No: Ameriprise is paid through commissions, sales charges and revenue from its own annuities, insurance and funds, as well as advisory fees. Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC is registered with the SEC as both a broker-dealer and an investment adviser, and its own planning brochure says: “Ameriprise financial advisors receive compensation for financial advice in the form of commissions and fees.” Its managed accounts charge a negotiated fee of up to 2.0% a year, plus platform and manager fees.
That makes Ameriprise a dual registrant, not a fee-only firm. Here’s what its filings say.
How Ameriprise is paid
Ameriprise Financial Services (CRD 6363) offers three kinds of service, and its Form CRS explains how you pay for each.
Financial planning. You pay “either a fixed dollar amount or asset-based fee,” paid monthly, quarterly or yearly. The planning brochure, dated September 2026, says fees are negotiable and vary with your advisor’s own fee schedule, based on “years of financial planning experience, professional credentials,” and local market, and with how complex your needs are. The minimum for a new agreement is $500 a year.
Managed accounts. You pay an asset-based fee, “charged in advance and assessed monthly.” The Form CRS says the dollar amount “will generally increase with the value of your account, and we have an incentive to encourage you to increase assets.”
Brokerage. You pay a quarterly maintenance or custodial fee, which can be waived at certain asset levels, plus commissions on stocks, bonds and ETFs, an upfront commission or back-end sales charge on mutual funds, and a flat order handling fee on most trades.
On its Form ADV Part 1, filed September 25, 2026, the advisory side reports being paid by a percentage of assets, hourly charges and fixed fees. It also reports being a broker-dealer and an insurance broker or agent. Commissions are earned on the brokerage and insurance side, which is why the Form CRS and brochures are the place to see them.
The CFP Board’s standards allow “fee-only” only when neither the advisor nor a related party receives sales-related compensation. Commissions and sales charges are sales-related pay, so Ameriprise doesn’t meet that test as a firm.
What else the filings disclose
Its own products. The Form CRS says that when you buy a product from an Ameriprise affiliate, “we receive revenue associated with the fees charged by the product.” It names Columbia Threadneedle investments, RiverSource annuities or life insurance, and Ameriprise certificates.
Fund payments. When you buy a mutual fund or annuity with internal fees, the Form CRS says “Ameriprise earns more money than if you purchase an investment that does not have internal fees such as a stock or bond,” because it receives part of those fees.
Your cash. Cash swept to Ameriprise Bank, FSB earns the bank “spread revenue,” the difference between what it earns on your deposits and what it pays you. Its affiliated clearing broker also receives revenue sharing from the mutual fund sweep and payments from banks in the multi-bank sweep.
Bond trades. Some products, such as individual bonds, are bought from or sold to the affiliated clearing broker as principal trades, which the Form CRS says generally pay it more than trades in the market.
How advisors are paid. On advisory accounts your advisor gets a percentage of the advisory fees; on brokerage accounts, a percentage of commissions and ongoing fees from some products. The Form CRS says the percentage “varies based on the amount of commissions your financial advisor generates annually,” number of clients and assets. Some advisors are salaried.
Disciplinary history. The Form CRS answers “Yes” for the firm and some of its advisors. The details are on BrokerCheck.
What Ameriprise costs
The managed accounts brochure, dated September 2026, lists the parts of the fee. All are yearly rates on the account’s value:
| Fee part | Rate | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory fee | Negotiated, up to 2.0% | All managed account programs |
| Platform fee | 0.02% to 0.05%, by household assets | SPS Advisor, Signature Wealth, Active Portfolios |
| Platform fee | 0.02% | SPS Advantage |
| Platform fee | 0.17% | Select Separate Account and other separate account programs |
| Manager fee | Generally 0.10% to 0.80% | Separate account programs and SMA portfolios in Signature Wealth |
Minimums vary by program: $25,000 per household for SPS Advantage, $100,000 per household for SPS Advisor, and $100,000 to $500,000 for most Select Separate Account strategies. The brochure says Active Portfolios closed to new accounts on July 31, 2026. Fund expenses are on top, and planning fees are separate unless you choose the consolidated option, where the advisory and planning fees together can’t exceed 2%.
Ameriprise doesn’t publish the rate a typical client pays. The brochure says that because the fee is negotiable, “you may pay more than a similarly-situated” client, or less. At the published ceiling the math is:
- $500,000: up to $10,000 a year in advisory fees, plus $100 to $250 in platform fees
- $1 million: up to $20,000 a year, plus $200 to $500 in platform fees
The ceiling is a maximum, not a quote, so ask your advisor for your exact rate in writing. For comparison, fee-only firms that publish a percentage fee charge a median 1% of assets, or $5,000 on $500,000 and $10,000 on $1 million at that rate. Fee-only planners who charge a flat fee for ongoing planning charge a median $4,500 a year (middle half $2,400 to $7,200), and a one-time plan has a median of $2,000. A flat-fee planner may not manage your investments for that price, while the Ameriprise fee covers management, trading and custody.
Who Ameriprise may suit
Ameriprise may suit someone who wants a planning relationship with ongoing reviews, and who wants investments, insurance and annuities handled by one advisor. Its planning starts at $500 a year, and its Form CRS says every client can track one or two priority goals online at no extra cost. Someone who mostly holds investments for the long term may find a brokerage account fits.
Someone who wants advice from a firm paid only by them, or a fee they can see on a published schedule before the first meeting, may want to compare a fee-only planner who charges a flat or hourly fee first. Our guide to fee-only vs fee-based vs commission explains the trade-offs, and are financial advisor fees negotiable helps if you stay.
How to check it yourself
- Read the Form CRS. It’s linked from the firm’s SEC record. See what a Form CRS tells you.
- Ask which role your advisor is in for each account and product: investment adviser, broker or insurance agent.
- Ask for every fee in dollars: the advisory fee, platform fee, any manager fee, planning fee and fund expenses.
- Ask whether anything recommended is an affiliate’s product, such as a RiverSource annuity or a Columbia Threadneedle fund.
- Look up your advisor on BrokerCheck.
Our guide to telling whether an advisor is fee-only walks through each check, and questions to ask a financial advisor gives you the rest.
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Other insurance companies we’ve checked against the fee-only definition: Northwestern Mutual, MassMutual, New York Life, Prudential, Thrivent, State Farm, Primerica, Lincoln Financial, Equitable, Principal, Nationwide. See all 50 firms.