No: Osaic is paid through commissions, revenue sharing from product sponsors and clearing firms, and insurance sales, as well as advisory fees. Osaic Wealth, Inc. is registered with the SEC as both a broker-dealer and an investment adviser, and its brochure says it is “also an insurance agency licensed to do business in all 50 states.” In its Advisor Managed Portfolios program, the fee for new accounts is capped at 2.50% a year.
That makes Osaic Wealth a dual registrant, not a fee-only firm. Osaic is the name Advisor Group took on June 21, 2023. This page reads Osaic Wealth’s filings and explains how to check the advisor you actually work with.
How Osaic is paid
Osaic Wealth (CRD 23131), formerly Royal Alliance, sets out its pay in its Form CRS, dated October 2024 and still the current version on the SEC site.
Brokerage. You pay “a transaction-based fee, generally referred to as a commission, every time you buy or sell an investment,” plus transaction fees, ticket charges and clearing or custody fees. On some of those fees, Osaic adds “a markup” to what the clearing firm charges. Osaic says it is “not required to and will not monitor your investments.”
Advisory accounts. You pay “an ongoing asset-based fee,” agreed with your advisor. The Form CRS says the amount paid to Osaic and your advisor doesn’t change with the investments chosen.
Other revenue. Product and fund sponsors share revenue with Osaic, and it receives “substantial indirect clearing and custodian compensation” based on accounts and assets held. Cash swept into its bank deposit programs creates “financial benefits for Osaic.”
On its Form ADV Part 1, filed September 29, 2026, the advisory side reports being paid by a percentage of assets, hourly charges and fixed fees, and reports two other businesses: broker-dealer and insurance broker or agent.
The CFP Board’s standards allow “fee-only” only when neither the advisor nor a related party receives sales-related compensation. Commissions, revenue sharing and insurance commissions are sales-related pay, so Osaic doesn’t meet that test as a firm.
What else the filings disclose
How advisors are paid. The Form CRS says pay can depend on “the product sold (i.e., differential compensation)” and on sales commissions. Advisors can also receive loans, expense reimbursement and “incentives for adding assets to our platforms.” Under its Asset Acceleration Program, the brochure says some advisors are paid 0.35%, and up to 0.70%, of net new assets added to client accounts at its clearing firms, as a loan forgiven over three to seven years.
Insurance. Advisors who are insurance licensed can sell fixed annuities and life insurance through Osaic’s own agency or an outside one. Highland Capital Brokerage, an insurance brokerage, is a related company.
Related managers. One of the outside managers advisors can pick, Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, is an affiliate, and the brochure says the firm “earns more total compensation” when clients choose it. Osaic is owned mainly by funds run by Reverence Capital Partners, which also hold a stake in Envestnet, whose services its managed account platform uses.
12b-1 fees in advisory accounts. The brochure says Osaic and your advisor don’t keep 12b-1 fees paid by funds in its Advisor Managed Portfolios program.
Disciplinary history. The Form CRS answers “Yes” to whether the firm and some of its advisors have legal or disciplinary history. The details are on BrokerCheck.
Your advisor may not work the way Osaic does
Osaic’s representatives are independent contractors who often run their own practices, and its SEC record lists hundreds of business names they trade under. So “my advisor is with Osaic” can mean different things:
- A registered representative of Osaic Wealth. Can earn commissions. Not fee-only.
- Registered with Osaic Wealth as both broker and adviser. Can earn commissions and advisory fees. Not fee-only, even on an account where you pay only a fee.
- An adviser at a separate firm. The brochure says some representatives “own a financial services business entity, including an investment adviser business, separate from Osaic Wealth.” If your advisor gives advice through that separate firm, its Form ADV decides the answer, and if they’re still a broker with Osaic, they can still earn commissions.
Osaic also runs other registered firms, including Osaic Institutions and Osaic Advisory Services, each with its own Form CRS. Check which name appears on your agreement.
What Osaic costs
Osaic doesn’t publish a standard fee for its advisor-managed accounts. Advisor Managed Portfolios, the first program its brochure describes, is sponsored by VISION2020 Wealth Management, an Osaic affiliate. The program brochure, current as of August 31, 2026, says the client fee “will not exceed 2.50%” of account assets for new accounts, while some accounts brought in from other programs “could be higher (up to 3.00%).” Each advisor “negotiates his or her own client fee schedule.”
The client fee has two parts: an administrative fee for the broker-dealer and clearing services, up to 0.26% in the wrap version, and an advisory fee, which is the rest and goes mainly to your advisor. In the non-wrap version, you pay separate transaction charges too. Fund expenses are extra in both, and the minimum account is $5,500.
Worked out at the 2.50% cap for new accounts, before fund expenses:
- $500,000: up to $12,500 a year
- $1 million: up to $25,000 a year
Clients often pay less, since the fee is negotiated, but Osaic doesn’t publish a typical rate. Financial planning is billed separately or included at the advisor’s choice: fixed fees “generally range up to $25,000” and hourly rates from $0 to $750, according to the Osaic Wealth brochure.
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 whether 1% is too much.
Who Osaic may suit
Osaic may suit someone who wants a local, independent advisor who can handle brokerage, managed accounts, annuities and insurance in one relationship, with a choice of outside money managers. Someone who mainly holds a few investments for years may pay less per year in a brokerage account than in an advisory one.
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 insurance agents vs financial advisors and RIA vs broker-dealer explain the trade-offs.
How to check it yourself
- Look up your advisor by name on BrokerCheck and the SEC’s adviser search. A broker registration with Osaic Wealth means they can earn commissions.
- See which firm holds their adviser registration. If it’s their own 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 for whichever Osaic firm is on your paperwork. Osaic Wealth’s is linked from its SEC record. See what a Form CRS tells you.
- Ask for your total fee in dollars, split into the advisory fee, the administrative fee 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, Cetera, Commonwealth Financial Network, Ameritas. See all 50 firms.