It depends on one thing: whether your situation contains decisions, or only accounts. If you have one 401(k), a match and thirty years, advice is probably not worth a percentage of your money — contribute more instead. If you are facing something irreversible (a pension election, a rollover, a Social Security claim, a business plan, the start of withdrawals) or your income does not look like a salary, one decision handled well can outweigh years of fees. The evidence supports advisers on behaviour, tax placement and spending strategy; it does not support them on picking investments.
What it costs, in dollars, first
Every answer to this question is worthless until the cost is a number rather than a percentage. So:
| Portfolio | At 0.5% a year | At 1.0% | At 1.5% | At 2.0% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $125 | $250 | $375 | $500 |
| $100,000 | $500 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,000 |
| $250,000 | $1,250 | $2,500 | $3,750 | $5,000 |
| $500,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
Those are annual figures, and they recur. Over thirty years a fee also costs you the growth on every dollar it took, which is why the honest number is larger than the table. Our calculator shows both on your own balance, and the fee analyzer will run any other firm’s number.
What the evidence actually says
Two industry studies get quoted constantly: Vanguard’s Advisor’s Alpha, which estimates about 3% a year of added value, and Russell Investments’ annual figure, which has run higher. Read them, but read them knowing who paid for them — both firms sell to advisers. The parts that survive scrutiny are the least glamorous ones: behavioural coaching (not selling in a crash), rebalancing discipline, asset location, and spending strategy in retirement. The part that does not survive is fund selection. No credible body of evidence says advisers pick better investments.
Morningstar’s Mind the Gap studies make the same point from the other direction: investor returns lag the funds those investors own, and the gap is behavioural. If an adviser’s only accomplishment is that you stayed invested through one bad year, that alone can exceed the fee. It is also the one benefit no one can promise you in advance.
When the answer is yes
- Something irreversible is about to happen. A pension election, a Social Security claim, a lump-sum offer, a rollover, an inheritance, an exercise window. These are one-time, one-way decisions, and getting one of them right can pay for a decade of fees.
- Your situation is not the one the software assumes. A California pension, self-employment income, a business you sponsor a plan for, income that arrives unevenly, family in two countries.
- You have already sold at the bottom once. Be honest about this one.
- You have started spending the money. Accumulation is one decision repeated; decumulation is sequence risk, tax brackets, Roth conversions and required distributions interacting every year.
- The alternative is doing nothing. The most expensive portfolio in this county is the one still sitting in a savings account because the decision felt too big.
When the answer is no, and we will say so
- One 401(k), a match, a target-date fund, thirty years to go. Contribute more. You do not need us. Here is why that fund is fine.
- You want someone to beat the market. Nobody reliably delivers that, and a firm that implies otherwise is telling you something about itself.
- You will not follow the plan. Advice you do not act on is the most expensive thing on this page.
- The fee would be a large share of a small account and you need none of the work above. A robo-adviser at about 0.25% is a legitimate answer and we will point you there.
The four questions that separate advisers
- “How are you paid, and what else are you paid?” The second half is the real question. Fee-only vs fee-based vs commission →
- “Are you a fiduciary, in writing, at all times?” Get it in writing. The three standards, compared →
- “What is your total cost including fund expenses?” The advisory fee is rarely the whole cost.
- “What would you tell me not to do?” An adviser with no answer is selling, not advising.
You can check any of it yourself. Every registered adviser’s Form ADV is public at adviserinfo.sec.gov, free, in about two minutes. Ours is here.
Common questions
What is a reasonable fee for a financial adviser?
The common range for ongoing management is roughly 0.5% to 2.0% of assets a year, generally falling as the account grows. Flat-fee and hourly planners exist and can be cheaper for a one-time question. The three fee models compared →
Can I just do it myself?
Many people can, and some should. Broad index funds, a consistent contribution and no panic selling covers most of the accumulation problem. The parts that are genuinely hard to self-serve are the irreversible one-time decisions and the withdrawal years.
Does a more expensive adviser get better returns?
There is no evidence for that. Costs are one of the few reliable predictors of net return, and they predict it downward. What a fee can buy is planning, coordination and behaviour — not better investment selection.
What does Aduna Capital charge?
1.5% to 2.0% of the assets we manage per year, set by your situation and disclosed in writing before you engage. No minimum to open, $50 a month after. The published schedule, with a calculator →
Ask us the four questions
Fifteen minutes, free. If the honest answer is that you do not need us, that is what you will hear.