Velira vs Facet
Facet is a well-regarded online financial-planning service. Advice comes from CFP® professionals for a flat annual membership fee rather than a percentage of assets — spanning investing, retirement, tax planning and filing, insurance, estate, and equity compensation, over video meetings and a client dashboard. How dedicated that planner is depends on tier: the entry membership works with Facet's planner team, a dedicated planner team comes on the middle tier, and your own individual CFP® professional on the top tier.
Velira offers the same human layer, built on a deeper software core. Its higher tiers add a dedicated fiduciary CFP (Velira Wealth), a dedicated CPA for year-round personal tax planning and 1040 prep and filing (Velira Tax), and a dedicated Estate Planner (Velira Estate) — all flat-fee, with no AUM charge, ever. Underneath sits a read-only decision engine for people whose money is complicated: investments alongside business equity, illiquid stakes, earnouts, and private notes, telling you the move your plan calls for each day, grounded in survival math, with an auditable rule trace.
The real distinction is the center of gravity and who holds the keys. Facet leads with the human planner, who can also manage and execute your investments for you. Velira leads with a daily engine over your real, connected balance sheet and layers the human advisor on top — and it stays read-only by architecture: your CFP monitors and recommends, but you keep custody and place the trades. Both are flat-fee with no AUM. Which fits depends on how much you want to hand over.
| Capability | Velira | Facet |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | A daily balance-sheet decision engine with an optional dedicated human advisory layer on the higher tiers. | A human financial-planning membership: a dedicated CFP® professional delivering ongoing advice. |
| Dedicated human CFP | Yes — a dedicated fiduciary CFP on Velira Wealth and up, flat-fee with no AUM charge. | CFP® professionals at every tier; a dedicated individual planner is reserved for the top membership tier (the entry tier works with the planner team). |
| Tax planning & filing | Yes — Velira Tax adds a dedicated CPA for year-round personal tax planning and 1040 prep & filing (personal, not corporate). | Tax planning, with tax preparation and filing offered on the applicable membership tier. |
| Estate planning | Yes — Velira Estate adds a dedicated Estate Planner for legacy structuring, trust funding, and titling. | Estate guidance through the CFP® relationship; the full estate-planning suite is offered on the top membership tier. |
| Pricing model | Flat tier pricing with no percentage-of-assets fee and no AUM charge at any tier. | A flat annual membership fee (not a percentage of assets), tiered by the services you use. |
| Money management & custody | Read-only by architecture — your advisor monitors and recommends; you keep custody and place the trades. | Offers investment management, building and managing a portfolio on the client's behalf. |
| Net worth incl. complex & illiquid assets | First-class: business equity, private stakes, earnouts, real estate, and private notes are modeled directly. | Comprehensive planning across a client's assets, income, and goals with a planner's guidance. |
| Daily decision cadence | A daily verdict and market-aware signals over your live positions — a decision engine, not just periodic reviews. | Scheduled planning meetings and ongoing access to your advisor between sessions. |
| Confirmed vs. contingent money | Two-ledger discipline: a confirmed 'honest floor' kept strictly separate from probability-weighted upside. | A CFP® professional works through goals and trade-offs with the client directly. |
| Auditability | Every recommendation carries a 'Why' view — the inputs, engine version, and rules that fired. | A fiduciary advisor who explains recommendations and their reasoning directly to you. |
Who Velira is for
Velira is for people with complex, affluent balance sheets who want a daily engine that watches their real, connected accounts and tells them the move their plan calls for — with the reasoning shown — and who value keeping custody and control of their own accounts while still having a dedicated human CFP, CPA, or Estate Planner on call at the higher tiers.
It is especially suited to founders and operators whose wealth includes business equity, concentrated positions, earnouts, private notes, or illiquid stakes — where keeping confirmed money separate from contingent upside is the whole game — and who want a flat fee with no AUM charge whether they run it themselves or add the human layer.
Where Facet may fit better
If what you want is for your advisor to take custody and actively manage and execute your investments on your behalf, Facet's investment-management model is built for that. Velira offers the dedicated human CFP and the flat, no-AUM fee, but by design it stays read-only — it monitors and recommends and leaves the trading to you — so if you'd rather fully delegate the execution, Facet may fit better.
Facet is also a clean choice if you primarily want a human planner as the front door and don't need the deep daily balance-sheet engine underneath. Velira and Facet overlap heavily on the human layer; the deciding question is usually whether you want to keep your hands on the wheel (Velira) or hand the wheel over (Facet).
See Velira on your own numbers
Velira is read-only by architecture and never executes a trade — it tells you the move your plan calls for, and you place it. It is decision-support, not financial advice.