Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: probably not the kind you are picturing. At $100,000 you are below the account minimum at a large share of firms that bill a percentage of assets, and the ones that will take you at that size are not usually where the value is. The honest answer is not “no advice” — it is advice bought differently: an hourly planner or a flat-fee engagement for the two or three decisions that actually matter, and a low-cost fund doing the investing. That combination is cheaper and it is not a downgrade.
Why the minimum problem is real
We measured this rather than assuming it. In our own benchmark of published adviser fee schedules, computed from Form ADV disclosures and published on the fee comparison chart, 18.9% of firms were minimum-blocked at $250,000 — they would not take a quarter-million-dollar account at all. At $100,000 the share is larger, though our study’s lowest measured balance is $250,000, so this page states no median dollar figure at $100k rather than inventing one. The pattern is what matters: percentage-of-assets pricing does not generate enough revenue at $100,000 to fund a real planning relationship, so firms set minimums instead of discounting. What firm minimums actually mean, and where to verify one.
What actually works at $100,000
Hourly planning. You pay for time on the specific questions you have — a rollover decision, a Roth conversion window, whether you are on track — and nothing for the years you have no questions. What hourly planners charge and how many hours your situation needs. Flat-fee or project pricing. A defined engagement with a defined deliverable, at a price that does not scale with your balance — flat-fee advisers and project pricing. Automated management for the allocate-and-rebalance job only, at a fraction of a percent — robo versus human fees. Which of these fits: the fee-model decision aid.
When $100,000 does justify a real relationship
Size is a poor proxy for complexity, and a few situations at this balance genuinely need help: a concentrated employer-stock position, a business, an imminent inheritance, a divorce or a disability, or equity compensation you do not understand. In those cases the trigger is the decision, not the balance, and an hourly or flat-fee engagement usually serves it better than an ongoing percentage would. The general test, deliberately not framed in dollars: the complexity checklist.
What changes as the number grows
At $250,000 the market opens up and the arithmetic starts to bite: in our own benchmark of published adviser fee schedules, computed from Form ADV disclosures and published on the fee comparison chart, the weighted median annual cost is $2,000 to $2,500 — is $250,000 enough to hire an adviser. The whole ladder by service tier: at what net worth you actually need one.
At $100,000, buying advice by the hour beats buying it by the percent.
If you want to see what a full-service match would offer anyway, the service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you — and it accepts every asset level.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. It asks about nine questions — age, investable assets, location — then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text.
Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Compare fees, scope, conflicts, credentials and fiduciary duty before you hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here — you stay on this page.