Advice-only planning in Canada means charging clients directly for advice and earning nothing else: no commissions, no product sales, no referral fees, and no management of the client’s money. It’s the main fee-only model in the country. Of Canadian fee-only firms whose websites say how they charge, 83% (59 of 71) list no asset-based fee at all (Wellspent fee report data, October 2026). At those firms the median one-time plan is C$1,600, against C$1,900 across all Canadian fee-only firms that publish prices. This guide covers what a Canadian advice-only planner needs to get right beyond the plan itself: where advice stops and registration starts, sales tax, insurance licences, and how clients find you.
For the definitions, regulators and dealer question, see Fee-only practice in Canada. For setting the price itself, see How to set an advice-only fee.
What counts as advice-only
There’s no legal definition, so the working one comes from the planners’ own groups. FPAC’s Advice Only Planners directory puts it in seven words: “No commissions. No financial products. No referral fees.” Its planners “earn income only from financial planning.” The directory also says it hasn’t audited its planners’ income, so the label rests on what you say and publish.
Jason Heath, a Canadian advice-only planner, wrote in MoneySense that he started saying “advice-only” because “fee-only” had stopped drawing a clear line: some advisors who charge a percentage of assets call themselves fee-only. “Advice-only” tells a client the one thing they most want to know, that your pay doesn’t depend on what they buy.
Where advice stops and registration starts
This is the line every Canadian advice-only planner works around. The OSC’s companion policy to NI 31-103 says adviser registration applies to “specific advice,” meaning advice “tailored to the needs and circumstances of a client,” and gives the example of an adviser “who recommends a security to a client.” Section 8.25 exempts advice that isn’t tailored, such as a general discussion of a security’s merits in a newsletter, article or website that doesn’t claim to fit any reader.
In practice, advice-only planners work on everything around the securities: cash flow, savings targets, which accounts to fund and in what order (RRSP, TFSA, FHSA, RESP, non-registered), pension and CPP timing, withdrawal order, tax, insurance needs, estate basics and asset allocation. Naming the specific fund or ETF a client should buy for their account is the step that registration covers. Decide where your line is, write it into your engagement letter, and say it on your fees page. If you aren’t sure where a particular recommendation falls, ask your provincial securities regulator before you make it.
In Quebec there’s a second line. The AMF says no one may use the financial planner title or offer financial planning services there without the appropriate AMF certificate.
What to charge
Medians among firms that publish prices
Source: Wellspent fee report, October 2026
At the firms that list no asset-based fee, the closest public sign of advice-only practice, the medians are C$1,600 for a one-time plan (middle half C$900 to C$2,900, 41 firms), C$250 an hour (13 firms) and C$2,300 a year for ongoing planning (21 firms) (Wellspent fee report data, October 2026). The samples are small, so treat them as a range to check against, not a price to copy.
Two things are worth noticing. Canadian prices sit well below American ones: across US fee-only firms the median ongoing fee is $4,500 a year, in US dollars. And few Canadian firms publish an ongoing price: 21 state a yearly fee, against 46 that price a one-time plan. A planner who publishes a clear ongoing fee stands out.
Sales tax on advice
Advice is generally taxable for GST/HST. The Excise Tax Act lists exempt “financial services” in subsection 123(1), and paragraph (p) carves out “the service of providing advice.” So a planning fee is a taxable supply, unlike many of the financial services your clients buy elsewhere.
You must register and start charging once your taxable revenue passes the small supplier threshold of $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, according to the CRA. Many new practices start under it and cross it within a year or two. Decide now whether your published prices include tax or are “plus GST/HST,” and say which on your fees page. A client comparing your C$1,600 with another planner’s C$1,600 deserves to know.
Insurance licences
Many planners hold an insurance licence, and life insurance is a normal part of a plan. Selling it on commission ends advice-only status by FPAC’s definition. The clean options are to give the recommendation (type, amount, term) and send the client to a broker or agent you have no financial tie to, or to keep the licence inactive. If you refer, say on your site that you take no referral fee. It’s the question an informed client will ask.
Making the plan happen
The weakness of advice-only work is follow-through. The client carries out the plan, and a plan nobody carries out is the one they’ll decide wasn’t worth the fee. Price implementation in, and say what’s included:
- a follow-up meeting a few months after delivery,
- a screen-share session while the client opens accounts or sets up contributions at their own brokerage,
- a set period of email questions after the plan.
State it plainly on your fees page so a prospect can compare you with a firm that manages money for them.
Where clients find advice-only planners
Clients looking for advice-only help in Canada search with that exact phrase, and AI assistants answer them differently than in the US. In our study of 600 AI answers, Canadian answers named 6.4 firms on average, against 8.2 in the US, and cited firms’ own websites far less often: 20% of answers, against 87%. MoneySense was cited in 39% of Canadian answers, and the public graph in 39%. Being named depends on outside sources describing you correctly.
That makes three steps worth the time:
- Use the words clients use. “Advice-only,” “fee-only,” “flat fee” and “hourly” on your homepage, not just “financial planning.”
- Be listed where advice-only is the filter. FPAC’s Advice Only Planners directory lists CFP and QAFP members who meet its criteria. FP Canada’s Find a Planner confirms your certification. See FP Canada vs Globe and Mail vs Wellspent for how each works.
- Keep every source the same. Your fees, provinces served and services should match on your site, in each directory and in your record.
On find.wellspent.co, the consumer side of the public graph, the advice-only planning guide shows clients these prices and points Ontario readers to fee-only advisors in Ontario.
Where Wellspent fits
A Wellspent record states your advice-only model, prices, specialties, credentials and the clients you serve, with sources, in the public graph Canadian AI answers cite. Prospects write to you directly, with no lead fees and no share of any fee. Membership is $89 a month, billed in US dollars, and includes a monthly report on who AI assistants recommend and quarterly press placement with media partners. For how it sits beside an advice-only community, see Wellspent vs Advice-Only Network. See How it works.