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MERKLE RETIREMENT PLANNING
Legal name: ELITE RETIREMENT PLANNING, LLC
CRD 297942File 801-118564
APPROVED
Retail clients
Filing as of Mar 30, 2026
Feed vintage Oct 1, 2026
Regulatory AUM
$568.8M
Above cohort median (national)
Discretionary AUM
$568.8M
Clients
1,019
2,896 accounts
Employees
30
Above cohort median in IA
Identity & registration
ADV Item 1- Organization form
- Limited Liability Company
- Firm type
- Registered
- SEC region
- CHRO
- Registration date
- Apr 27, 2020
- Principal office
- 1860 SE PRINCETON DR, GRIMES, IA, 50111
- Phone
- 515-278-4110
- Website
- https://merkleplan.com
Assets & accounts
ADV Item 5F- Total regulatory AUM
- $568.8M
- Discretionary AUM
- $568.8M
- Non-discretionary AUM
- $0
- Discretionary accounts
- 2,896
- Non-discretionary accounts
- 0
- Total accounts
- 2,896
- AUM per client
- $558K
Clients by type
ADV Item 5D| Client type | Clients | AUM |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Fewer than 5 | $2.7M |
| Non-U.S. persons | Fewer than 5 | Not reported |
| Insurance companies | Fewer than 5 | Not reported |
| Charitable organizations | Fewer than 5 | $13K |
| Other investment advisers | Fewer than 5 | Not reported |
| High net worth individuals | 287 | $199.9M |
| Banking or thrift institutions | Fewer than 5 | Not reported |
| Pension and profit sharing plans | Fewer than 5 | Not reported |
| State or municipal government entities | Fewer than 5 | Not reported |
| Individuals (other than high net worth individuals) | 728 | $366.2M |
Compensation & activities
ADV Items 5E, 5GCompensation
- Fixed fees
- Hourly charges
- A percentage of assets under your management
Advisory activities
- Other
- Publications
- Financial planning services
- Selection of other advisers
- Portfolio management for individuals and/or small businesses
Custody
ADV Item 9- Firm Custody Cash
- No
- Firm Custody Assets
- No
- Firm Custody Clients
- No
- Firm Custody Securities
- No
- Related Person Custody Cash
- No
- Related Person Custody Assets
- No
- Related Person Custody Clients
- No
- Related Person Custody Securities
- No
Disclosure events
ADV Item 11This firm answered no to every Item 11 disclosure question in this filing.
Filed changes
| Date | Field | From | To | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2026 | Clients | 864 | 1,019 | increased by155 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | AUM | $428,547,783 | $568,827,090 | increased by$140,279,307 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Accounts | 2,475 | 2,896 | increased by421 |
| May 1, 2025 vs Oct 1, 2022 | Employees | 16 | 30 | increased by14 |
| May 1, 2025 vs Oct 1, 2022 | Clients | 601 | 864 | increased by263 |
| May 1, 2025 vs Oct 1, 2022 | AUM | $223,752,239 | $428,547,783 | increased by$204,795,544 |
| May 1, 2025 vs Oct 1, 2022 | Accounts | 1,823 | 2,475 | increased by652 |
| Apr 1, 2022 | Employees | 17 | 16 | decreased by1 |
| Apr 1, 2022 | Clients | 536 | 601 | increased by65 |
| Apr 1, 2022 | AUM | $186,307,676 | $223,752,239 | increased by$37,444,563 |
| Apr 1, 2022 | Accounts | 1,502 | 1,823 | increased by321 |
| Apr 1, 2021 | Registration | — | APPROVED |
On Form 5500, an adviser usually appears as a plan service provider (Schedule C), not the plan sponsor.
See plans that list “MERKLE RETIREMENT” as a service provider on 5500mcp →Matched by name only — Form ADV and Form 5500 share no identifier, and names are searched loosely (“MERKLE RETIREMENT” may also match similarly-named firms). Confirm identity against each filing.
Every value above is reproduced from this firm's Form ADV filing. Fields the firm left blank are shown as “Not reported” rather than filled in from other sources.