If you run a solo RIA or a fee-only planning practice, your banking needs look nothing like a retail store's. Most fee-only planners rarely take cash and may not need regular branch access. What you need is a business banking platform that keeps planning-fee revenue clean, pays your tech stack on time, and hands your CPA an audit-friendly trail at year-end.

Novo is a fintech, not a bank; banking services are provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC.

What independent financial planners need from a business bank

A business account exists to provide separation and predictability. A few things matter more than the rest:

Clean separation from personal money. Running planning fees through your personal checking makes tax time slower and a compliance review harder. The SBA specifically recommends a dedicated business account so income and expenses stay in one place.

For a deeper look at where the lines fall, see our guide to business vs personal checking.

Predictable pricing. Planning revenue is lumpy. You bill some clients quarterly, some at engagement, some on a subscription. A monthly maintenance fee or minimum-balance rule punishes you in slow months. Look for zero of both.

Integrations with what you already use. A solo practice usually runs on QuickBooks or Xero for bookkeeping, Stripe for card payments, and a financial-planning stack (eMoney, RightCapital, MoneyGuidePro) plus a CRM (Redtail, Wealthbox). Your business banking platform should push transactions into that stack without a monthly export ritual.

ACH and wire capability. You'll send ACH or wires to your state securities regulator, your E&O carrier, your compliance consultant, and occasionally your custodian's billing team. Reliable, low-cost ACH matters more than "free wires" for most planners.

Onboarding that understands LLCs and S-corps. Most independent planners operate as a registered entity: single-member LLC, multi-member LLC, or S-corp. The account opening flow should ask for your EIN letter and formation docs and not bounce you into a personal application. An EIN is required for most LLCs and corporations, and it's what the bank behind your account will ask for when you open a business checking for LLC account.

Why Novo fits independent financial planners

Novo is built for small businesses that run on software rather than storefronts. That describes most of a solo planning practice. Novo is a fintech, not a bank; banking services are provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC.

• No monthly fee, no minimum balance. Novo has a $0 monthly maintenance fee and no minimum balance requirement, which helps when planning revenue varies by quarter.

• ACH transfers for pulling in retainer payments and paying vendors.
• Native integrations with Stripe, Shopify, QuickBooks, and Xero cover the payments and bookkeeping tools many solo planners already use.

• Novo Reserves let you set aside funds inside your Novo business checking account into labeled buckets for quarterly estimated taxes, E&O renewal, and annual tech-stack renewals. Self-employed planners generally have to pay quarterly estimated federal taxes when they expect to owe $1,000 or more, so a dedicated Reserve simplifies those quarterly payments.

Reserves work like business sub-accounts inside one operating account.

• FDIC-insured deposits. Novo deposits are held at Middlesex Federal Savings and FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category.

• Available to sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, S-corps, and C-corps, which covers the common entity types for independent planners.

One honest tradeoff to name up front: Novo does not accept cash deposits. For a fee-only planner billing by ACH, card, or check, that's usually a non-issue. If a client occasionally hands you cash, you'll need a workaround (a separate cash-accepting account, for example), and you should know that going in.

How planners typically use a Novo account day to day

The daily rhythm of a solo planning practice fits a small handful of banking flows:

Getting paid. Send clients a Stripe payment link for card payments, or invoice via QuickBooks with ACH enabled. Both route funds into your Novo account without a manual transfer. Novo's Stripe integration lets independent financial planners accept card payments for planning fees and route the proceeds into their Novo business checking account.

Paying the tech stack. Recurring subscriptions to eMoney or RightCapital, your CRM (Redtail or Wealthbox), your compliance vendor, your Form ADV filing service, your website host, and your scheduling tool all come out of one operating account on card or ACH. See our guide to recurring business payments for how to organize these predictably.

Setting aside taxes and fixed costs. Move a percentage of every planning-fee deposit into a Reserve labeled "Q1 estimated tax," "Q2," "E&O premium," and "annual tech renewal." When the bill comes due, the money is already set aside, and you're not scrambling to move it in from a personal savings account.

Sending ACH and wires to regulators and carriers. State registration fees to your securities division, annual renewals to your E&O carrier, and CRD-related payments through your compliance vendor all clear through the same account.

Year-end bookkeeping. Export transactions to QuickBooks or Xero, or hand your CPA a downloadable statement. Because everything ran through one account, year-end reconciliation is straightforward.

What compliance records does an RIA operating account need to support?

SEC-registered investment advisers must keep true, accurate, and current books and records under SEC Rule 204-2, part of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. State-registered advisers should check the books-and-records rules of the state where they are registered, and advisers of any size should consult their own compliance counsel on what applies to their firm.

A dedicated business bank account can support the operating-side recordkeeping your firm needs to maintain. Every fee received, every subscription paid, and every regulator payment sits in one place, downloadable as a PDF or CSV.

Most independent planners are fee-only and don't take custody of client assets. That means your compliance exposure on the banking side is about firm operations, not client money. The recordkeeping standard is still real, and examiners will want to see clean books when they show up.

Practical steps:

1. Open the business account in the firm's legal name using its EIN.
2. Keep your formation documents and EIN letter in the same folder as your Form ADV and compliance manual.
3. Route every planning fee through the operating account. No client Zelle to your personal checking.
4. Download quarterly statements and store them alongside your books-and-records file.
5. When your CPA or compliance consultant asks for transaction detail, export it directly from Novo.

Does a financial planner need both a custodian and a business bank?

Yes, and the two do very different jobs.

A qualified custodian holds client investment assets. That's a regulated custody function, and it's not something a business checking account does or should do. Under SEC Rule 206(4)-2, advisers with custody of client funds or securities generally must maintain those assets with a qualified custodian.

Many RIAs use custodial platforms or institutional brokerage relationships for this function, while Novo holds only the firm's own operating funds.

A Novo operating account holds the firm's own money. Planning fees come in. Software subscriptions, E&O premiums, and your own draw or payroll go out.

The standard setup for a solo RIA looks like this:

• Custodian holds client accounts and executes trades.
• Custodian debits AUM fees from client accounts on your schedule and sweeps them to your firm's operating account by ACH.
• Novo receives those AUM sweeps plus any direct-billed planning fees.
• Novo pays every operating cost of the firm.

Novo is a fintech, not a brokerage, not a custodian, and not a trust institution. It is a business banking platform that can sit alongside the qualified custodian that holds client assets.

How to open a Novo account as a financial planner

Most planners finish the application in one sitting. You'll need:

• Your EIN letter from the IRS (or your SSN if you're a sole proprietor without an EIN).
• Formation documents, such as Articles of Organization for an LLC, Articles of Incorporation for a corporation, or a DBA registration.
• A government-issued photo ID for every beneficial owner and any control person.
• Your business address and NAICS code. Code 523930 (Investment Advice) is the usual fit for a planning practice.

For a full document checklist that covers edge cases, see business checking account requirements. Apply online at novo.co. During signup, describe your business model accurately, such as fee-only planning, hourly planning, project-based planning, or AUM-based advisory. Once you're approved:

1. Connect Stripe if you plan to accept card payments.
2. Link QuickBooks or Xero so transactions sync automatically.
3. Set up Reserves for quarterly taxes, E&O, and any annual renewals.
4. Update your Form ADV and any client-facing invoices with the new account details.

Copy-ready client payment instruction template

Send this to a new client along with your engagement letter so planning fees land in the right account from day one:

Payment instructions — [Firm Name, LLC]

For ACH or wire:
  Beneficiary: [Firm Legal Name, LLC]
  Bank: Middlesex Federal Savings (via Novo)
  Routing number: [your Novo routing number]
  Account number: [your Novo account number]
  Reference: [Client Last Name] — [Engagement Type]

For card payment:
  Use the Stripe link included in your invoice email.
  Card processing fees are set by Stripe and vary by transaction type.

For check:
  Payable to: [Firm Legal Name, LLC]
  Mail to: [Firm mailing address]

Questions on billing: [billing email or phone]

Use the template as a starting point in your own document editor. Avoid pasting actual routing or account numbers into public AI tools, since anything you enter there may leave your control.

Frequently asked questions

Can a solo RIA use Novo as its firm operating account?

Yes. A solo RIA can use Novo as the firm's operating account for receiving planning fees, paying software and vendor bills, and funding owner draws. Novo is a business operating account for a financial planning firm's own money; it is not a brokerage, trust institution, or qualified custodian for client assets, which must remain with a qualified custodian.

Is Novo FDIC-insured, and by which bank?

Novo deposits are held at Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., a federally chartered savings bank and Member FDIC, and are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category.

Does Novo work with sole proprietors as well as LLCs and S-corps?

Yes. Novo business accounts are available to U.S.-based sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, S-corps, and C-corps, which covers the common entity types used by independent planners.

Can I accept client planning fees by credit or debit card?

Yes. Novo's Stripe integration lets you accept card payments for planning fees and route the proceeds into your Novo account. Card processing fees are set by Stripe and vary by transaction type.

What if a client pays me by check or cash?

Checks can be deposited through the Novo mobile app or by mail. Novo does not accept cash deposits. If cash payments are unavoidable, use a separate cash-accepting account, or confirm Novo's current check and money-order deposit rules before accepting that payment method.

Do I still need a separate custodian if I use Novo?

Yes. Novo holds your firm's operating funds. A qualified custodian holds client investment assets. The two are distinct regulatory functions, and every RIA that manages client portfolios needs a qualified custodian regardless of which operating account provider they use.

Will Novo work with my QuickBooks or Xero setup?

Yes. Novo integrates directly with QuickBooks and Xero, and transactions sync automatically once you connect the accounts. Your bookkeeper or CPA can categorize and reconcile without a manual CSV export every month.

Ready to open an account? Start the application at novo.co. Most independent planners finish in a single sitting with their EIN letter and formation docs on hand.