Fee-only planners in Canada who publish their prices charge a median C$1,900 for a one-time plan, C$250 an hour, or C$2,300 a year for ongoing planning. Those are real prices from planners’ own websites, but they rest on small numbers of firms: 46 for one-time plans, 15 for hourly rates and 21 for ongoing planning. Use the middle half of each range as your guide, not the exact median.
Each price was checked word for word against the firm’s page. The full breakdown, US and Canada, is in the Wellspent fee report.
What Canadian fee-only planners charge
Medians in Canadian dollars, from prices firms publish on their own websites
Source: Wellspent fee report
The one-time plan is the most common published price in Canada, and the best-supported figure here. That fits how Canadian fee-only planning works: many planners are advice-only, meaning they charge for a plan or for time and leave the investing to you.
How to read small samples
A median from 15 firms is a different thing from a median from 379. Three points to keep in mind:
- One or two firms can move it. With a sample this size, a couple of new firms publishing prices next quarter could shift the median noticeably. The middle half is steadier.
- It’s firms that publish. These are planners who state a price on their website. Firms that quote only after a call aren’t in the numbers, and their prices may differ.
- It’s starting prices. Each figure is the lowest price a firm lists for that service. A household with a business, a pension decision or a cross-border move can pay more at the same firm.
We only report a figure when at least 12 firms publish that kind of price. That’s why there’s no Canadian figure for percentage-of-assets fees: fewer than 12 Canadian fee-only firms published a rate we could check.
Canada and the US side by side
Median and middle half of fee-only firms, each in its own currency
Source: Wellspent fee report
Data
| Service | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|
| One-time plan, Canada (C$) | $1,900 | $950 to $3,000 |
| One-time plan, US (US$) | $2,000 | $845 to $3,600 |
| Ongoing planning, Canada (C$) | $2,300 | $1,200 to $4,000 |
| Ongoing planning, US (US$) | $4,500 | $2,400 to $7,200 |
Each figure is in its own currency, so the comparison isn’t exact. Two things still stand out:
- One-time plans cost about the same number of dollars on both sides: C$1,900 in Canada against $2,000 in the US.
- Ongoing planning is much cheaper in Canada, C$2,300 a year against $4,500, even before the exchange rate. It also rests on the smallest Canadian sample, 21 firms, so treat the gap as a direction rather than a measurement.
Hourly rates are closer: C$250 in Canada against $300 in the US.
What you pay for, and what you pay on top
With an advice-only planner, the fee buys a plan or a block of time: retirement projections, RRSP and TFSA strategy, when to start CPP and OAS, insurance and estate questions. You then carry out the plan at your own bank or brokerage. You’ll still pay the costs of the funds you hold and any account fees there, but no advisor’s percentage on top.
That’s the main contrast with most of the Canadian advice market, where many advisors are paid through commissions built into the mutual funds they sell or through a percentage of assets. With a fee-only planner, the fee you agree is the whole cost of the advice. Our guide to fee-only, fee-based and commission advisors explains the difference.
Tax. The CRA lets you deduct fees to manage or take care of your investments, and fees for certain investment advice, as carrying charges on line 22100. Fees for services connected to an RRSP or TFSA can’t be deducted. Ask your tax preparer how a particular planning invoice is treated.
How to check a Canadian planner
Canada doesn’t have one national register for financial planners, so check in two places:
- Their title. In Ontario, the financial planner and financial advisor titles have been regulated since 2022, and Quebec requires a certificate from the AMF to use the financial planner title. Ask which credential lets them use the title, and check it with the body that issued it.
- Their registration, if they recommend specific investments. Anyone advising on specific securities generally has to be registered with a provincial securities regulator. Look them up on the CSA’s free National Registration Search. An advice-only planner who stops short of naming specific investments may not be registered, which is why the credential check matters.
Then ask the question that settles fee-only status: “Do you or your firm earn anything from the products you recommend, including insurance?” A fee-only planner answers no.
Questions to ask a Canadian planner
- What’s the total price for my situation, and does it include sales tax?
- Is this a one-time plan, or do you offer ongoing help? What does a yearly update cost?
- Will you recommend specific investments, or only an approach? Are you registered to do that?
- Do you cover CPP and OAS timing, pensions and RRSP or RRIF withdrawals in the plan?
- Will you help me put the plan in place at my own bank or brokerage?
- Do you or your firm earn anything from the products you recommend?
Compare at least two quotes. With samples this size, the planners in front of you are a better guide to local prices than any median.
Where to find one
Browse fee-only planners by province in the public graph: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia, or see the list of fee-only advisors in Ontario. Many Canadian advice-only planners work by video across provinces, so our guide to finding a fee-only advisor near you covers when local matters.
If your life spans the border, read cross-border financial advisors first. For how each payment model works, see what a one-time financial plan costs and what an hourly financial planner costs.