Guides › Financial Advisor Fees
Updated September 19, 2026. Quick answer: CAPTRUST is less expensive at $500,000: $6,250 a year, versus $12,500 a year for Equitable Advisors, 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.
More head-to-head fee comparisons: Betterment Premium vs Equitable Advisors Fees, Buckingham Strategic Wealth vs Equitable Advisors Fees and Cambridge Investment Research vs CAPTRUST Fees.
What each firm charges, side by side
| Account balance | CAPTRUST (annual fee) | Equitable Advisors (annual fee) |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $3,125 | $6,250 |
| $500,000 | $6,250 | $12,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $12,500 | $25,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $22,500 | $50,000 |
CAPTRUST discloses a tiered schedule starting at 1.25% (CAPTRUST Financial Advisors Form ADV Part 2A – Wealth Client Brochure, March 27, 2026); Equitable Advisors discloses a maximum, individually negotiated rate of 2.5% (Equitable Advisors, LLC 2026 Firm Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A), March 2026).
What the fee includes, in each firm’s own words
CAPTRUST (CAPTRUST Financial Advisors Form ADV Part 2A – Wealth Client Brochure, March 27, 2026): “Advisory fees, minimum account sizes, and services are negotiable and detailed in the advisory agreement. Advisory fees generally will be calculated as a percentage of total assets under management. Adviser’s standard fee schedule, effective January 1, 2026, is as follows: Annual Advisory Fees Assets Under $10 Million at Initial Funding First $1M at 1.25% Next $1M at 1.00% Next $3M at 0.85% Assets over $5M at .70%”
CAPTRUST’s standard fee schedule (effective January 1, 2026) is marginal/tiered like a tax bracket. At $250,000 and $500,000 the entire balance falls in the first $1M tier, so the fee is balance x 1.25% ($3,125 and $6,250). At $1,000,000 the fee is $1,000,000 x 1.25% = $12,500. At $2,000,000 the fee is ($1,000,000 x 1.25%) + ($1,000,000 x 1.00%) = $12,500 + $10,000 = $22,500.
Equitable Advisors (Equitable Advisors, LLC 2026 Firm Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A), March 2026): “The Account Fee is customarily negotiable (in whole or in part). Each LPL Program as its own maximum Account Fee; the highest account fee in an LPL Program is 2.5% of the client’s account value on an annualized basis, and is usually payable quarterly in advance.”
Equitable Advisors’ current (March 2026) Form ADV Part 2A explicitly states in its Item 2 material-changes summary that its old advisory fee chart ‘has been removed and language has been added to provide for negotiability of fees.’ No per-tier, per-dollar-bracket schedule is published; clients invest through LPL advisory programs and the brochure states only a ceiling: the highest Account Fee across LPL Programs generally is 2.5% of account value annually (Retirement Plan/ERISA services are capped lower, generally 0.75%). dollar_at values apply this 2.5% ceiling uniformly (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) as the worst-case/maximum figure a client could be charged; actual negotiated rates are typically lower and are not disclosed in bracket form anywhere in the brochure.
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, CAPTRUST runs $6,250 a year and Equitable Advisors runs $12,500 a year: a difference of $6,250 a year at that balance.
Want the full breakdown for either firm on its own? Read the CAPTRUST fee page or the Equitable Advisors 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 Equitable Advisors, or read the general mechanics of switching financial advisors.
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Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionSources
- CAPTRUST Financial Advisors Form ADV Part 2A – Wealth Client Brochure (March 27, 2026): https://www.captrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-CAPTRUST-Form-2A-Wealth-Client-Brochure-FINAL.pdf
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, CAPTRUST Financial Advisors (CRD #175112): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/175112
- Equitable Advisors, LLC 2026 Firm Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A) (March 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1036195
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Equitable Advisors, LLC (CRD #6627): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/6627
Methodology. This page was built September 19, 2026, re-pairing figures already archived and independently verified for CAPTRUST and Equitable Advisors 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.
Already with CAPTRUST and weighing a move? How to leave CAPTRUST covers what it costs to transfer out.