Financial advisors can help with a wide range of services, depending on their areas of expertise and the needs of the types of clients that they work with. Some examples include advice on budgeting, retirement planning, tax strategies, debt management, insurance, estate planning, investing, and much more.

Some financial planners work on an hourly basis, answering specific questions within a narrow topic area. Others work with clients in a more proactive and wide-ranging approach, covering a long list of topics related to all different parts of your financial life and revisiting them all from time to time.

The far majority of financial advisors sell some form of financial products (insurance/annuities/loans/mutual funds/etc) and/or manage clients’ investments accounts as part of their services. The general term “Advice-Only” (as opposed to our firm’s name AdviceOnly) refers to financial advisors who only offer financial advice to clients. An advice-only financial advisor works directly with the client to answer their financial questions, and is only paid directly by the client. No financial products for sale, and no investment management services available to offer. This removes a wide range of conflicts of interest that could influence the advice given, and allows financial advisors to work with clients who possibly wouldn’t otherwise have access to them.

Advice-Only means that financial planning advice is the only thing offered to clients.

Fee-Only means that a financial advisor is paid directly by the client, rather than through commissions for product sales. They often, but don’t always, offer investment management services in addition to financial planning advice.

Fee-Based means that a financial advisor receives both payments from clients and commissions for product sales.

Short answer — consider how much overlap you and your personal situation have with the types of clients that they work with, their experience and qualifications, the services they offer, and the business model they operate under.

You can find a much more detailed answer in our guide to hiring a financial advisor.

Each member of AdviceOnly sets their own prices depending on their qualifications, experience, scope of services, the types of clients that they work with, and other factors. You can generally expect most well-qualified financial advisors (at AdviceOnly or elsewhere) to charge anywhere from $100 to $500 per hour. Any financial advisor you’re considering working with should be transparent about the services that you’ll receive and the amount you’ll pay for their help (directly or indirectly).

Absolutely not! It’s a common and incredibly harmful misconception that only wealthy people can hire (or would benefit from hiring) a financial advisor. Some advisors offer services that are suitable for wealthier clients, and others offer services that make more sense for clients who don’t have as much money. Part of the reason for this misconception is the longstanding industry approach of charging clients based on a percentage of their investment accounts, which lends itself to focusing on wealthier clients. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and proving that is one of the reasons that AdviceOnly was founded.

No. Every financial advisor at AdviceOnly gives a specific price quote to every client, and every client receives an invoice describing the charges and services. We do not have any additional hidden costs, or use financial planning services as an introduction to upcharge or cross-sell anything else, or receive commissions from third parties when clients follow recommendations to buy certain financial products.

You can find contact info and a scheduling link for each financial advisor on our Find an Advisor page.

AdviceOnly is a support platform for financial advisors who provide financial planning services on an “advice-only” basis without selling financial products for commissions or managing investments. Our mission is to provide advisors with everything needed to serve clients seeking professional financial advice without the operational complexities, costs, and conflicts of interest related to product sales or investment management.

Yes! Advice Only, PBC is a Registered Investment Advisor (CRD 334039) even though none of our advisors manage investments. This allows our advisors to give personalized financial and investment advice in full compliance with the law. Being set up as an RIA also allows us to do far more for our member advisors than we could as a loosely affiliated network of independent RIAs, such as continuity planning, E&O insurance, and administrative support.

A Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) is a type of for-profit corporation that includes a legally defined social or environmental mission in addition to the traditional goal of maximizing shareholder value. Unlike standard corporations, PBCs are required by law to balance the interests of shareholders, the public benefit stated in their charter, and other stakeholders, such as employees, customers, and the community.

AdviceOnly was organized as a PBC in order to help promote transparency, accountability, and focus on the mission stated in our founding documents to “broaden access to competent and ethical financial advice.”

You can find out more details on our Public Benefit Corporation page.

All potential members must 1) be approved through our application process to review their qualifications, experience, and professional credentials, and 2) sign our membership agreement which includes our Code of Ethics, Fiduciary Oath, Compliance Manual, and other requirements.

You can find more details about our membership standards on the For Advisors page.

Yes. This is an unfortunately complicated topic, though, and there are many different meanings of the word fiduciary so sometimes it’s hard for consumers to tell the difference. As Investment Advisor Representatives (IARs) of a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), all of our members are legally bound to act in a fiduciary role at all times.

Aside from the legal requirements that come with working at an RIA, AdviceOnly members are also required to sign our own (more strict and clearly defined) fiduciary oath that they can be removed from our firm for violating. Many of our members also voluntarily agree to the fiduciary standards of other organizations, such as the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards or the XY Planning Network.

All AdviceOnly members have the option to provide services by the hour, and many of them do. Check out their individual profile pages on our Find an Advisor page.

All AdviceOnly members have the option to provide broader financial planning services on an ongoing basis, and many of them do. Check out their individual profile pages on our Find an Advisor page.

Steven Fox, CFP®, EA is the founder of AdviceOnly.

We are not backed by any venture capital, private equity, mega corporations, or any other organization with misaligned interests.

You can learn more about him here.

If you’re considering working with one of our financial advisors, you can find their contact information on their profile on the Find an Advisor page.

For all other purposes, please see our Contact page.