# Retainer fee

> A retainer fee is a fixed price for ongoing advice, usually set by the year and billed monthly or quarterly, that doesn't depend on the size of your investments.

Canonical page: https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/retainer-fee/
Also called: annual retainer, planning retainer, ongoing planning fee

Firms use retainer, flat fee, subscription and ongoing planning fee for much the same thing: a recurring price set by the complexity of the work. Fee-only firms that publish an ongoing planning fee charge a median $4,500 a year, with the middle half between $2,400 and $7,200, based on 775 firms' published prices.

If you pay in advance, the firm's brochure has to explain how you get a refund if you end the agreement early. An SEC-registered firm that requires prepayment of more than $1,200 per client six or more months ahead must include an audited balance sheet in its brochure; for state-registered firms the threshold is $500. That's one reason most retainers are billed monthly or quarterly.

## How to check

Item 5 of the firm's Form ADV Part 2A brochure gives the fee, how often it's billed, whether it's negotiable and the refund policy.

## Sources

- [Wellspent, What fee-only financial advisors charge (2026 Q4)](https://find.wellspent.co/reports/fee-only-advisor-fees/)
- [SEC, Form ADV Part 2 instructions, Items 5.D and 18 (SEC 1707, 08-22)](https://www.sec.gov/about/forms/formadv-part2.pdf)

## Related terms

- [Flat-fee financial planning](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/flat-fee.md)
- [Subscription financial planning](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/subscription.md)
- [Assets under management (AUM) fee](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/aum-fee.md)
- [Form ADV](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/form-adv.md)