Financial Advisor Minimum Investments by Firm (2026): 128 Firms Compared

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Updated September 28, 2026. Quick answer: Across the 128 advisory firms whose own Form ADV Part 2A brochures we have read and published a page for, 84 state a minimum to open an account and 44 state none. Among those that do, the median entry minimum is $25,000, and the range runs from $5 (Stash) to $10,000,000 (GenTrust). 43 of the 84 ask for $25,000 or less, so a low minimum is common; the barrier is usually the annual fee, not the door. Every figure below is the minimum for the specific program the filing names, taken from that filing, with a link to our page for that firm.

Related guides on this topic: Finding an Advisor for a Cross-State Retirement Move, Advisor For Selling A Business and Are Private Banks Worth It? The Surcharge, Measured.

What this roster counts, and what it does not

Each row reports the entry minimum for the one program the filing names beside it, which is the number that decides whether you can open that account today. It is not a firm-wide minimum. Many large firms run a low-minimum digital or model-portfolio program alongside a private client service that starts far higher, and this roster reports the door you can actually walk through. That is why the median here is $25,000 while our separate advisor minimum assets benchmark, which counts firm-wide minimums across a wider set of filings, reports a much higher median. Both are accurate answers to different questions, so check which one you are asking.

25 firms publish a range rather than one figure, because their minimum varies by program or by the manager chosen; those rows show both ends. Where a firm states no account minimum we say so rather than printing a zero, because the two are not the same claim. A firm can also set no account minimum and still enforce a minimum annual fee, which 17 of them do, and that fee is shown in its row.

How many firms sit at each minimum

Every firm that states a minimum, lowest first

The 44 firms that state no account minimum

If you are below a firm you wanted

A minimum is a business rule, not a judgement about you, and it is frequently waived for a client the firm expects to grow with. The three things worth doing first: ask whether the minimum is negotiable, because many filings say in terms that it is; check the minimum annual fee, since on a smaller balance that floor can cost more as a percentage than the headline rate; and price the same money at a flat-fee or hourly adviser before you assume a percentage is the only option. Our flat-fee adviser guide and the fee comparison hub both convert rates into annual dollars so the comparison is on one basis.

Sources

Every minimum and every filing date on this page comes from the named firm’s own Form ADV Part 2A brochure or wrap-fee program appendix as filed with the SEC, read for each firm individually. The per-firm page linked in each row carries that firm’s citation, its archived filing and its CRD number. The roster spans 9 published research waves and is current to September 28, 2026; filing dates differ by firm because firms file on their own schedules, and the oldest filings here are the ones those firms have not yet updated. See also the financial advisor fee comparison for what these firms charge once you are in.

Methodology

This page is generated from the same per-firm records that produce the 128 linked pages, so the roster and the pages cannot disagree: every row was re-derived against the live page it links to before publication, and a random sample was re-read against the archived filing itself. Counts and the median are computed at build time, never typed. Where a filing is silent we publish the silence. We are not an investment adviser and this is not personalised advice; it is a reading of public filings. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.