No: Empower Advisory Group charges its advice clients asset-based fees, but it is owned by an insurance company, and its Form CRS says its affiliates earn fees when clients invest in Empower funds, stable value funds and annuities, and receive revenue sharing from other fund sponsors. Its representatives also earn bonuses for enrolling clients and bringing in rollovers. On $1 million, Empower’s Personal Strategy service costs $7,900 a year, against a median $4,500 for a flat-fee planner.
Fee-only means the client is the only one paying: no commissions and no other payments tied to the products you’re advised to buy, to the firm or its related companies. Empower’s filings describe several payments of that kind across its group.
Empower and Personal Capital
Empower bought Personal Capital in 2020, according to its press release of August 18, 2020. The old adviser, Personal Capital Advisors Corporation (CRD 155172), now shows as inactive on the SEC’s adviser search. Personal Capital’s free dashboard and paid wealth management now run under Empower: the dashboard through Empower Personal Wealth, LLC, and the advice through Empower Advisory Group, LLC (EAG, CRD 112058) as Personal Strategy.
EAG also runs managed accounts inside workplace retirement plans that Empower keeps the records for.
How Empower is paid
EAG’s Form ADV Part 1, filed July 9, 2026, reports pay as a percentage of assets and fixed fees (Item 5E). Commissions aren’t checked, and under other business (Item 6A) EAG isn’t a broker-dealer or an insurance agent. Item 7A lists a related broker-dealer, other investment advisers, an insurance company and a sponsor of pooled funds, among others.
The Personal Strategy brochure (May 18, 2026) names them. EAG is owned by Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America, part of Great-West Lifeco. Its affiliates include Empower Financial Services, a broker-dealer; Empower Capital Management, which manages the Empower Funds; and Empower’s insurance and trust companies.
The Form CRS (April 1, 2026) lists how the group earns beyond your fee:
- Proprietary products: affiliates “will earn fees, compensation and other benefits” when you invest in products they advise or sponsor, “such as affiliated mutual funds, stable value funds, CITs, insurance company-guaranteed investment contracts, and annuity contracts.”
- Third-party payments: affiliates “receive payments from third-party product sponsors and managers” when certain products are recommended or sold.
- Revenue sharing: some fund managers “share the revenue they earn with our affiliates” when you invest in their products, mainly mutual funds.
On the people, the CRS says representatives can earn bonuses for enrolling participants and for referring plan participants who roll assets into an EAG account. The brochure sorts products into grades for bonus purposes, and Grade 3, which includes Personal Strategy, pays “the highest bonus compensation among the product categories.”
What else the filings disclose
Personal Strategy holdings. The service holds ETFs and, for larger accounts, individual stocks and bonds, at Pershing, a custodian not affiliated with Empower. The brochure adds that if Empower Funds are among the options in a workplace plan EAG manages for you through Personal Strategy+, Empower Capital Management earns a management fee on them on top of EAG’s fee.
Empower Managed Portfolios. This lower-cost service, with a $5,000 minimum, uses “asset allocation models comprised mainly of Empower Funds,” so an affiliate earns the fund fees.
Referrals. Empower Personal Wealth pays website authors and other referrers for each person who registers for the free dashboard and links at least $100,000 in investable assets.
A regulator’s order. On August 29, 2025, the SEC found that from July 1, 2019 through December 31, 2022, EAG and Empower Financial Services did not adequately disclose the conflicts created by bonuses and merit raises paid to some retirement plan advisors for enrolling plan participants in EAG’s managed account service, and did not clearly disclose whether those advisors were acting as brokers or advisers. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firms were censured, and EAG paid $4,063,569.80 in disgorgement, $426,400.14 in interest and a $750,000 penalty. Empower Financial Services paid a $750,000 penalty.
What Empower costs
Personal Strategy’s fee schedule, from the May 18, 2026 brochure:
| Assets with Empower | Yearly fee |
|---|---|
| $100,000 to $249,999 (Investment Services) | 0.89% |
| $250,000 to $999,999 (Wealth Management) | 0.89% |
| $1 million or more (Private Client): first $3 million | 0.79% |
| Next $2 million | 0.69% |
| Next $5 million | 0.59% |
| Over $10 million | 0.49% |
The fee is charged on all managed assets, including cash. Fund expenses are extra. Personal Strategy+, for workplace plan accounts, costs 0.49% a year. EAG says it may negotiate fees. Empower Managed Portfolios charges 0.50% on the first $100,000, falling to 0.20% above $400,000, plus the Empower Funds’ own expenses.
Worked out on the Personal Strategy schedule, before fund expenses: $4,450 a year on $500,000, $7,900 on $1 million and $15,800 on $2 million. A household just under $1 million pays 0.89% on everything, about $8,900, more than one at $1 million.
Fee-only firms that publish prices charge a median 1% of assets, or a median flat $4,500 a year for ongoing planning (middle half $2,400 to $7,200). A one-time plan has a median of $2,000. Personal Strategy costs a little less than the median percentage fee, and more than the median flat fee once balances pass about $506,000, worked out as $4,500 divided by 0.89%. Our guide to flat fee vs percentage of assets shows where the lines cross.
Who Empower may suit
- People who like the free dashboard and want an advisor team who can see all their linked accounts, with $100,000 or more to invest.
- Households who want a managed portfolio of individual stocks and ETFs rather than funds only, with tax-loss harvesting.
- Workplace plan participants whose employer offers EAG’s in-plan managed account, which can mean advice without moving money.
It fits less well if you want an advisor whose firm earns nothing from funds, annuities or rollovers, or a fee that doesn’t grow with your balance. If you’re deciding whether to move a workplace plan, our guides to 401(k) rollovers when changing jobs and workplace 401(k) advice vs an independent advisor cover the trade.
How to check it yourself
- Read EAG’s Form CRS and the brochure for the service you’re offered, on the SEC’s adviser search. Item 10 of each brochure lists the related companies; Item 14 lists referral pay.
- In Form ADV Part 1, check Item 5E (how EAG is paid), Item 6A (other businesses) and Item 7A (related companies). Our guide to telling whether an advisor is fee-only shows where each one is.
- Look up the person you’d work with on BrokerCheck to see whether they’re also registered with Empower Financial Services as a broker.
- Ask: “Are you paid more if I enroll in Personal Strategy or roll over my 401(k)?” and “Will any of my money go into Empower funds or annuities?” More in our questions to ask a financial advisor.
For the wider picture, see revenue sharing, fee-only vs fee-based vs commission and robo-advisor vs financial advisor.
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