Guides › Financial Advisor Fees
Updated September 19, 2026. Quick answer: Vanguard Personal Advisor is less expensive at $500,000: $1,750 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 | Equitable Advisors (annual fee) | Vanguard Personal Advisor (annual fee) |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $6,250 | $875 |
| $500,000 | $12,500 | $1,750 |
| $1,000,000 | $25,000 | $3,500 |
| $2,000,000 | $50,000 | $7,000 |
Equitable Advisors discloses a maximum, individually negotiated rate of 2.5% (Equitable Advisors, LLC 2026 Firm Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A), March 2026); Vanguard Personal Advisor discloses a published gross rate of 0.35% (Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal Advisor Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A), 2026-08-20).
What the fee includes, in each firm’s own words
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.
Vanguard Personal Advisor (Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal Advisor Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A), 2026-08-20): “Personal Advisor’s annual gross advisory fee for Vanguard Brokerage Accounts is 0.35% for its all‐index investment options and 0.40% for the exclusive active/index mix. … Enrollments in Personal Advisor require an aggregate $50,000 balance or greater” All-index investment option (any enrolled balance; $50,000 aggregate minimum to enroll): 0.35%; Active/index mix investment option (any enrolled balance): 0.40%.
Flat (non-tiered) gross advisory fee applied to the entire enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Account balance regardless of balance size: 0.35% for the all-index investment option (used here as the base case) or 0.40% if the active/index mix is elected. Dollar figures = balance x 0.0035. This is Vanguard’s disclosed gross fee before the affiliate-revenue credit that Vanguard also applies (which further lowers the net fee actually charged, per the same brochure); the gross rate is used here because it is the stated contractual rate, not an estimate.
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, Equitable Advisors runs $12,500 a year and Vanguard Personal Advisor runs $1,750 a year: a difference of $10,750 a year at that balance.
Want the full breakdown for either firm on its own? Read the Equitable Advisors fee page or the Vanguard Personal Advisor 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
- 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
- Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal Advisor Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A) (2026-08-20): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1055528
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (CRD #106715): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/106715
Methodology. This page was built September 19, 2026, re-pairing figures already archived and independently verified for Equitable Advisors and Vanguard Personal Advisor 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.