Wealth-Management Fees Drop to 0.10%—but Full Service Still Starts at $500,000

Wealth-Management Fees Hit 0.10% as Firms Compete for Smaller Accounts

RIAs now court investors with $0 minimums, but full service still reserved for millionaires

CREATIVE PLANNING—The race to attract new money is pushing some of the best-known fiduciary firms to drop fees to 0.10% of assets and waive account minimums, a Wall Street Journal analysis found. Creative Planning and Betterment Premium now lead on price, but clients with less than $500,000 may forfeit tax planning, estate strategies and custom portfolios. The six top-rated registered investment advisers—Creative Planning, Betterment Premium, Facet, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Mercer Advisors and Ellevest—offer tiered fee schedules that range from 0.10% to 1.30% and minimums that span zero to $1 million, giving investors a wide spectrum of cost and service levels.

• Creative Planning charges 0.25%–1.20% with a $500,000 minimum for full planning services
• Betterment Premium drops to 0.10%–0.65% and requires $100,000 for unlimited advisor access
• Facet uses flat membership fees that can equate to less than 0.25% on large balances
• Mariner, Mercer and Ellevest set top-tier fees between 0.35% and 1.30%

How Fees Stack Up at Six Leading RIAs

Fee compression pushes largest firms below 0.50% on big accounts

Creative Planning and Betterment Premium undercut the industry average of 1.05% AUM by more than half for high-balance clients, according to Envestnet data referenced in the WSJ analysis. Facet’s flat-rate memberships can translate into even lower percentages on seven-figure portfolios, while Mariner Wealth Advisors, Mercer Advisors and Ellevest remain above 0.50% at the entry level. All six firms use sliding scales that reward size: the more you bring, the less you pay.

The spread is widest at the low-balance end. Ellevest’s top tier reaches 1.25%, Mercer peaks at 1.25%, and Mariner tops out at 1.30%, while Betterment Premium caps at 0.65% and Creative Planning at 1.20%. The compression is most visible above $1 million, where Betterment Premium and Creative Planning both quote 0.10%–0.25%, effectively charging $1,000–$2,500 a year for every $1 million managed.

Pam Krueger, founder of matchmaker Wealthramp, tells investors to “start by figuring out what you want and pick a lane. Do you want advice and help planning, or are you just looking for portfolio management?” The answer determines whether rock-bottom fees matter. A client who merely wants a low-cost index portfolio may be satisfied with Betterment’s 0.10%; a client who needs estate, tax and charitable planning may accept Creative Planning’s higher schedule because the firm bundles attorneys and CPAs into the same fee.

Kirk Chisholm, principal at Innovative Advisory Group, warns that the quoted AUM percentage is only part of the cost. “Look at expense ratios, trading spreads and any embedded product commissions,” he says. Creative Planning advisors can recommend proprietary or third-party products that pay the firm, so the all-in cost can exceed the headline rate. By contrast, Betterment Premium builds portfolios almost entirely from low-cost Vanguard and iShares ETFs with expense ratios that average 0.07%.

Where Account Minimums Create Gates

$0 to $1 million: the price of admission varies sharply

Betterment Premium opens the door at $100,000 for unlimited human advice, while Facet and Mariner let clients start with no minimum. Creative Planning reserves its full financial-planning suite for $500,000-plus accounts, and Ellevest now targets only high-net-worth women after off-loading its robo arm to Betterment in early 2025. Mercer Advisors charges a minimum $800 fee for its Guided Investing program, but full Wealth Path services kick in at higher asset levels.

The $500,000 threshold is a hard gate at Creative Planning. Clients below that mark can still open accounts and receive model portfolios, but they lose access to the in-house estate attorney, the CPA team and the custom private-market real-estate allocations that the firm touts in its marketing. A client with $400,000 pays the same 1.20% AUM as a client with $1 million, yet receives essentially a robo-plus service.

Facet’s flat-fee structure can be cheaper than AUM on large balances, but the firm limits investment choice. “Clients are mainly utilizing ETFs as part of its strategy and alternative assets mainly in the form of private loans and real estate,” the analysis notes. A tech executive with a $3 million portfolio who wants direct indexing or a private-equity sleeve would need to look elsewhere.

Ellevest’s pivot illustrates how quickly gates can rise. After transferring its robo platform to Betterment in early 2025, Ellevest now focuses exclusively on women with “a high minimum to access these services,” the article says. The firm no longer discloses the exact cutoff publicly, but advisers tell prospects to expect a $1 million liquid-net-worth test. The gender-aware planning—salary-negotiation coaching, longer life-expectancy projections, career-break modeling—remains unique, yet the clientele has narrowed sharply.

Mariner Wealth Advisors keeps the lowest visible gate: zero. “There is no account minimum to open a brokerage account through Mariner, but access to planning services generally requires a higher minimum (which might be waived in some cases),” the piece notes. Branch managers have discretion to waive the planning minimum for prospective clients who show strong income growth or imminent liquidity events such as stock-option vesting.

Is Fee-Only Always Better?

Hybrid advisors can sell products, so verify the standard you will receive

Creative Planning, Mariner and Mercer all employ advisors who may earn commissions, meaning they are fee-based rather than fee-only. Under those arrangements advisors must meet only a suitability standard when recommending products, not the stricter fiduciary duty. Experts quoted by the WSJ recommend asking any advisor to sign a fiduciary agreement that requires them to act in your best interest whenever they give advice, build portfolios or recommend products.

The distinction surfaces when an advisor recommends a private real-estate investment trust or a proprietary mutual fund. A fee-only fiduciary must demonstrate that the product is the best available option for the client; a fee-based advisor need show only that the product is suitable. The difference can cost basis points in returns or lock clients into illiquid positions.

Mariner’s recent regulatory history sharpens the issue. “Mariner Wealth Advisors affiliates were recently involved in a collusion settlement,” the article notes, though it adds that “most professionals with Mariner Wealth Advisors are highly credentialed.” Clients who work with a Mariner advisor who also sells insurance or alternative funds should ask whether the advisor is acting in a fiduciary capacity for that specific transaction.

Alissa Krasner Maizes, an RIA and founder of Amplify My Wealth, urges investors to obtain a signed fiduciary agreement. “They will always act as a fiduciary when providing you with advice, managing your assets and recommending products and services,” she says. Without that document, the advisor may toggle between standards depending on the conversation.

Ellevest and Betterment Premium remain fee-only, deriving revenue solely from the stated AUM or membership charges. Facet is also fee-only, though the firm’s investment menu is limited primarily to ETFs and private loans. Investors who want the widest array of alternatives—hedge-fund-like structures, private credit, direct real-estate ownership—may find themselves pushed toward hybrid advisors who can accept commissions.

What Services You Actually Get

From portfolio-only to full family-office support

All six firms deliver investment management, but only Creative Planning, Facet, Mercer and Ellevest emphasize holistic planning that integrates tax, estate, insurance and charitable strategies. Mariner offers face-to-face meetings through a national office network, while Betterment leans on digital portfolios with human guidance on demand. The breadth of assets also differs: Facet sticks mainly to ETFs and private loans; Creative Planning builds custom stock-and-bond portfolios and offers access to alternative assets.

Creative Planning’s in-house professionals include attorneys, CPAs and insurance specialists who work under one roof. A business owner preparing to sell a company can receive a valuation discount study, a charitable remainder trust draft and a deferred-comp plan design without leaving the conference room. The trade-off is that the advisor may recommend proprietary insurance or annuity products that generate additional revenue for the firm.

Mercer Advisors offers two tracks. Guided Investing, with its $800 minimum fee, is portfolio-only and uses model ETFs. Wealth Path, the higher-tier service, layers on tax prep, estate document review and coordination with outside attorneys. Clients who expect to need trusts, business-succession plans or complex stock-option hedging are steered toward Wealth Path even if their assets fall below the usual minimum.

Betterment Premium keeps service light and scalable. Clients receive unlimited video or phone access to a CFP, but the advisor does not draft estate documents or prepare tax returns. The firm’s software automates tax-loss harvesting and asset-location between taxable and retirement accounts, features that appeal to tech-savvy professionals who want low costs and digital convenience.

Ellevest’s gender-aware planning includes salary-negotiation coaching, longer life-expectancy projections and career-break modeling. After the 2025 robo transfer, the firm focuses on women who control at least $1 million in investable assets. Sessions may cover the financial impact of taking a five-year career break to care for children or parents, a scenario that few traditional RIAs model explicitly.

Facet’s flat-fee membership bundles investment management with cash-flow planning and life-event coaching. Higher tiers add extra advisor meetings, but the investment lineup remains ETF-centric. A client who wants direct indexing or private-equity exposure would need a separate relationship.