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What is a fee-only financial advisor?

A fee-only financial advisor is compensated solely by fees paid directly by clients, never by commissions, referral fees, or product sales. This structure minimizes conflicts of interest, because the advisor has no financial incentive to recommend one product over another.

The three ways advisors get paid

Commission-based advisors are paid by the products they sell you. Fee-based advisors (a term that sounds identical to fee-only, and the confusion is not accidental) charge you fees and can also collect commissions. Fee-only advisors are paid by you, full stop. No commissions, no revenue sharing, no referral fees.

Why it matters

Incentives shape advice. When an advisor can earn more by recommending one product over another, every recommendation carries a quiet question: is this for me, or for them? Fee-only removes the question. It doesn't automatically make an advisor smarter, but it means the advice you hear is the advice they'd give with nothing to sell.

How to verify it

Don't take the label at face value. Ask directly: “Are you fee-only? Do you or your firm earn commissions of any kind?” Then check the firm's Form ADV, which discloses exactly how they're compensated. If the answer takes more than a sentence, it probably isn't fee-only.

How this works at Hunt Wealth

Our pricing is published, and it's the whole story: investment management is 1% of assets under management (an annual fee, charged monthly), and financial planning is $200 per month, waived once your accounts with us total over $500k. That's every dollar we make, and all of it comes from clients.

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The three ways advisors get paid

Why it matters