Choose an hourly planner if you’ll need fewer than about 15 hours of help a year, and a retainer if you’ll need more or want someone keeping watch between your questions. At US fee-only firms that publish prices, the median hourly rate is $300 and the median retainer (an ongoing planning fee) is $4,500 a year, so the two cost the same at about 15 hours. The real difference isn’t only the price: with hourly you start every conversation, and with a retainer the planner starts some of them.
The two side by side
| Hourly | Retainer | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | For the time you use | A set yearly fee, often billed monthly or quarterly |
| Typical price (US median) | $300 an hour, middle half $250 to $350 | $4,500 a year, middle half $2,400 to $7,200 |
| Who raises the next question | You | Both of you; the planner checks in on a schedule |
| A quick email question | Often billed | Usually included |
| Commitment | None beyond the job | A yearly agreement, usually ended with written notice |
| Managing your investments | Rarely | Sometimes, for the same fee or an added one |
| Offered by | 27% of fee-only firms | 48% of fee-only firms |
Firms use several names for a retainer: subscription, ongoing planning fee, yearly planning fee. They all mean a recurring price set by the work rather than by your balance. The shares above come from 2,574 fee-only firms whose websites say how they charge, and many firms offer both.
What a year costs each way
Hourly rows are the median rate times the hours. They’ll move when the medians do.
The crossing point is your retainer quote divided by your hourly quote. A planner who charges $250 an hour against a $3,000 retainer crosses at 12 hours. In Canada, the medians are C$250 an hour and C$2,300 a year, so the line falls lower, at about nine hours.
Hours are easy to underestimate. A one-hour meeting usually comes with time to read your statements beforehand and write up the advice afterward, and many hourly planners bill for both. Ask for an estimate that covers preparation and follow-up, not just the meeting. Our guide to hourly planner costs lists what to ask about billable time.
The first year of a retainer often costs more too. Some firms charge an onboarding fee to build the first plan, or a higher price for year one. The subscription planning guide explains how those quotes are built.
When hourly is the better choice
- You have one or two clear questions. Whether to take a pension lump sum, how to handle a stock vest, whether you can retire at 60.
- You run your own investments and want a professional to check the plan once a year.
- You want a second opinion on what another advisor has proposed, before you sign.
- You’re early in your career or on a tight budget. A few hours a year costs far less than a retainer, and an hourly price doesn’t depend on how much you’ve saved.
- You follow through on your own. Hourly works when you’ll act on the advice without someone checking in.
When a retainer is the better choice
- You have several decisions a year. Equity pay that vests on a schedule, a business, a growing family, or a move. Each one alone might be an hourly question; together they add up past the crossing point.
- You’d hold back a question because the clock is running. That hesitation has a cost. The question you don’t ask about a job offer or a tax deadline can be worth more than the fee.
- You want someone to bring things up. A retainer planner is more likely to raise open enrollment, an estimated tax payment or a Roth conversion window before you think of it.
- You want the advice to stay current. A retainer planner keeps your file up to date, so you don’t pay to re-explain your situation each time.
Costs that don’t show on the bill
Each model has a hidden cost. With hourly, it’s the time you pay for a planner to catch up on what changed since last time, plus the questions you never ask. With a retainer, it’s paying in a quiet year for help you didn’t use.
Ask a retainer planner what a typical year looks like for a client like you: how many meetings, how quickly emails get answered, and what happened the last time a client’s year was quiet. Ask an hourly planner how they keep notes between sessions, so you’re not starting over.
Mixing the two
You don’t have to pick one forever. Common combinations:
- Start hourly, then sign a retainer once you know you work well together and have enough going on to justify it.
- Buy a one-time plan, then use hourly check-ups in the years between updates.
- Hold a retainer during a busy stretch, such as the years around retirement or a business sale, then step down to hourly when life settles.
If you sign a retainer, read how it ends. Every registered firm’s Form ADV Part 2A brochure has to say, in Item 5, how fees are billed and how you get back fees paid in advance if the agreement ends early.
Questions to ask before you choose
- Do you offer both hourly and retainer pricing? What would each cost me this year?
- For hourly work, what counts as billable time, and can you estimate the total?
- What does the retainer include, and what would you bill separately?
- How many meetings a year come with the retainer, and how do you handle questions between them?
- How do I end the retainer, and what’s refunded?
- Do you or your firm earn anything other than what I pay you?
A fee-only planner answers no to the last one. Check the answers on the SEC’s adviser search, read the glossary entries for hourly planning, a retainer fee and subscription planning, and weigh a one-time plan against ongoing planning if you’re still deciding how much help you want. Then browse flat-fee advisors, advisors for early-career professionals or the equity compensation specialty in the public graph.