No: Commonwealth Financial Network is paid through commissions, 12b-1 fees, trail commissions and revenue sharing, as well as advisory fees. The firm, legally Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, is registered with the SEC as both a broker-dealer and an investment adviser, and on its Form ADV it checks “commissions” as one way it’s paid for advice. In its PPS Custom advisory program, the maximum management fee is 2.25% a year on accounts under $750,000, and some other programs allow up to 3% in total.
That makes Commonwealth a dual registrant, not a fee-only firm. Since August 1, 2025 it has been owned by LPL. Here’s what its filings say, and how to check your own advisor.
How Commonwealth is paid
Commonwealth (CRD 8032) describes its pay in its Form CRS, dated July 29, 2022 and still the version on the SEC site.
Brokerage. “Every time you buy or sell an investment, you will pay a transaction-based fee,” a commission. Mutual funds and variable annuities also pay Commonwealth ongoing 12b-1 fees and trail commissions “for as long as you own the investment.” Commonwealth doesn’t monitor brokerage accounts.
Advisory accounts. Most programs charge “a percentage of the dollar value of the investments being managed,” either as a traditional managed account fee plus transaction charges or as a wrap fee. Commonwealth says it credits back to advisory accounts the 12b-1 fees it receives on funds held there. Wealth management and retirement consulting can be billed as a percentage, a flat fee or hourly.
Payments from product companies. Commonwealth receives “due diligence fees, conference fees, and revenue sharing” from fund and insurance companies, which it says your advisor doesn’t share in. It also receives revenue from its clearing firm, National Financial Services, based on transactions and holdings, including cash in its sweep program.
Its Form ADV Part 1, filed September 29, 2026, checks four ways it’s paid for advice in Item 5E: a percentage of assets, hourly charges, fixed fees and commissions. It also reports being a broker-dealer.
The CFP Board’s standards allow “fee-only” only when neither the advisor nor a related party receives sales-related compensation. Commissions, 12b-1 fees and trails are sales-related pay, so Commonwealth doesn’t meet that test.
What else the filings disclose
Pay inside advisory accounts. The brochure, dated March 30, 2026, says that “where permitted by law,” Commonwealth or your advisor will receive commissions, insurance commissions, 12b-1 fees, revenue sharing and other payments related to products held in your advisory account.
How advisors are paid. Commonwealth’s roughly 2,950 advisors are paid on factors including client assets and “the products, programs, or services offered or sold to you.” Advisors with at least $25 million in its PPS advisory programs receive a payout on their clients’ management fees “starting at 90 percent and rising to a maximum of 99 percent.” The brochure says that higher payout gives advisors an incentive to recommend PPS over other options.
Insurance. A related company, CES Insurance Agency, holds the insurance licenses, and “a large majority of its advisors” are its licensed agents.
No in-house funds. The brochure says Commonwealth “does not manufacture or sell proprietary products.”
Disciplinary history. The Form CRS answers “Yes.” Item 9 of the March 2026 brochure lists a court judgment entered March 23, 2026 in a case brought by the SEC, and a 2019 SEC order. Read them there and on BrokerCheck.
Your advisor may not work the way Commonwealth does
Most Commonwealth advisors use their own business name and logo, and the brochure says it “may appear on client statements.” When they advise through Commonwealth, they do so “under the name and supervision of Commonwealth.” Three set-ups are possible:
- A registered representative of Commonwealth’s broker-dealer. Can earn commissions. Not fee-only.
- Registered with Commonwealth as both broker and adviser. The brochure says many advisors are. Not fee-only, even on an account where you pay only a fee.
- An adviser at a separately registered firm. Commonwealth makes its programs available to separate investment advisers who contract for platform services, and that firm “remains responsible” for the advice. Its own Form ADV decides whether it’s fee-only.
What Commonwealth costs
Commonwealth publishes maximum fees for its Preferred Portfolio Services (PPS) programs, and the fee you pay is negotiated with your advisor. For a new PPS Custom account, the maximum management fee depends on account value:
| Account value | Maximum yearly management fee |
|---|---|
| Under $750,000 | 2.25% |
| $750,000 to under $1 million | 2.00% |
| $1 million to under $2 million | 1.75% |
| $2 million and up | 1.50% |
The Transactions version adds trade charges. The Platform version adds a platform fee of up to 0.05% (minimum $60 a year) and some trade charges. Other programs combine an advisor fee and a program fee; PPS Direct caps the two together at 3%. Fund expenses are extra, and the PPS Custom minimum is generally $25,000.
Worked out at the PPS Custom maximums, reading the table as one rate for the whole account by its value, before trade charges and fund expenses:
- $500,000: up to 2.25%, or $11,250 a year
- $1 million: up to 1.75%, or $17,500 a year
Commonwealth doesn’t publish what a typical client pays. Wealth management consulting can be billed as an annual fee, a flat fee or “an hourly rate not to exceed $500.”
For comparison, fee-only firms that publish a percentage fee charge a median 1% of assets, which at that rate is $5,000 a year on $500,000 and $10,000 on $1 million. 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 an hourly planner a median $300 an hour. A flat-fee planner may not manage your investments for that price. See what an advisor costs on $1 million and flat fee vs percentage of assets.
Who Commonwealth may suit
Commonwealth may suit someone who wants an independent local advisor, often running a practice under their own name, with access to brokerage, managed accounts and insurance, and who prefers a firm that doesn’t make its own funds. Someone who buys a few investments and holds them may pay less in a brokerage account than in a yearly percentage.
Someone who wants advice from a person paid only by them may want to compare a fee-only planner who charges a flat or hourly fee first. Our guides to independent RIAs vs wirehouses and financial advisor vs stockbroker explain the set-ups.
How to check it yourself
- Look past the practice name. Search your advisor by name on BrokerCheck and the SEC’s adviser search. A broker registration with Commonwealth Equity Services means they can earn commissions.
- Check which adviser firm they’re with. If it’s a separate firm, open its Form ADV Part 1: Item 5E shows commissions, and Items 6A and 7A show brokerage or insurance ties.
- Read the Form CRS linked from Commonwealth’s SEC record. See what a Form CRS tells you.
- Ask for your fee in dollars, including program, platform and trade charges and fund expenses.
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.
Compare similar firms
Other independent broker-dealer networks we’ve checked against the fee-only definition: LPL Financial, Osaic, Cetera, Ameritas. See all 50 firms.