the alternative is that you never get round to it. Free is only cheaper if the free thing does what you actually need.
FAQ
How much does Merrill Guided Investing cost?
Percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current). It is not charged as a percentage of your assets, so the cost stays the same as your balance grows. That makes it proportionally cheaper on a large account and relatively expensive on a small one.
Is there a minimum to open a Merrill Guided Investing account?
Minimums change and are set by the provider, so the only reliable source is Merrill Guided Investing's own site. What is worth knowing generally: robo-advisors that hold your money often set an account minimum, while tools that connect to a brokerage you already have usually do not, because there is nothing to fund.
What else do you pay on top of the Merrill Guided Investing fee?
Usually the expense ratios of the funds held inside the portfolio, which are deducted within each fund rather than billed to you, plus any trading costs your broker charges. Those exist regardless of which provider you use. In a taxable account, selling to move money between providers can also create a tax bill, which is a real cost people forget to count.
Does Merrill Guided Investing's pricing scale with my balance?
No. A flat subscription costs the same whether you hold $5,000 or $5,000,000, which is the opposite of a percentage-of-assets model. On a large account that is a considerable advantage; on a small one it is a considerable drag.
Does Merrill Guided Investing charge to connect my existing brokerage?
No (holds your money at Merrill). Where a product holds your money instead of connecting to your broker, the question does not arise: you fund an account with them and the management fee covers it. Where it does connect, the connection itself is normally included rather than billed separately.
Is Merrill Guided Investing worth the money?
That depends on whether you would otherwise do the work yourself. Paying a percentage of assets buys automation and the discipline of not interfering, which has real value for people who would otherwise tinker. Paying nothing and doing it yourself only wins if you actually do it. Neither answer is right for everyone, and the honest test is what you would do in a month where the market falls.
Is Merrill Guided Investing cheaper than the alternatives?
Within hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors), Merrill Guided Investing charges Percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current) against Betterment at ~0.25%/yr, Wealthfront at ~0.25%/yr, SoFi at Free automated investing. Price is only half the comparison though: whether your money has to move, and what you get for the fee, decide more than the headline rate.
Where can I confirm Merrill Guided Investing's current pricing?
On Merrill Guided Investing's own site. Fees, tiers and minimums change, and this page is maintained by a competitor rather than by Merrill Guided Investing, so treat every figure here as a point-in-time guide to be verified rather than a quote.
Walnut publishes this page and competes with Merrill Guided Investing, so read it as an informed assessment rather than an independent one. It is built from publicly available information about the product, not from collected user reviews, and it carries no star rating because we have not surveyed Merrill Guided Investing's customers. Pricing, features and availability change; verify current details on Merrill Guided Investing's own site before deciding. Walnut is informational and is not an investment adviser. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or to use any particular product.