Our standard schedule is 1.5% to 2.0% of the assets we manage per year. Advisers may set a rate below the standard schedule, as low as 0%, at their discretion — and whatever rate applies to you is disclosed in writing before you engage. Our Form ADV Part 2A, Item 5, states the fee as up to 2.00% of assets per year, subject to negotiation; the firm may waive all or part of it. Our fee is billed quarterly in arrears — for the quarter just finished, never one that has not started yet — and disclosed in writing before you engage. There is no minimum account balance. Brokerage, transaction, fund and ETF expenses may apply separately, as described in the brochure.
The schedule
| Service | Fee | Billed |
|---|---|---|
| Discretionary investment management | 1.5%–2.0% of assets under management per year — Advisers may set a rate below the standard schedule, as low as 0%, at their discretion — and whatever rate applies to you is disclosed in writing before you engage. Our Form ADV Part 2A, Item 5, states the fee as up to 2.00% of assets per year, subject to negotiation; the firm may waive all or part of it. | Generally quarterly, in arrears |
| Account minimum | No minimum account balance | — |
| Initial consultation | Free — 15 minutes, no obligation | — |
Who holds your money — and it is not us
Your account is opened in your name at an independent qualified custodian — Altruist, Betterment and Interactive Brokers — which holds the assets and issues account statements. Under the advisory agreement, you may elect to have Aduna Capital or the custodian calculate the advisory fee. You may authorize the custodian to deduct the disclosed fee from the account, or elect to receive an invoice and pay the firm directly. Apart from any written trading discretion and any fee-deduction authority you authorize, the firm cannot withdraw or transfer your assets.
That separation is the single most important structural protection a client has, and it is worth understanding rather than taking on trust. Every quarter the custodian sends you a statement showing the fee that came out. Compare it against what we tell you. If the two ever disagree, the custodian’s statement is the real one and you should call us immediately. Firms where the adviser produced the only statement the client ever saw are how most of the famous frauds worked.
What “adviser discretion” actually means here
Our Form ADV Part 2A, Item 5, states the fee as up to 2.00% of assets per year, subject to negotiation; the firm may waive all or part of it. Rates are subject to negotiation.
Most firms keep this quiet, or bury it as “fees may be negotiable in certain circumstances.” We would rather say it plainly: the maximum and the fact that fees are negotiable are both disclosed in Item 5. Ask what rate would apply before signing.
Whatever rate applies to you is written into your advisory agreement before you engage, and it does not move without your signature.
We bill in arrears, and that is not the norm
Most advisory firms bill in advance — you pay in January for the January-to-March quarter, before any of the work happens. We bill the other way: the invoice at the end of March covers January to March, the quarter we have already worked. It is a small structural thing that nobody advertises, and it means two things for you. You are never holding a prepaid balance with us, so there is nothing to claw back if you leave mid-quarter. And a quarter where the account fell is billed on what it actually was, not on what it was worth three months earlier.
What that costs you, in dollars
Percentages hide; dollars don’t. Put your own number in. Nothing is sent anywhere, and there is no email box — the arithmetic runs in your browser and stops when you close the tab.
What would Aduna Capital charge me?
What you would pay us
Read the last two rows. “What our fee costs you, all in” is bigger than the total fees, and that is not a rounding error: every dollar taken as a fee is also a dollar that stops compounding. Most fee pages show you the first number and not the second. We would rather you saw both and asked us what the difference buys — that is a fair question and we have an answer for it. If the answer doesn’t satisfy you, a robo-adviser at 0.25% is a legitimate choice and we’ll say so. You can also run us against any other firm’s proposal.
How the calculator works
- The gross return is a flat hypothetical, held constant. Real returns vary, include losing years, and are not guaranteed. This is an illustration, not a projection or a promised return.
- The fee accrues monthly at one twelfth of the annual rate, on the balance after that month’s growth. We actually bill quarterly in arrears; the two land within a few dollars a year of each other, and monthly accrual is what lets the tool show a “this month” figure.
- Deposits are added at the end of each month, so a deposit neither earns a return nor pays a fee in the month it is made — the conservative convention.
- Underlying fund expense ratios are not included; they are separate, they exist at every firm, and we keep them low and disclose them. Taxes are excluded.
If you authorize custodial deduction, the quarterly fee is deducted from the account and itemised on the custodial statement. If you elect direct invoicing instead, the firm sends the invoice to you for payment. Either way, the exact dollar fee is documented rather than buried in a fund's expense ratio.
Three fair follow-up questions, answered elsewhere on this site rather than dodged: what does the rest of the market charge, and where do we sit? — the honest answer is above the average, and that page says so — is a financial adviser worth it at all? and would a flat fee or an hourly planner cost you less? All three are written by us, and all three say when the answer is no.
What we never charge or accept
- No commissions on anything, ever
- No 12b-1 fees, revenue sharing, or shelf-space payments from fund companies
- No insurance product sales through the advisory firm
- No performance fees
- No termination fees; the relationship is yours to end. Because we bill in arrears there is never a prepaid balance sitting with us — the last invoice covers only the days we actually worked; earned unpaid fees are billed pro rata on termination
The honest caveats
Two things a fee page should say and usually doesn't. First, our percentage is higher than a robo-adviser's (typically 0.25%) — what you're paying for is a human fiduciary who knows your situation, in your language, in your city. If you don't want that, a robo-adviser is a fine choice and we'll say so. Second, underlying fund expenses are separate — the ETFs and funds in your portfolio carry their own expense ratios, which we keep low and disclose, but they exist at every firm and pretending otherwise would be false.
The brochure also discloses that the firm may act as a solicitor for another investment adviser and receive part of the client's fee, and that third-party advisers may solicit clients for Aduna Capital and receive part of the firm's fee. Any such arrangement and conflict must be disclosed to the client.
Three phrases get used interchangeably and mean different things. Fee-only vs fee-based vs commission, and how to check which one you are looking at →
Compare us to whoever you're talking to
Bring any other firm's proposal. We'll walk through both fee structures line by line — including where theirs beats ours.