The specialties fee-only firms claim least often on their own websites are founders before an exit (7% of firm sites), crypto (1%) and concentrated stock positions (1%), followed closely by divorce planning, student loans, pension decisions, physicians, real estate investors and cross-border families. The places with the thinnest supply, among the states we can measure, are Ohio, New York, Tennessee and New Jersey: Ohio has 19 fee-only firms publishing an ongoing planning fee for 11.9 million people. Colorado, with half Ohio’s population, has 35.
What these numbers measure
Two measures, both about supply:
- Specialties come from our website study: the specialties 1,670 fee-only firms describe on their own sites, counted only when backed by a quote we found word for word.
- Places come from the Wellspent fee report: the number of fee-only firms in each state whose websites publish an ongoing planning fee. A state appears only if at least 12 firms do.
Neither measures demand. A specialty can be rare because few clients need it, and a state can look thin because its firms don’t publish prices. What the numbers do show is where a firm that names a niche and states a price faces the least direct competition, which is what a prospect comparing firms, or an AI assistant answering their question, actually sees.
Rare specialties
For every firm that names founders before an exit, roughly nine name retirement planning. Below founders sit a group of specialties that each appear on fewer firm sites still. Each has its own public graph page, where you can see which fee-only advisors already claim it:
- Founders before an exit (7%). Stock sales, qualified small business stock, timing a liquidity event. Clients often arrive through attorneys and accountants who handle the deal.
- Crypto (1%). Cost basis, custody and tax reporting for people with real holdings. It’s rare partly because many firms avoid it, which is the opening.
- Concentrated stock positions (1%). Long-tenured employees and executives with much of their net worth in one company. It overlaps with equity compensation (18%), which is more crowded.
- Divorce planning. Asset division, support and a new budget, often with a family-law attorney or mediator on the other end of the referral.
- Physicians. Late high income, student debt, disability insurance and practice ownership.
- Student loans. Repayment plans and forgiveness decisions, which suit flat-fee or one-time engagements.
- Pension decisions. Lump sum or annuity, survivor options, and timing for public employees, teachers and anyone with a defined-benefit plan.
- Real estate investors and cross-border families. Both need technical knowledge most planners don’t have, and both are among the rarest specialties firms name.
The contested middle, small business owners (23%), equity compensation (18%) and flat-fee planning (11%), still has room, but you’ll need a narrower angle to stand out. For how to pick among these, see how to choose a niche.
Thin places
The fee report lists ongoing planning fees for every state where at least 12 fee-only firms publish one. Ranked against population, the thinnest are some of the largest states.
Worked out per million residents (this edition’s counts against the Census Bureau’s July 2025 estimates), Ohio and New York have about 1.6 such firms per million people, Tennessee and New Jersey about 1.8, and Colorado about 5.8. A firm in Columbus or Nashville that publishes its price is one of very few a prospect can compare.
New Jersey stands out for another reason. Its published ongoing fees are the highest of any state we measure, a median $7,450 a year against $4,500 nationally, and only 17 firms publish one. At the other end, Minnesota’s median is $2,100, the lowest, across 16 firms.
Then there are the states that don’t make the table at all. In the 2026 Q4 edition, 24 states have at least 12 fee-only firms publishing an ongoing fee. In the rest, including Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oklahoma, each with more than 4 million people, fewer than 12 do. A prospect there looking for a fee-only planner with a published price has very few to choose from.
Canada is thinner still. In the same report, 21 Canadian fee-only firms publish an ongoing planning fee and 46 publish a one-time plan price, against 775 and 675 in the US. The Canadian firms that do publish charge less, a median C$2,300 a year for ongoing planning, so thin supply there comes with lower prices. Cross-border families, who need both systems, are among the rarest specialties on either side.
Put the two together
A rare specialty rarely has enough clients in one town. A thin place may not have enough of any one niche. The combination that works for most small firms is a niche served nationally by video, from wherever you live, with your home state as a local base. Of the sites we read, 29% say they work with clients virtually.
Two cautions if you work across state lines. Your registration has to cover where your clients live, which matters more once you have clients in several states (see starting an RIA). And a national niche competes nationally, so the rare-specialty numbers above matter more than the state ones.
Test demand before you commit
Supply data tells you where competition is thin. Whether clients are there is something you check yourself:
- Ask the professionals who serve the group. Five conversations with CPAs, attorneys or HR leaders who work with physicians, founders or divorcing couples will tell you whether they have nobody to refer to. Kitces found 37% of high-growth practices used centers of influence tied to their target market, against 21% of others.
- Count your own inquiries. If you already get a few questions a year about a situation, that’s a signal no outside dataset can give you.
- Ask an AI assistant the client’s question. Put the question your ideal client would type to an assistant with web search on, and see who it names. If it names nobody specific, or firms that only mention the topic in passing, the field is open. See check what AI says about your firm.
- Price it. A niche that can’t pay a fee near the $4,500 median may need a one-time plan or a lighter service instead. See how to price financial planning.
Claim it in public
An underserved niche stays underserved until someone says, in plain text, that they serve it. Of the sites we read, about 4 in 10 name no specialty beyond retirement, tax or estate planning. A firm that names a rare niche, gives it a page and publishes a price is often the only match for the question a client asks.
Where Wellspent fits
A Wellspent record puts your specialties, the clients you serve and your fees in the public graph at find.wellspent.co, verified and organized by specialty and location, so a search or an AI assistant answering a niche question can name you. Prospects write to you directly, with no lead fees and no share of client fees. Members also get a monthly report on who AI assistants recommend for the questions their ideal clients ask, and quarterly press placement with media partners, matched by specialty. It’s $89 a month. See how it works.