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 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 | Empower Personal Wealth (annual fee) | Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) (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); 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
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.
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, Empower Personal Wealth runs $4,450 a year and Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) 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 Kestra (Kestra Private Wealth Services / Kestra Advisory Services) fee page for the complete tier table and source citations.
Comparing these two against a full move? Read the general mechanics of switching financial advisors, or use a dated termination letter once you decide.
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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
- 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 Empower Personal Wealth 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.