Guides › Financial Advisor Fees
Updated September 19, 2026. Quick answer: Betterment Premium is less expensive at $500,000: $3,250 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 | Betterment Premium (annual fee) | Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) (annual fee) |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $1,625 | $6,250 |
| $500,000 | $3,250 | $12,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $6,500 | $25,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $5,000 | $50,000 |
Betterment Premium discloses a tiered schedule starting at 0.65% (Form ADV Part 2A – Betterment Client Brochure (Betterment LLC), 2026-07-31); 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
Betterment Premium (Form ADV Part 2A – Betterment Client Brochure (Betterment LLC), 2026-07-31): “Retail Clients who receive Betterment Premium Services pay a wrap fee of 0.65% of their account balance in annualized fees, which includes Betterment’s 0.25% annualized wrap fee plus 0.40% for access to Premium Services provided by Betterment’s team of financial consultants (subject to the Discount described in Item 5B. below). Betterment waives the 0.40% fee for Premium Services on account balances above $1 million. … A balance of at least $100,000 is required to be eligible to participate in the Betterment Premium plan.”
Whole-balance (breakpoint) fee, not marginal: the 0.65% combined rate (0.25% base wrap fee + 0.40% Premium access fee) applies to the full balance once the $100,000 Premium minimum is met, up to and including $1,000,000 ($250,000 x 0.0065 = $1,625; $500,000 x 0.0065 = $3,250; $1,000,000 x 0.0065 = $6,500, since the brochure waives the 0.40% Premium fee only on balances ‘above’ $1 million, not at exactly $1 million). Above $1,000,000 the 0.40% Premium fee is waived, leaving only the 0.25% base wrap fee on the entire balance ($2,000,000 x 0.0025 = $5,000). This produces a real fee cliff where a $1,000,000 account pays more in dollar terms than a $2,000,000 account – that is a direct, disclosed consequence of the waiver threshold, not an error.
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, Betterment Premium runs $3,250 a year and Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) runs $12,500 a year: a difference of $9,250 a year at that balance.
Want the full breakdown for either firm on its own? Read the Betterment Premium 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 Betterment Premium, or read the general mechanics of switching financial advisors.
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- Form ADV Part 2A – Betterment Client Brochure (Betterment LLC) (2026-07-31): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1053566
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Betterment LLC (CRD #149117): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/149117
- 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 Betterment Premium 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.