How Much Does a Retirement Planner Cost? How to Choose One

What a retirement planner costs depends on how the advisor is paid. The common models are a one-time planning fee, a yearly percentage of the assets managed, and commissions on insurance products. Ours are published: a $500 one-time planning engagement, then 1.15% stepping down to 0.50% if you hire us to manage investments, plus disclosed insurance commissions.

This guide explains each model in plain terms, uses our own published costs as a worked example, and ends with a checklist of questions to ask any advisor before you hire one. We are a small practice in Parkville, MD, so our prices are the example here, but the questions apply wherever you look.

How much does a retirement planner cost?

There is no single price, because advisors charge in different ways and for different amounts of service. Some charge once for a written plan. Some charge a yearly percentage of the money they manage. Some are paid a commission when you buy an insurance product. Many combine two of these. Since the totals can differ so much, the more useful question is not what the going rate is, but how this advisor is paid and what that comes to in dollars for you.

The SEC's Investor.gov suggests asking any investment professional how they get paid, how their firm gets paid, and what fees you will pay and when you will see them. It also suggests asking, if you invested $1,000 today, about how much they would be paid over the following year. If a fee is quoted as a percentage, ask what it translates to in dollars. Sources: Investor.gov questions to ask when hiring an investment professional and Working with an Investment Professional, checked October 15, 2026.

How do retirement planners charge, and what does each model mean for you?

• A one-time planning fee. You pay once for a written plan, then decide what to do with it. The trade-off is that the fee usually covers a defined project. Ongoing help, such as investment management or yearly reviews, may cost extra or may not be offered, and you carry out the plan yourself unless you hire the advisor for more.
• A percentage of assets, charged every year. The advisor is paid a percentage of the balance they manage, often deducted directly from the account, and it typically covers ongoing management and reviews. The trade-offs: the dollar amount rises as your balance grows, even in years when your needs have not changed. Because it is deducted rather than billed, it is easy to overlook. And the advisor has a financial interest in the assets staying under management, which may matter when you are weighing something like paying down debt. Fund expenses inside your investments are usually a separate cost on top.
• Commissions on insurance products. The insurance company pays the advisor when you buy a policy or contract through them. The trade-off is a direct conflict of interest: the advisor is paid only if you buy, and commissions vary widely by product and company. The cost is built into the product instead of appearing as a bill, so ask for the commission in dollars before you decide.

Some advisors combine models, and every fee structure carries some conflict of interest. That is not a reason to rule one out. It is a reason to ask how the advisor is paid, and to get the answer in writing, before you decide.

What does Maryland Financial Advocates charge?

As a worked example, here is everything we charge, as published on our pricing page and checked October 15, 2026. The pricing page is the source if anything here ever differs.

• Introductory call: $0. A complimentary call to talk through your situation and how we work.
• Planning engagement: $500, one time. Two meetings that produce a written financial plan, a personalized tax analysis, and a full breakdown of what hiring us ongoing would cost. The $500 is not credited toward later fees, and you are free to take the plan and carry it out yourself. Our process page walks through each step.
• Investment management, only if you hire us for it: an annual fee based on your account balance, deducted directly from the accounts we manage, typically quarterly. Underlying fund expenses are separate. See the schedule below and how we manage investments.
• Insurance commissions, only if they apply: if your plan calls for life insurance or an annuity and you buy it through us, we are paid a commission on that transaction. Commissions vary widely by product and carrier, so we cannot print one number. In your written plan we disclose the exact commission, in percentages and in dollars, before you are asked to decide anything. More on insurance planning.

Here is the sample from our pricing page. If you hired us to manage $250,000, 1.15% a year is $2,875, deducted from the account. Added to the $500 planning engagement, year one would total $3,375. After year one, the only cost is the management fee.

This is a hypothetical example and is not representative of any specific investment. Your results may vary.

The trade-offs are the ones described above. Our management fee is a percentage of assets, so it grows with your balance. A commission, if one applies, gives us a financial interest in an insurance purchase, which is why we put the dollar amount in writing first. Our agreements are walk-away: leave at any time, with no back-end fees or charges.

Is $100,000 enough to work with a financial advisor?

It depends on the advisor, not on a universal number. Some firms set account minimums for ongoing management and others do not, so ask before you spend time on meetings. Our pricing page states that we have no hard account minimum. Instead, the planning engagement shows both of us whether ongoing management is worth its fee in your situation. When it is not, we say so and send you off with the checklist.

One trade-off to weigh: a percentage fee is a smaller dollar amount on a smaller balance, but the service attached to it may also be smaller at firms built around larger accounts. Ask what you would receive each year for the fee, how often you would meet, and whether a one-time plan would meet your needs instead.

Do I need a financial advisor for retirement planning?

Not always. If your finances are straightforward and you are comfortable making and tracking the decisions yourself, free tools may be enough. Investor.gov lists free financial planning tools and calculators, checked October 15, 2026, and a one-time plan can serve as a second opinion without an ongoing fee.

Help tends to matter more when decisions interact and are hard to reverse: when to claim Social Security, which accounts to draw from first, how taxes change when paychecks stop, or health coverage before Medicare. It also matters when retirement is happening alongside a child with special needs or a parent who needs care. No advisor can guarantee an outcome, and hiring one adds a cost, so the sensible test is whether the planning is worth that cost in your situation. Our retirement planning page shows what we cover.

What questions should I ask any advisor before hiring?

These are adapted from the SEC's Investor.gov list of questions for hiring an investment professional (bulletin dated June 26, 2019, checked October 15, 2026). Ask them of every advisor you meet, including us.

1. How do you get paid, and how does your firm get paid?
2. What fees will I pay, and which do I pay directly versus have deducted from my accounts or built into products?
3. If I invested $1,000 with you today, about how much would you be paid over the next year?
4. Does anyone else, such as a product company, pay you or your firm, and how does that affect me?
5. Can you give me the total in dollars for my situation, in writing, before I decide?
6. What does the fee include, how often will we meet, and what costs extra?
7. What experience do you have with people in my situation, and what licenses and registrations do you hold?
8. Can I leave at any time, and what would it cost me?
9. May I read your Form CRS and Form ADV? You can also look up any adviser at adviserinfo.sec.gov, and Investor.gov explains what a relationship summary covers.

This material is for general information and educational purposes only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Investing involves risk including the loss of principal.