Is paying a 1% wealth management fee actually worth it?
Paying an expensive annual percentage fee can cost thousands of dollars out of pocket while underperforming compared to similar portfolios. This makes investors question whether their advisor is actually worth the cost or if they should switch to a lower-cost brokerage like Schwab.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1managing investments independently2 people mentionedDid this help you?
- 2reading the personal finance wikiDid this help you?
- 3hiring a flat-fee or hourly fiduciary advisor insteadDid this help you?
- 4Switching to a self-managed brokerage like SchwabDid this help you?
- 5Transitioning to a low-cost Boglehead index fund portfolioDid this help you?
- 6Searching online financial forums to learn about advisory fees and firm performanceDid this help you?
- 7Using broad market indexes and a 3-fund index portfolioDid this help you?
- 8Putting retirement money into dead-simple target date fundsDid this help you?
- 9Paying a flat hourly rate or a one-time fee for specific guidance like tax management or estate planningDid this help you?
- 10Leaving cash sitting in a high-yield savings account (HYSA)Did this help you?
- 11Doing DIY investing in index fundsDid this help you?
- 12Using AI tools like Claude to project long-term portfolio growth comparisonsDid this help you?
- 13Self-managing investments through index funds like VOODid this help you?
- 14Relies on a financial advisor or fiduciary for peace of mindDid this help you?
- 15self-managing investments through low-cost index fundsDid this help you?
- 16hiring professionals on an hourly, flat-fee, or lower percentage basisDid this help you?
- 17using corporate or work perks for estate planning and legal documentsDid this help you?
- 18Transferring accounts to established brokerages like Fidelity, Vanguard, or SchwabDid this help you?
- 19Switching to self-managed low-cost index funds and ETFsDid this help you?
- 20Finding a certified fiduciary advisorDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My advisor is very nice but at times it doesn’t exactly feel like they are knowledgeable about what they’re talking about.”source ↗
“I felt queasy about giving 1% of our total balance annually. For us, that’s $14k right now.”source ↗
“When it was $40K no problem. When it was 7 figures, I did not want to make a stupid mistake that would cost 10’s of thousands of dollars. I sleep better.”source ↗
“Because a lot of people are afraid of managing their money and don't understand the impact of these high fee services to their bottom line.”source ↗
“If they get to retirement with $2M instead of $3M, they don't know what they lost out on, they just think "We're in great shape thanks to our advisor".”source ↗
“It's widely accepted because most people don't do this math, and/or are scared to self manage (or don't have the discipline, etc).”source ↗
“At 1.0% AUM is high if it’s on everything. I pay 0.3% and only what they directly manage.”source ↗
“You self managed superbly so far….why pay someone else now??”source ↗
“I have about 108k in my beneficiary Ira. But some time next year I’ll be getting around 150k from a retirement account. But yeah I should have done more research before investing into this.”source ↗
“Funny enough, I don’t actually know how much I have contributed at this point. I was doing $625 for the first few months but had to reduce to about $400 per month. But they accidentally put $3000 that was supposed to go to the inherited ira.”source ↗
“Been with Edward Jones for almost two years. He started off producing returns in the teens for a 80/10/10 portfolio. The 6 months or so they have fallen to 10% for the almost 2 years, 8.44% and 7.4% year to date.”source ↗
“When I compare similar portfolios they are at least 3.5% higher and some much higher.”source ↗
“I'm thinking about going to Schwab but don't want to be unreasonable and jump the gun. Am I giving him enough time.”source ↗
“When is a %fee advisor worth the cost and what services should they be providing?”source ↗
“I feel like I can run projections for the likelihood that I have enough to retire. But how to balance things such that if one sector goes down others can go up and the overall portfolio doesn’t crash.”source ↗
“I am wondering if people have used them and if it's worth the fees?”source ↗
“Looking to hear from folks who are using wealth management services at such fee level and finding it worth their money.”source ↗
Where this came up
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