Is a financial advisor worth it? Start with the work you need done, three written quotes, and the period you want help for. Compare setup and ongoing charges, then separate confirmed cash savings from the personal value of time saved.
A lower bill does not identify a better advisor or prove that two services are equivalent. This guide compares your own numbers in USD, without assuming investment outperformance, market returns, or tax savings. An affordable fee can still buy advice that does not fit.
Compare your advisor quotes over one period
Three comparable USD quotes. Enter zero for absent charges or unconfirmed savings.
Setup once. Constant AUM balance, not a forecast. Time is not cash. Avoid duplicate savings.
This tool runs in your browser. Your entries are not sent or saved. All amounts are in US dollars (USD).
Load example fills hypothetical figures. They are not current rates or recommendations.
Loading the calculator.
What job would you actually be paying for?
Write down the decisions you want help with before comparing fees: a written plan, an investment review, implementation, ongoing monitoring, or a specific life transition. Ask what you must still do yourself and what requires a separate professional.
FINRA explains that registered investment advisers may charge asset-based, flat, or hourly fees, and that both fees and advisory scope vary with the contract. A quote for a plan alone is not interchangeable with ongoing portfolio management.
Request the same deliverables from each candidate. Specify meetings, written recommendations, follow-up access, implementation responsibilities, and the review schedule. If one quote excludes work you need, request a revised quote rather than treating the missing service as a bargain.
Investor.gov explains that a firm's Form CRS describes services, fees and costs, conflicts, standards of conduct, and reportable disciplinary history. Its similar headings help comparison. Read the summary alongside the agreement; the short document is not your personalized fee quote.
How do you put three quotes on the same timeline?
Choose one to ten whole years only when all three quotes can reasonably cover that period. Confirm this using the tool's comparison selector. A three-year calculation cannot establish that a provider will keep today's fee unchanged for three years.
For each quote, enter setup once. Enter the ongoing flat fee per year, or the hourly rate and quoted hours per year. For AUM, enter the annual percentage and a constant quoted billable balance, not your entire net worth unless the agreement actually bills it.
The tool deliberately holds that balance constant. It does not predict account growth, deposits, withdrawals, or actual future invoices. If the arrangement has tiers, minimums, changing balances, or mixed charges that these inputs cannot represent, ask for a written dollar schedule instead.
Other investment and account charges may remain outside the quote. Ask which costs would arise under each choice and which would exist anyway. Do not silently ignore different costs, or add a charge twice because it appears in two documents.
What are the formulas and input limits?
AUM fees = setup + constant billable balance × annual percentage ÷ 100 × years. Flat fees = setup + annual flat fee × years. Hourly fees = setup + hourly rate × quoted annual hours × years.
Confirmed cash savings = each quote's annual verified incremental saving × years. Cash gap = fees minus those savings. Gap with time also subtracts shared net hours saved per year × your personal hourly value × years. Positive gaps are uncovered costs; negative gaps are entered surplus.
Years must be whole numbers from 1 to 10. Setup, flat fees, and annual savings accept USD 0 to 1,000,000; balance accepts 0 to 100,000,000; percentage accepts 0 to 10. Hourly and personal time rates accept 0 to 10,000; hours accept 0 to 8,760 annually. Money uses cents, hours use hundredths, and percent uses thousandths. These are tool limits, not fee recommendations.
Results display cents after calculation. There is no discounting, compounding, tax model, or investment return assumption. Blank or invalid fields receive errors; use zero for absent items. Clear empties the entries and results. Optional savings and personal-time inputs initially default to zero.
Which savings belong in the cash-only result?
Enter only an incremental cash saving you have actually verified against your alternative, with its period documented. Leave unconfirmed amounts at zero. A suggested tax strategy, a claim about better performance, or a hoped-for avoided mistake is not confirmed cash savings.
If a verified saving applies only once, do not put the full amount into an annual field across several years. Use a one-year comparison or obtain a schedule outside this tool. Extending annual savings requires evidence that the annual amount applies throughout the chosen period.
Keep a note showing the old bill, replacement bill, dates, and why the difference belongs to that quote. If you already entered a lower advisory fee, do not also record that same fee reduction as a saving. That would count one benefit twice.
For your own time, enter net hours after meetings, document gathering, and remaining tasks. The tool uses one shared net-hours estimate for all three comparable services. If their time burden differs materially, compare separate scenarios rather than implying equal time saved.
Your hourly value is optional and subjective, with a zero default. It is not your wage automatically, cash arriving in your account, or a return on investing. You can value relief from administrative work without pretending it pays the advisor's invoice.
What do three hypothetical examples show?
Hypothetical example 1 uses two years. The AUM quote has USD 500 setup, USD 200,000 constant billable balance, and 0.75% annually. The flat quote has USD 1,000 setup and USD 1,200 annually. The hourly quote has USD 300 setup, USD 200 per hour, and five hours annually.
The fees are USD 3,500, USD 3,400, and USD 2,300: 500 + 200,000 × 0.0075 × 2; 1,000 + 1,200 × 2; and 300 + 200 × 5 × 2. All three have hypothetical verified savings of USD 300 annually.
Two years of savings total USD 600 per quote. Cash-only gaps are USD 2,900, USD 2,800, and USD 1,700. Shared net time saved is ten hours annually, valued subjectively at USD 40 per hour: USD 800 across two years.
Subtracting that time value leaves gaps of USD 2,100, USD 2,000, and USD 900. None is fully covered by entered benefits. The hourly quote has the smallest numerical gap, but its service suitability still needs separate review.
Hypothetical example 2 uses one year and no setup charges. AUM is USD 100,000 at 1%; flat is USD 800 annually; hourly is USD 150 for four hours. Fees are USD 1,000, USD 800, and USD 600.
Each quote has hypothetical confirmed savings of USD 700 annually and zero time value. Cash gaps and gaps with time are USD 300, USD 100, and negative USD 100. That last result means entered savings exceed fees by USD 100, not that the advisor sends you money.
Hypothetical example 3 uses three years. AUM has USD 900 setup and USD 400,000 at 0.5%; flat has USD 1,500 setup and USD 1,500 annually; hourly has USD 600 setup and USD 250 for six hours annually.
Fees are USD 6,900, USD 6,000, and USD 5,100. Hypothetical verified annual savings are respectively USD 500, USD 400, and USD 200. Their three-year cash gaps are USD 5,400, USD 4,800, and USD 4,500.
Shared net time saved is twelve hours annually at a subjective USD 50 per hour: USD 1,800 over three years. Gaps with time become USD 3,600, USD 3,000, and USD 2,700. These are invented quote examples, not typical market prices or documented client outcomes.
When does this advisor comparison not fit?
Do not use the output to choose a provider when the service scopes differ, the billable balance changes, or the contract uses charges this model cannot capture. Equalizing the period is necessary, but it does not equalize expertise, responsiveness, or conflicts.
It also does not fit a decision requiring personalized tax, legal, or investment recommendations. Ask an appropriately qualified professional about those issues. For a dual-registered firm, Investor.gov advises understanding when the professional acts as a broker and when as an adviser.
If paying the fee would leave you unable to cover near-term bills, address affordability separately using your paycheck and bill calendar. Keep the fee decision distinct from the cash you need to rebuild your emergency fund.
A useful next step may be a narrower written scope rather than an ongoing arrangement. Ask whether that option is available, what it includes, and how future help would be billed. This article does not recommend a firm or rank compensation models by advice quality.
Quick decision checklist
- Have all three providers quoted the same needed work for the same confirmed period?
- Are setup, ongoing charges, billable assets, and additional costs clear in writing?
- Are entered cash savings verified, incremental, period-consistent, and counted only once?
- Can you afford the cash gap without treating optional time value as income?
- Have you checked the relationship summary, background, conflicts, and who does the remaining work?
Sources
- FINRA: Investment Advisers explains compensation and contract-dependent services.
- Investor.gov: Relationship summaries and Form CRS explains comparable disclosures, fees, conflicts, and adviser or broker roles.
Official sources checked October 10, 2026. The calculator compares entered costs and values only; it does not establish whether particular advice is suitable for you.
Prepared with AI-assisted research, drafting, and calculation checks. Not independently reviewed by a human financial professional.
