Research on financial planner fees

Studies built from the fees US fee only firms publish in their Form ADV Part 2A brochures. Every number updates with the monthly data refresh; this data is as of November 4, 2026.

• CFP® professional fees vs other planners

  Among US fee only firms with one employee, those whose Form ADV brochure names a CFP® professional publish a median hourly rate of $300 (704 firms), against $250 (1,404 firms) at those whose brochure names no CFP® professional, a gap larger than chance would explain; among firms with two or more employees, the median hourly rate is $300 for both groups (406 and 963 firms).

• Financial plan cost by city

  The median one time financial plan fee in the 21 US cities with enough firms to rank runs from $2,875 to $8,000, and no city's plan fees differ from the rest of the US by more than chance would explain.

• How much a financial advisor costs

  US fee only firms publish a median hourly rate of $296 (3,488 firms) and a median one time plan fee of $4,950 (2,537 firms), plus the median hourly rate for each ranked state.

• Financial Planner Fees Report 2026

  68% of the 8,139 US fee only planning firms we list publish a dollar planning fee; their fees compared by state, city and firm type, with significance tests.

• Fee calculator: 1% of assets vs a flat fee

  A 1% fee on $1,000,000 over 20 years at 6% a year costs $583,997 in fees and lost growth; the US median flat annual fee, $8,250 (651 firms), costs $385,282 over the same 20 years.

How we read the brochures and count fees: methodology. The firm level data: full fee dataset (CSV).