Do I Have Enough Money to Work With a Financial Advisor?
Are you interested in working with a financial advisor, but you’re not sure if you have enough money to make it worth it?
The good news is there is no universal minimum to work with a financial advisor. Individual advisors typically enforce their own minimum requirements, but across the industry, advisors can differ widely on the amounts of assets they are willing to work with. Many advisors in the Zoe network, for example, work with clients across a range of financial situations, though individual advisor minimums vary.
That means the right advisor for you depends far more on what you need help with than on how much you currently have. Ultimately, the right type of advisory relationship for you boils down to what services you need and how you prefer to work with an advisor.
The Two Main Fee Structures
A lot of advisor relationships are structured around one of two models: 1) assets under management or 2) subscription or retainer. Both models have their strengths, but one may be better suited for your financial situation than the other. Here are some things to think about as you consider an advisory relationship:
Assets Under Management (AUM)
With an AUM relationship, the advisor charges a fee calculated as an annual percentage of the assets they manage on your behalf. In exchange, they handle the financial planning and the investment management together: building a customized investment allocation tied to your plan, executing trades, rebalancing your portfolio over time, and managing tasks like tax-loss harvesting.
One practical advantage of this structure is that advisors working at this scale often have access to institutional pricing on funds, which may mean lower expense ratios than a retail investor would find independently.
This type of relationship tends to be a good fit if you want an expert to manage your investments on your behalf, if you do not have the time or interest to actively manage a portfolio yourself, or if you want someone with a complete view of your financial picture who can make sure all of the pieces are moving in the right direction together.
Subscription or Retainer
With a subscription or retainer relationship, you pay a recurring fee for financial planning guidance. The advisor does not directly manage your investable assets, but they can provide advice on your investment strategy, help you build a financial plan, and answer questions as your situation evolves.
This structure is often a better fit for people who are earlier in building their assets and prefer to manage their own investments, or for those who want access to professional guidance without full portfolio management. It can also work well if you have a specific planning need, such as understanding how to approach student loan repayment alongside retirement contributions, rather than ongoing investment management.
The Right Starting Point Is a Conversation
If you’re interested in working with a financial advisor, the question you should be asking is not whether you have enough to work with an advisor. Instead, ask which type of relationship fits your current situation and what you are trying to accomplish.
If you are unsure which structure makes sense for where you are now, we can help with that. Fill out our Find an Advisor quiz to get matched with fiduciary financial advisors with your needs in mind:
