What’s the fair fee for a $15M portfolio with a financial advisor?

Asking for a friend!

I’ve talked to a few financial advisors in the past who charged a percentage—honestly, once I learned more about that model, I wasn’t a fan, so I stopped working with them. These days, I have an FA I pay a flat fee of $7k a year (it was a little less to start).

Now a buddy of mine is on the hunt for a financial advisor, and I’m not totally sure what’s out there right now. So, what’s the going rate?

Here’s a quick snapshot of his situation: He’s 45, his wife’s 44, and they’ve got four kids under 10. Their assets are split about 50% in some kind of business structure and 50% in their personal names. Combined income is around $500k, and their portfolio sits at about $13–15 million—70% in property (both residential and commercial, with an LVR of about 65%), and the rest in wholesale funds and ETFs.

So the big question: What’s the typical initial fee and ongoing fee to manage a portfolio that size and help them optimize what they’ve got?

Also, if anyone has recommendations for FAs who really get clients who are still a ways from retirement, that’d be awesome.

Cheers!

Hey there, I’m a financial adviser and run my own firm.

It really depends on what t is you’re looking to be “advised” on. For example:
If it’s holistic advice, that takes your whole situation into account, and we’d be figuring out how to restructure everything, working with accountants on tax planning, and seeing how this interacts with super, etc.
Investment only advice just means we manage the amount you’re investing.

These services have pretty different scopes and involve different amounts of work.

On the investment only side, for a $4m portfolio, I’d guess most firms charge around $10k upfront and $18k a year ongoing. Again, that could be higher or lower depending on what you want from the service.

Your friend's personal situation is too broad for a specific quote, as mentioned. Initial advice ranges from $5k to $15k. Ongoing advice (if needed) is even harder to estimate. I would expect north of $5k ongoing.

FA here. It really depends on what level of service they need. If they're after 'Holistic Advice,' I'd typically charge around $5k upfront and $10k ongoing, depending on the work and expectations.

If the client wants something cheaper, they'd get more scaled back advice. So the best move is for them to talk directly to a FA and explain exactly what they want to achieve.