Guides › Financial Advisor Fees
Updated September 19, 2026. Quick answer: Empower Personal Wealth is less expensive at $500,000: $4,450 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.
What each firm charges, side by side
| Account balance | Empower Personal Wealth (annual fee) | Equitable Advisors (annual fee) |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $2,225 | $6,250 |
| $500,000 | $4,450 | $12,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $7,900 | $25,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $15,800 | $50,000 |
Empower Personal Wealth discloses a tiered schedule starting at 0.89% (Empower Advisory Group Personal Strategy(R) Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A / Appendix 1), 2026-05-15); 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
Empower Personal Wealth (Empower Advisory Group Personal Strategy(R) Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A / Appendix 1), 2026-05-15): “On an annualized basis, EAG bases its Advisory Services fee on the following schedule calculated as a percentage of the total AUM: Investment Services Clients ($100,000 – $249,999 total AUM) 0.89% Wealth Management Clients ($250,000 – $999,999 total AUM) 0.89% Private Clients ($1 million or more total AUM) tiered structure $3MM or less AUM 0.79% On only the next $2MM AUM 0.69% On only the next $5MM AUM 0.59% On only the AUM over $10MM 0.49%”
Below $1,000,000 AUM, the whole balance is charged a flat 0.89% (identical rate for both the $100k-$249,999 and $250k-$999,999 bands, so $250,000 x 0.0089 = $2,225 and $500,000 x 0.0089 = $4,450). At $1,000,000 or more (‘Private Clients’), the schedule becomes marginal/tiered starting fresh at 0.79% for the first $3,000,000 of AUM (not just the amount above $1M) – the brochure’s own worked example for a $7.5M account confirms this marginal, first-$3M/next-$2M/next-$5M/over-$10M structure. So $1,000,000 x 0.0079 = $7,900 and, since $2,000,000 is still within the first-$3,000,000 tier, $2,000,000 x 0.0079 = $15,800. Note this creates a real disclosed rate drop right at the $1,000,000 breakpoint (0.89% below, 0.79% at/above), which is why the $1M and $2M dollar figures are proportionally lower relative to rate than the $250k/$500k figures. Entity is the successor to Personal Capital Advisors Corporation (SEC-registration terminated 2023-04-11 on a corp-to-LLC conversion); confirmed via Empower’s own site (empower.com/products-solutions/wealth-management, which names Empower Advisory Group, LLC as the RIA) and Empower’s own published one-page fee schedule (docs.empower.com/PDF/p/misc/management_fee.pdf), both of which restate this identical 0.89%/0.79%/0.69%/0.59%/0.49% schedule.
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, Empower Personal Wealth runs $4,450 a year and Equitable Advisors runs $12,500 a year: a difference of $8,050 a year at that balance.
Want the full breakdown for either firm on its own? Read the Empower Personal Wealth 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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- Empower Advisory Group Personal Strategy(R) Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A / Appendix 1) (2026-05-15): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1045311
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Empower Advisory Group, LLC (CRD #112058): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/112058
- 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 Empower Personal Wealth 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.