How Much Does Financial Planning Cost for a High-Income Family?

By Kevin Luu, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer. Reviewed on 2026-09-30.

There is no official average cost of a financial plan. No regulator publishes one, and prices vary because advisers charge in four different ways: a one-time flat fee, an hourly rate, an annual retainer, or a percentage of the assets they manage. The reliable way to know what a specific plan costs is to read the fee schedule in the adviser’s Form ADV Part 2A brochure, which registered investment advisers prepare and give to the families they advise.

For a California or Washington family earning $750,000 to $3 million, with RSUs, a mega backdoor Roth option and two young children, the price of the plan matters less than two other questions: how the adviser is paid, and whether the plan catches the decisions that move tens of thousands of dollars a year for this family. This guide covers both, with a worked example.

The four ways financial planning is priced

The SEC has published an investor bulletin on subscription-based advisory fees, and its guide to understanding fees explains why small percentage differences add up over time. For a side-by-side of the asset-based model, see how much a wealth manager costs.

What makes a plan cost more for a $1 million household

Income alone does not raise the price. Complexity does. The items that typically add work, and cost, for this reader:

• Equity compensation. RSU vests, ESPP lots and ISOs each have different tax rules. RSUs are taxed as wages when shares are delivered, so an 83(b) election is not available for them (Treas. Reg. 1.83-3(e)).
• Two earners with two benefit menus. Each employer plan has its own 401(k) match, after-tax option, dependent care FSA and deferred compensation rules.
• State tax. California taxes wages and capital gains at the same rates, up to 13.3% for 2025, plus 1.3% SDI on all wages for 2026. Washington has no wage income tax in 2026 but taxes long-term capital gains and has its own estate tax.
• Children under 12. 529 funding, UTMA accounts, guardianship and trusts for minors all belong in the plan.
• Concentrated employer stock. Deciding how fast to sell is part tax math and part family values.

Worked example: what a plan costs, and what it should find

Assumptions (illustrative, not a real family): Maya and Daniel live in San Jose. Daniel earns a $450,000 salary plus $400,000 of RSUs vesting in 2026. Maya is a physician earning $250,000. Total W-2 income is $1.1 million. They file jointly, have children aged 4 and 8, and hold $2.5 million of investable assets, including $900,000 of Daniel’s employer stock. They receive three proposals. The fee levels below are hypothetical, chosen to show the math, not market averages.

1. Proposal A, one-time plan: $8,000 flat, delivered once.
2. Proposal B, annual retainer: $1,500 a month, or $18,000 a year, covering tax projections, equity decisions, estate coordination and annual updates.
3. Proposal C, AUM: 1.0% of the $2.5 million it would manage, or $25,000 a year. If the portfolio grows to $4 million, the same 1.0% becomes $40,000 a year, with no change in the work.

Now the decisions a plan for this family should catch in 2026:

• RSU under-withholding. Employers may withhold federal tax on RSU vests at a flat 22% (37% only on supplemental wages over $1 million in the year), per IRS Publication 15 (2026). With about $1,067,800 of taxable income ($1.1 million minus the $32,200 standard deduction for 2026, assuming they do not itemize and ignoring pre-tax payroll deductions), their top dollars sit in the 37% federal bracket, which starts at $768,700 for 2026. On $400,000 of RSUs, 22% withholding is $88,000. The federal tax on those RSUs is about $146,000: the top $299,100 is taxed at 37% and the remaining $100,900 at 35% (the 35% bracket runs from $512,450 to $768,700 for 2026). That leaves roughly $58,000 due in April unless they adjust withholding or make estimated payments.
• Mega backdoor Roth room. The 2026 limit on total 401(k) additions is $72,000. If Daniel defers $24,500 and receives a $12,250 employer match (assumed), up to $35,250 of after-tax contributions may fit, if his plan allows after-tax contributions and in-plan conversions.
• Dependent care FSA. The household limit rose to $7,500 for 2026, if the employer plan adopted the higher limit.
• Concentration. In California, gains on selling the $900,000 of employer stock are taxed as ordinary income with no lower capital gains rate, so the sale schedule matters.

A plan that catches only the withholding gap and the mega backdoor Roth opportunity has already dealt with dollar amounts (about $58,000 of tax due in April and $35,250 a year of possible Roth contributions) larger than any of the three fees. The cheapest proposal is not automatically the best value, and the most expensive one is not automatically the most thorough. The question to ask each adviser is: “Which of these four items would you handle, and who would do the work?”

California versus Washington: same family, different plan

If Maya and Daniel lived in Bellevue instead of San Jose, the plan would change, and so would the work involved:

• Wages: Washington has no individual income tax in 2026, so the RSU vest carries no state income tax. Washington has enacted a 9.9% tax on AGI over $1 million starting January 1, 2028 (WA Department of Revenue), which affects any multi-year RSU and stock-sale plan.
• Stock sales: Washington taxes long-term capital gains at 7%, and 9.9% on taxable gains over $1 million, above a $278,000 standard deduction (latest published, 2025) (WA DOR).
• Estate tax: Washington’s estate tax exclusion is $3,000,000 for deaths from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (WA DOR estate tax tables), far below the $15,000,000 per-person federal exclusion for 2026. A family with $2.5 million invested plus a home can already be over it, so estate documents belong in the plan.

How to compare fees before you sign

1. Read Item 5 of Form ADV Part 2A. SEC instructions require the adviser to describe how it is paid, give its fee schedule and say whether fees are negotiable (Form ADV Part 2 instructions). Look the adviser up on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site.
2. Convert every proposal to dollars per year, today and at the asset level you expect in ten years.
3. Ask what is excluded. Tax return preparation, estate documents and held-away accounts are often outside the fee.
4. Ask how the adviser is paid on products. A fee-only adviser receives no commissions. See what percentage of advisers are fiduciaries and how fee-only planners price their work.

Common mistakes when judging what planning costs

• Comparing a one-time plan with ongoing advice as if they were the same product.
• Treating a percentage fee as small. On $2.5 million, 1.0% is $25,000 a year.
• Hiring for investment returns when most of the dollars at stake are in tax, withholding and benefits decisions. See our tax management work.
• Buying a plan that never mentions the children beyond a 529 balance. A complete family plan names guardians, sets the age at which UTMA money passes to each child (18 by default in California, up to 21 for a lifetime gift, per Probate Code 3920.5), and decides whether grandparents should use the 529 five-year election (up to $95,000 per child per donor for 2026). See our estate planning work.

What to document for your kids about this decision

The fee you pay buys decisions. Write down why you chose the adviser you did, how you weighed cost against the work, and what you decided about the employer stock. In ten years, your children will see the outcome. A one-page note shows them the reasoning. As Kevin Luu, Co-Founder of Bright Advisers, puts it: “Your kids don’t need to inherit your portfolio. They need to inherit your decision-making process.” Our family governance work helps families keep that record.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a good financial advisor cost?

A good adviser’s cost is whatever is disclosed in their Form ADV Part 2A, stated in dollars you can compare. Quality shows up less in the price than in the scope: whether the adviser is a fiduciary for the whole relationship, is paid only by you, and handles tax projections, equity compensation and estate coordination rather than investments alone. Ask for the annual dollar cost today and at your expected asset level in ten years.

Is a flat fee or a percentage of assets better for a high-income family?

It depends on what you need. A flat or retainer fee separates the cost from portfolio size, which suits families whose biggest decisions are tax, RSU and benefits choices. A percentage fee bundles investment management and rises as assets grow. Run both in dollars over ten years and compare them against the work each adviser commits to doing.

Next step: list your RSU vests, benefit elections and children’s accounts on one page, then ask each adviser you are considering which of them they would handle and at what annual cost. If you want a second view, our Tax & Wealth Assessment covers the same items for California and Washington families.

This is general education, not individual advice. The right choice depends on your family’s full picture.

Written by

Kevin Luu

Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Bright Advisers

Kevin has advised high-income W-2 tech and biotech families since 2015, and leads the education-first Age Five Family Office from Brea, California.

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