Raise your financial planning fees in two steps: for new clients first, as soon as you’ve set the new price, and for existing clients with notice, usually 60 to 90 days, phased over two reviews if the increase is large. Set the number from your own hours and scope, then check it against the market. Among US fee-only firms that publish prices, the median ongoing planning fee is $4,500 a year, with the middle half between $2,400 and $7,200 (Wellspent fee report). If your price hasn’t moved in years, inflation alone makes the case: consumer prices rose about 23% between September 2021 and September 2026.
How to set a fee from scratch is covered in how to price financial planning. This guide is about changing one you already charge.
Signs your fee is too low
- Almost everyone says yes. Kitces suggests 50% to 80% of qualified prospects should become clients, and says that above 80%, advisors are probably undercharging: most of those clients would still say yes at a higher fee.
- You’re below the middle half for firms like yours. Compare like with like. Advice-only firms charge a median $5,000 a year for ongoing planning, against $3,600 at firms that also charge a percentage of assets, where the planning fee often sits beside an investment fee. State medians run from $2,100 in Minnesota to $7,450 in New Jersey (fee benchmarks).
- The fee hasn’t changed in years. The consumer price index rose 3.7% in the 12 months to September 2026, and about 23% over the five years from September 2021 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). A fee set in 2021 and never changed now buys about 19% less.
- The work has grown. Clients who arrived with a salary and a 401(k) now have equity pay, a business or aging parents. If the scope grew and the price didn’t, the price fell.
- You’re full. A waiting list is a price signal.
You’d be in good company. In XYPN’s benchmarking of its members, mostly young fee-only firms, every member surveyed raised fees within their first three years in business for several years running, and about 90% in a recent study. Michael Kitces, discussing the data, said about two-thirds of firms decided after reaching 25 clients that they hadn’t charged enough (XYPN, October 2025).
How much to raise
Start from where the new price should sit, not from a percentage. Use the middle half of firms that sell what you sell as the check:
Published starting prices at US fee-only firms: median and middle half
Source: Wellspent fee report, October 2026
Data
| Price | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing planning, all firms | $4,500 | $2,400 to $7,200 |
| Ongoing planning, advice-only firms | $5,000 | $3,000 to $8,000 |
| One-time plan | $2,000 | $845 to $3,600 |
These are starting prices, so firms collect more than this from complex households. If your scope is wider or your niche narrower than most, a price above the band is defensible. Hourly rates barely vary, with the middle half from $250 to $350, so an hourly practice usually gains more by moving clients to a set yearly fee than by raising the rate.
Then check the size of the step against what it can cost you. Most advisors fear losing clients. The arithmetic is kinder than the fear:
A 15% increase keeps revenue level even if 13% of clients leave, and you’d have fewer hours of work. That’s the break-even, not a forecast. The clients most likely to leave are often the ones whose scope least fits your current service.
For new clients, move to the new price in one step, whatever its size. For existing clients, a large gap is usually easier as two steps a year apart, and a catch-up for inflation alone (about 23% for a fee unchanged since 2021) is already a large step.
New clients first
A new price for new clients needs no one’s permission. Change three things on the same day:
- Your fees page. The new price in plain text. See publish your fees.
- Your client agreement template, including how future changes will work (below).
- Your Form ADV Part 2A brochure. Item 5 asks for your fee schedule and whether fees are negotiable.
On the brochure, the Form ADV Part 2 instructions are specific: you aren’t required to update it between annual amendments solely because your fee schedule changed. If you amend the brochure for another reason in between, update the fee schedule as part of that amendment. At your annual update, the change goes in the summary of material changes (Item 2), which existing clients receive within 120 days of your fiscal year end (SEC rule 204-3). In practice, because each new client gets your brochure before or when they sign, it’s simpler to file the new schedule when the price takes effect than to hand prospects a brochure that quotes the old one. State-registered firms should check their state’s version of these rules.
Existing clients: four ways to handle them
| Approach | How it works | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Grandfather for good | Existing clients keep the old fee | No friction now. Your longest-standing clients become your cheapest, and the gap widens every year |
| Grandfather for a set time | Existing clients move to the new fee after 6 or 12 months | Clear and fair. Needs a date you’ll keep |
| Phase it in | Half the increase at this review, the rest at the next | Good for large gaps. Two conversations instead of one |
| Move at the next scope change | Clients move to the new fee when their situation, and the work, changes | Easy to explain. Can leave simple households on the old price for years |
A mix often works best: a set period or a phase-in for everyone, and an immediate move for clients whose scope has clearly grown. Whatever you choose, apply it the same way to everyone in the same situation. Clients talk to each other, and so do the ones who referred each other.
Check your agreement first
Before writing to anyone, read what your client agreement says about fee changes. If it lets you change fees with written notice, follow its notice period exactly. If it says nothing, or requires both parties to agree to changes, plan on a signed amendment or a new agreement, and send it with the letter. If you’re not sure what yours allows, ask whoever reviews your compliance before you send anything.
The Form ADV instructions also remind advisers that, as fiduciaries, they must tell clients about material changes between annual updates even when the rules don’t require delivering a new brochure. A fee increase is one. The letter below does that job.
Then fix the agreement for next time. A yearly review clause, tied to inflation or to a stated schedule, makes the next increase routine. How to price financial planning covers how to write it in.
The notice letter
Send it 60 to 90 days before the new fee applies, and at least one full billing period ahead. Put it in writing, then talk about it at the next meeting rather than letting the first conversation be about an invoice. Keep it short: the new fee, the date, the reason in a sentence or two, what stays the same, and what the client can do.
Subject: Your planning fee from [date]
Dear [Client name],
From [date], your planning fee will be $[new amount] a year, billed
[monthly / quarterly] at $[amount]. It's currently $[old amount].
[One or two sentences on why, in plain terms. For example: "We haven't
changed our fees since [year], and the work we do for most clients has
grown since then, including [tax planning / equity compensation /
another named service]." Or: "This brings existing clients to the fee
new clients have paid since [date]."]
What stays the same: [your meetings, your access to me between
meetings, what the plan covers]. [If phasing: "The change will happen
in two steps: $[amount] from [date] and $[amount] from [date]."]
[If your agreement needs a signature: "I've attached an updated
agreement. Please sign and return it by [date]."]
If you'd like to talk it through, or to look at a lighter level of
service, reply here or book a time at [link]. We'll also cover it at
your next review on [date].
Thank you for working with us.
[Name]
[Firm]Leave out the apology. A fee increase explained plainly reads as a firm that knows its worth. One wrapped in regret invites a negotiation.
When a client pushes back
Listen first. Some clients just want to hear the reason from you. If cost is the real issue, offer less scope rather than a lower price: a one-time plan with a yearly check-in, or a lighter tier with fewer meetings. A discount for one client becomes the price for everyone they tell. If the fee doesn’t work for them at any scope, help them move on well, with their files and a referral if you have one. A client who leaves on good terms still talks about you.
If you charge a percentage of assets
Asset fees rise with markets on their own, and the first-tier rate barely varies: the middle half of firms that publish one charge 0.95% to 1%. Firms adjust the parts around it instead: the breakpoints, a minimum yearly fee, or a separate planning fee for work the asset fee doesn’t cover. Flat fee vs AUM covers what each does to revenue, and should you have an asset minimum? covers the minimum.
Publish the new price
Once it’s live, publish it in plain text. Prospects compare prices before they call, and AI assistants quote prices they can find: in our AI recommendations study, 77% of answers cited at least one fee-only firm’s own website. A higher published price also changes who books a first meeting. If the people who reach you have already accepted the number, your close rate tells you about your service, not your price.
Where Wellspent fits
A raise only helps if you keep it. Fee-share referral services take a share of the client’s fees for years: Zoe Financial’s disclosure puts its fee at 15% to 35% of advisory fees, for the first five years on fixed-fee planning and for the whole relationship on asset fees (last updated March 2025). Wellspent takes no share of any client’s fees. Membership is $89 a month and gives you a verified record in the public graph at find.wellspent.co with your fees, specialties and the clients you serve, introductions with no lead fees, a monthly report on who AI assistants recommend in your market, and quarterly press placement with media partners. See how it works.