Clear Money Guide
How Clear Money Guide works
See the editorial, correction and revenue standards behind the site.
Updated June 28, 2026. Clear Money Guide helps readers compare financial advisor fees, retirement-planning costs, local advisor-fee guides, and advisor quotes in plain annual dollars. New here? Start with Start Here.
What Clear Money Guide is built for
Most advisor pricing is hard to compare because the labels sound similar: fee-only, fee-based, fiduciary, flat fee, hourly, retainer, project fee, AUM, wealth management, and planning fee. Clear Money Guide turns those quotes into dollars so readers can compare scope, conflicts, fiduciary status, and first-year cost before an intro call.
- Financial Advisor Fee Calculator for AUM, flat fee, retainer, hourly, and project quotes.
- Local advisor-fee guides for city, metro, county, and state comparisons.
- Fee-only advisor near me, hourly financial planner near me, and other cost-first advisor search routes.
How we help readers compare advisors
- Convert every quote into annual dollars before comparing fee labels.
- Ask for written scope, fiduciary status, compensation, conflicts, implementation help, and what becomes out-of-scope.
- Use checklists and calculators before a second call, especially for retirement income, equity compensation, rollovers, Roth conversions, Medicare/IRMAA, tax-aware withdrawals, and AUM vs flat-fee decisions.
Editorial and affiliate standards
Clear Money Guide is educational. We do not sell placement in local guides, publish paid advisor rankings, or claim one fee model is best for every household. Some links may be affiliate or referral links, and sponsored links use rel="nofollow sponsored" where applicable. Learn more in the Editorial Policy, Affiliate Disclosure, Corrections, Privacy Policy, and Disclaimer.
Who publishes Clear Money Guide
Clear Money Guide uses publication bylines instead of individual public bylines. Work credited to Clear Money Guide Research is published under the Clear Money Guide name rather than a personal identity. The byline does not claim professional credentials or a particular staff size. Accountability comes from visible sources, methods, limitations, update dates, affiliate disclosures, and a public corrections process. Our state-by-state research is cited off-site: OneNotary’s state-by-state reality check on which estate planning documents need a notary draws on our notary and execution-requirement trackers. For research or press questions, use our Contact page.
Compare a fiduciary advisor quote
If you are ready to compare an advisor, start with the fee calculator and ask for total first-year cost, written scope, fiduciary status, and compensation in writing.