This is a provider case study, not a product recommendation. Read it inside the family-office guide and the investment-platform map. Primary evidence: SEC IAPD firm record.
Compound Planning is a US investment adviser (CRD 171787 / SEC 801-126007) offering planning, portfolio management, tax and equity-compensation support within a US custody and tax perimeter. Facts were checked on 14 August 2026; fees and client eligibility must be confirmed directly before onboarding.
Legal and operating perimeter
The SEC IAPD record lists Compound Planning as an SEC-registered investment adviser and provides the current Form ADV and relationship summary. The company's merger notice documents the 2023 combination with Alternativ Wealth. Funding headlines and third-party growth estimates are omitted here because they do not determine licence status, custody or client eligibility.
Product and pricing
The entry point is the Compound Dashboard, an aggregator of the whole balance sheet: more than 1,000 integrations across banks, brokerages, 401(k) plans, mortgages and crypto wallets, automatic import of equity grants from Carta and Shareworks, and a document vault tied to assets. The dashboard works without an advisory agreement: connect accounts, see consolidated net worth, then get introduced to an advisor.
The paid layer bundles planning, investments, taxes and equity. Portfolios are built from ETFs and funds with alternatives layered on top; the Compound Tax arm has filed returns directly in-platform since February 2025, closing the "advisor plans it, accountant files it" loop inside one firm; the house specialty is options and concentrated positions — when to exercise ISOs, how to unwind RSUs, what to do about AMT. The private-markets shelf runs on the logic of investment platforms: curated feeders into venture, private equity, private credit and real estate funds; the team says it turns down 95% of deals after underwriting the managers, and part of the shelf is open only to accredited investors and qualified purchasers — the standard status gates of the US private market.
Pricing per the Form CRS dated March 26, 2026: asset management at 0.2–2.0% per year, billed monthly or quarterly; project-based planning at $500–10,000; hourly consulting at $100–500; a formal $25,000 account minimum described as "flexible and negotiable". The tenfold range is a consequence of the model: the rate is negotiated with the individual advisor and depends on size and complexity. Client accounts sit with independent custodians Charles Schwab and Fidelity: assets stay in the client's name with SIPC protection, while Compound holds trading authority only.
The 2025–2026 technology bet is AdvisorHQ, an internal "advisor operating system" with the CompoundAI core and the Activity Monitor event feed, launched in September 2025. The logic mirrors Arta's AI agents: a digital family office's margin lives in the cost of service.
Competitive context
The closest relative is Farther: also a venture-backed tech-RIA growing by recruiting advisors, approaching $4 billion under management by mid-2026; Compound's differentiators are in-perimeter tax filing and a sharper focus on equity-compensated clients. Arta Finance plays the neighbouring field: membership from $100k, a Singapore licence and international onboarding — precisely what Compound lacks. A classic family office starts at $10–20 million and delivers concierge depth — bill pay, family accounting, philanthropy — that a digital stack does not yet replicate. Consolidators such as Creative Planning or Mariner grow by buying whole RIA practices; Compound buys not firms but individual advisors with their client books. Robo-advisers, finally, are cheaper at around 0.25% a year, but come with no human advisor, no tax filing and no private markets. Compound's niche: the service stack of a multi-family office with fintech delivery and the entry threshold of an ordinary RIA.
Onboarding and who can join
There are two doors in: request a call with an advisor, or self-register in the dashboard and connect accounts. Then the standard US cycle: KYC, an investment profile, an advisory agreement, ACATS transfers to the custodians. The formal $25k minimum does not describe the real client: per the ADV breakdown the base splits roughly evenly between mass-affluent and high-net-worth individuals, and the marketing targets founders, early employees, executives and professionals in private practice.
On non-residents, directly: Compound Planning has no public program for clients outside the US perimeter. The app supports US financial institutions only, the tax module files with the IRS, accounts are opened at Schwab and Fidelity — both custodians are reluctant to take clients without a US address — and no company material advertises international onboarding. For relocating capital this means a simple sequence: Compound becomes relevant once you hold US status — a green card or work visa with tax residency, US accounts, employer equity. For international capital with no US nexus this is not the tool: a digital family office with non-resident entry means Arta's Singapore lane or an external asset manager setup with a private bank.
How the business is built
The growth engine is an advisor-recruiting conveyor. Thirty advisors joined over 2024, the 50-advisor mark was passed in June 2025, another 24 arrived between January 2025 and April 2026, and the regulatory filings list 83 investment adviser representatives. They come from Merrill, Edward Jones, Mercer Advisors, Facet and Motley Fool Wealth, and the teams bring books of systemic size: the June 2025 cohort managed $835 million, the cohort spanning late 2025 and early 2026 — about $795 million. In April 2026 the firm hired a dedicated Director of Advisor Recruiting, alongside a new Head of Wealth Management, a Director of Tax and a lead product manager.
The model is supported independence: the advisor gets brand, compliance, a tax team, an alternatives shelf and AdvisorHQ while keeping the freedom to run their own practice — much the same logic by which an EAM operates on top of a custodian bank. The economics rest on technology: close to 150 clients per advisor against 50–80 in classic practices — workable only because AI automates the routine. The soft spots are visible in the same Form CRS: commissions of affiliated insurance agents, partner compensation from tax and technology platforms, an in-house TAMP wrapper at 0.25% a year — the conflicts are disclosed, but they are worth reading before signing, not after. The open questions are those of any venture-backed RIA: whether service quality survives a doubling every eighteen months, and what the investors' exit looks like — an IPO, a sale to a consolidator, or slow dividend maturity; client assets stay on custodial accounts under any scenario, but the team and the terms can change.
For anyone building a similar business there are three lessons here. Distribution can be bought with a merger: product-led Compound, with a beautiful dashboard but no mass client base, combined with advisor-led Alternativ — and growth ran through people rather than advertising. Tax filing inside the perimeter is the strongest retention hook: clients switch investment advisers easily and the person who files the family's returns painfully. And the AI layer pays for itself not in marketing copy but in the clients-per-advisor metric.
FAQ
Who can become a Compound Planning client?
In practice, US persons: clients with American accounts and tax residency, most often with equity compensation. The formal $25k minimum in the Form CRS is negotiable; the target segment is high-net-worth. There is no public onboarding for non-residents: the app supports US financial institutions only, and Schwab and Fidelity rarely open accounts without a US address.
What does the service cost?
Per the Form CRS dated March 26, 2026: 0.2–2.0% of assets under management per year — the rate is negotiated, billed monthly or quarterly; project-based planning at $500–10,000; hourly consulting at $100–500. Private-markets access sits on top of the advisory relationship and requires accredited-investor status, with qualified-purchaser gates on part of the shelf.
How does Compound differ from Farther and Arta Finance?
From Farther — through built-in tax filing and a focus on option-heavy clients; the underlying mechanics coincide: a venture-backed tech-RIA growing through advisor recruitment. From Arta — through the absence of an international lane: Arta onboards non-residents via its Singapore licence, Compound works only inside the US perimeter. What unites all three is the bet on AI to cut the cost of service.
What happens to assets if the platform shuts down?
Assets do not sit "inside Compound": accounts are held in the client's name at independent custodians Charles Schwab and Fidelity, with securities protected by SIPC within standard limits. The RIA holds trading authority under the agreement only. If the adviser leaves the market, the account stays at the custodian — the manager changes, not the place of safekeeping.