Guides › Financial Advisor Fees
Updated September 19, 2026. Quick answer: Charles Schwab is less expensive at $500,000: $4,000 a year, versus $12,500 a year for Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services), computed from each firm’s own SEC-filed fee disclosure. See the full side-by-side table below for $250,000, $1 million and $2 million.
What each firm charges, side by side
| Account balance | Charles Schwab (annual fee) | Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) (annual fee) |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $4,000 | $6,250 |
| $500,000 | $4,000 | $12,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $8,000 | $25,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $15,500 | $50,000 |
Charles Schwab discloses a tiered schedule starting at 0.80% (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Disclosure Brochure for the Schwab Wealth Advisory Wrap Fee Program, June 30, 2026 (Standard SWA Fee Schedule effective October 1, 2024)); Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) discloses a maximum, individually negotiated rate of 2.5% (Kestra Advisory Services, LLC Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A, Appendix 1), August 20, 2026).
What the fee includes, in each firm’s own words
Charles Schwab (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Disclosure Brochure for the Schwab Wealth Advisory Wrap Fee Program, June 30, 2026 (Standard SWA Fee Schedule effective October 1, 2024)): “Standard SWA Fee Schedule (effective October 1, 2024): Amounts up to US$1 million, 0.80%; Next US$1 million (more than US$1M up to US$2M), 0.75%; Next US$3 million (more than US$2M up to US$5M), 0.70%; Next US$5 million (more than US$5M up to US$10M), 0.50%; Next US$15 million (more than US$10M up to US$25M), 0.30%; Assets over US$25 million, 0.30% (or less, as negotiated). The SWA Fee is subject to a quarterly minimum, which represents the minimum amount charged for the advisory services provided during a quarter. The quarterly minimum is equal to the lesser of: $1,000, or 1.60% of your total billable assets, calculated on a quarterly basis.”
Schwab Wealth Advisory (SWA) bills a marginal (tiered) schedule, but every account is also subject to a quarterly minimum equal to the lesser of $1,000 or 1.6% of that quarter’s billable assets, which for any balance above about $62,500 works out to a flat $1,000-a-quarter ($4,000-a-year) floor. At $250,000, the marginal schedule alone would compute to $2,000 a year, but the $4,000 floor overrides it, so $4,000 is what is actually billed. At $500,000, the marginal schedule and the floor land on the same number, $4,000, by design: Schwab sets SWA’s own account minimum at $500,000. At $1,000,000 and $2,000,000, the marginal schedule exceeds the floor, so the schedule rate applies directly ($8,000 and $8,000 plus 0.75% on the next $1,000,000, or $15,500). Clients enrolled before October 1, 2024 sit on a different, Grandfathered SWA Fee Schedule; the figures here are for current, Standard enrollees.
Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) (Kestra Advisory Services, LLC Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A, Appendix 1), August 20, 2026): “All fees are negotiable, subject to the maximum amount set forth below. FSP Fee Schedule Fee Type Assets Minimum Maximum Manager Fee $5,000+ 0.02% 0.45% Advisor Fee $5,000+ 0.00% 2.48% Client Fee $5,000+ 0.02% 2.50% … Client Fee is the sum of the Advisor Fee plus the Manager Fee. In instances where the maximum Advisor Fee plus the Manager Fee would exceed 2.5 percent, the Advisor fee is reduced so the Client Fee does not exceed 2.5 percent.” Fund Strategist Portfolios (FSP) Program – Client Fee (Advisor Fee + Manager Fee), $5,000+ accounts: 0.02% min – 2.50% max; Separately Managed Accounts (SMA) Program – Client Fee, $100,000+ accounts: 0.02% min – 2.50% max; Unified Managed Account (UMA) Program – Client Fee, $5,000+ accounts: 0.02% min – 2.50% max; APM-Wrap / most other AdvisorEnterprise programs – Maximum Client Fee: 2.50%; One passive/index-model program – Maximum Client Fee (lower cap): 1.50%.
Kestra’s advisory fee is entirely advisor-negotiated within a published floor/ceiling band; across its AdvisorEnterprise programs (FSP, SMA, UMA, APM-Wrap, etc.) the Client Fee ranges from about 0.02% up to a firm-wide Maximum Client Fee of 2.5% (one narrower passive-model program caps at 1.5%). No fixed dollar-bracket schedule is disclosed – the rate a given client pays is set individually by their Advisor within that band. dollar_at values apply the 2.5% ceiling uniformly as the worst-case maximum (250,000 x 0.025 = $6,250; 500,000 x 0.025 = $12,500; 1,000,000 x 0.025 = $25,000; 2,000,000 x 0.025 = $50,000). Kestra Private Wealth Services, LLC (CRD 155193, SEC file 801-71936), the second Kestra RIA entity, publishes an identical negotiable/2.5%-ceiling structure in its own Form ADV Part 2A/Appendix 1 brochures (also downloaded to sources/kestra/), so the two entities are not in conflict; Kestra Advisory Services was used as the primary citation as the larger/parent RIA (formerly NFP Advisor Services).
How this compares
Our benchmark of published adviser fee schedules puts the weighted median annual cost near $2,000 to $2,500 on $250,000 (the benchmark). At $500,000, Charles Schwab runs $4,000 a year and Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) runs $12,500 a year: a difference of $8,500 a year at that balance.
Want the full breakdown for either firm on its own? Read the Charles Schwab fee page or the Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) fee page for the complete tier table and source citations.
Thinking about leaving one of these firms instead of pricing what you would pay to stay? See what it costs to leave Charles Schwab, or read the general mechanics of switching financial advisors.
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- Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Disclosure Brochure for the Schwab Wealth Advisory Wrap Fee Program (June 30, 2026 (Standard SWA Fee Schedule effective October 1, 2024)): https://www.schwab.com/transparency
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CRD #5393): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/5393
- Kestra Advisory Services, LLC Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A, Appendix 1) (August 20, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1055475
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (“Kestra AS”) (CRD #283330): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283330
Methodology. This page was built September 19, 2026, re-pairing figures already archived and independently verified for Charles Schwab and Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) from each firm’s own SEC-filed disclosure; sources linked above. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.
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