There are many ways that an advisor can charge a fee, ranging from fairly straight forward to complex and hard to identify.
Some advisors earn commissions on investments recommended. Commissions may be higher or lower based on the investment recommended.
Some charge a flat retainer based on the complexity of your finances. (i.e. $15,000.00 per year)
Some advisors will charge a percentage of the assets they manage. Standard fee’s range from 1.90% to 1.00% annually based on the amount of money being managed.
Some will charge a percentage fee on assets under management, AND get a “kick-back” (12b-1 fee) from a mutual fund company for recommending their fund. These fees are hard to determine as they vary from one fund company to another.
Others may charge a percentage under management for some investments, but get commissions on others. This is typical with advisors that also sell insurance products and annuities.
At Guardian Wealth Management we charge between .75% to .90% based on assets under management. If your investments do well, we benefit. If they don’t perform well, we make less.
As a fee-only fiduciary, we only receive the fee you pay us for assets under management. We take no commissions or mutual fund kick-backs. No matter what we recommend our fee is always the same. This helps to eliminate the conflict of interest in recommending one investment over another.
