How Much Does a Typical Financial Advisor Charge?

What are the fees at firms such as Edward Jones, Ameriprise, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Merrill and others

To begin with, it's important to understand that many of the advisors at these firms do not have an ongoing fiduciary obligation on investment accounts managed for their clients. This means that their advisors may not only be compensated through an ongoing advisory fee, but oftentimes they are paid additionally to place clients into specific investments.

Fees typically start at 1.00% of assets annually. But that is not where they end.

Advisory fees are often tiered, so some clients may pay a slightly lower overall annual fee, but it’s common for accounts with less than a few million dollars in assets to be charged north of 1% annually. This is often in addition to other internal investment fees (listed below).

Mutual fund revenue sharing costs

Mutual funds and other financial products utilized by high-fee financial advisors often have substantial, additional, and ongoing internal fees and expenses. These added costs subtract from the potential portfolio performance of their clients. For more details, refer to another piece I wrote on the subject: "What is Mutual Fund Revenue Sharing?"

Commission costs

When placing clients into annuity products or A-Share Mutual Funds, financial advisors can receive an upfront commission from clients. Additionally, these types of “load” products typically have high ongoing fees the client pays through the investment expense ratio.

Markups/markdowns

Clients at these types of firms often pay a commission or markup/markdown cost every time they buy or sell investments such as individual stocks, bonds, CDs, master limited partnerships, real estate investment trusts or preferred stock.

How does One Day In July stack up against other financial advisors?

Reducing fees is a critical part of long-term investment success. If you’d like a complementary review of your investment account statement or would like to learn more about One Day In July, feel free to reach out. I've transferred hundreds of accounts over from other investment firms with the goal of reducing fees and improving portfolios.

"Merrill" is a registered trademark of Bank of America, "Ameriprise" is a registered trademark of Ameriprise Financial, Inc, "Wells Fargo" is a registered trademark of Wells Fargo & Company, "Edward Jones" is a registered trademark of Edward Jones Investments, "Morgan Stanley" is a registered trademark of Morgan Stanley. We believe these claims to be true based on publicly available information as of 4/13/2023.