How we charge
The whole fee schedule, before the handshake
If a firm won't publish its fees, it's negotiating, not advising. Here is our complete schedule, shown as an example for this sample site, including the tier math most firms make you ask about, worked out in the open.
Wealth management: a tiered annual fee
One fee covers everything: planning, investment management, tax coordination, and estate coordination. It's marginal, which means each rate applies only to the assets inside its band, the way tax brackets work. It's billed quarterly, in arrears, only after the work is done.
Example schedule for this sample site
| Assets under advisement | Band | Annual rate |
|---|---|---|
| First $1 million | $0 to $1,000,000 | 0.90% |
| Next $2 million | $1,000,001 to $3,000,000 | 0.65% |
| Next $2 million | $3,000,001 to $5,000,000 | 0.50% |
| Above $5 million | $5,000,001 and up | 0.35% |
Worked examples: the blended math
$1,000,000 under advisement $9,000/year 0.90% effective $2,250/quarter
$2,500,000 under advisement $18,750/year 0.75% effective $4,688/quarter
$6,000,000 under advisement $35,500/year 0.59% effective $8,875/quarter
Fund expenses inside the portfolio (typically low-cost index funds) and custodian charges are separate and never payable to us. Every figure on this page is an example for this sample site, not a quote.
Estimate your fee
The same number, computed the same way, appears on every statement: visible, itemized, and easy to fire us over. We consider that a feature. Example figures only.
Discuss your situationThe flat-fee alternative
Foundations planning: flat-fee planning, no minimum, no assets required
The complete planning relationship, from discovery through implementation and yearly reviews, for households still building assets or who prefer to manage their own portfolio. Same fiduciary standard, same team, one flat fee.
- Full planning process and written plan
- Two structured review meetings per year
- Unlimited email and scheduled-call access
- Portfolio blueprint you can implement yourself
$4,800
per year · $400/month
no assets required
What the fee includes, and what we never charge
Included in every fee
- Complete financial planning and unlimited reviews
- Portfolio management, rebalancing, and tax-loss harvesting
- Tax coordination with your CPA
- Estate document and beneficiary alignment
- Family meetings and next-generation onboarding
- Access to your advisory team, not a call center
What we never charge
- Commissions on any product
- Trading markups or custody fees payable to us
- Charges for meetings, calls, or 'extra' questions
- Termination or account-transfer fees
- Performance fees that reward us for gambling
Why publish this list? Because the industry's costs mostly live here, in the charges that never appear as a line item. See the fiduciary promise for how the incentives connect, or the fee questions people ask most.
The first step is free
Questions the schedule doesn't answer?
Fee conversations are the easiest ones we have, because everything's already published. Bring the edge cases; we enjoy them.