{"id":282597,"date":"2026-01-13T20:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282597\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:30:06","slug":"im-worried-a-financial-company-manages-my-ira-but-they-charge-me-100-per-month-and-frankly-i-dont-get-how-much-money-theyre-making-for-me-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282597\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m worried.\u2019 A financial company manages my IRA, but they charge me $100 per month and frankly, I don\u2019t get how much money they\u2019re making for me. Now what?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/strong> \u201cI signed up with a financial company a couple months ago, but now they\u2019re being bought out by another company. I also noticed they\u2019re charging me $100+ a month to manage my IRA account while I can\u2019t tell from their graphs how much money they\u2019re making me monthly. I\u2019m worried that this move is too costly. Is that a normal fee? How should I proceed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> You don\u2019t say how much money is in your IRA, so it\u2019s hard to tell whether you\u2019re paying a reasonable amount. \u201cA $100-per-month fee on a $1 million IRA account is a deal, while $100 per month on a $10,000 IRA is ridiculous,\u201d says certified financial planner Jay Zigmont at Childfree Trust. \u201cIt also depends what they\u2019re doing for that $100 per month. You need to understand the fees and what they cover before you can determine whether it\u2019s appropriate.\u201d <\/p>\n

And if you feel you\u2019re paying too much, it might be time to jump ship. You can find advisers at CFP Board and NAPFA, or get matched with a fiduciary adviser with this tool <\/a>from our ad partner SmartAsset.<\/p>\n

What are typical fees for a firm or adviser?<\/p>\n

Every firm has its own fee structure. Fees for many companies are set as a percentage of assets under the firm\u2019s management, often with a minimum. \u201cSome charge a percentage of assets, others a flat fee, and some earn commissions. In general, firms that charge a percentage are usually around 1% of assets per year,\u201d says Zigmont. <\/p>\n

Flat fee advisers offer hourly engagements, project-based arrangements or retainer services. Hourly advisers charge between $200 to $500 per hour while project-based advisers range between $1,500 and $7,500 depending on location and the scope of work. Advisers working on a retainer fee can vary from $100 per month to $15,000 per year, depending on whether they\u2019re managing a portfolio or just offering advice and guidance.<\/p>\n

Andrew Hart, partner at American Estate and Trust, provides custody infrastructure for qualified accounts to many RIAs and family offices, giving him a unique back-end view into how fees are structured. \u201cThe AUM model is still the default for RIAs and robos at 0.25% to 1.0%. Most SDIRA [self-directed individual retirement account] providers charge flat fees between $100 and $500 per year. I\u2019m also seeing $50 to $100 per month pricing from boutique firms catering to high-net-worth clients who are often investing in alternative assets within their IRAs,\u201d says Hart. In short, Hart says, for retail investors, the only way he would expect to see something close to your $1,200 per year number is when the adviser is providing niche services like investing in alternative assets (outside of AUM).<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that a flat $100 fee per month is unusually high unless it comes with truly comprehensive, ongoing financial planning, says registered investment adviser Pam Krueger, CEO of Wealthramp. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize that IRA management alone is a very low-touch service. Charging north of $1,200 per year for basic oversight is a red flag. A normal IRA account fee is practically zero and with a robo, might be 0.20% of assets,\u201d says Krueger.<\/p>\n

There are other fees<\/a> to look out for, too. For his part, Asher Rogovy, chief investment officer at Magnifina, an SEC RIA, says the most excessive fee arrangements he knows of involve hidden fees called 12b-1 fees. \u201cThese ongoing fees are added to other mutual fund expenses and are paid to the adviser who chooses the fund. They may persist so long as a client holds that fund in their portfolio. Although perfectly legal, we view these fees as highly improper and they are often only disclosed in fine print. Because they are deducted from the fund\u2019s performance, they don\u2019t appear on brokerage statements. Every time I\u2019ve seen a client with 12b-1 mutual funds, I\u2019ve been able to find a lower-priced alternative with virtually identical portfolio effect,\u201d says Rogovy.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, when a firm is acquired and fee structures change, Zigmont says you should receive a notice. \u201cIt\u2019s a good time to look at the value of the fee and move if you don\u2019t feel you are getting what you need,\u201d says Zigmont. Meanwhile, Rogovy says there is currently a massive consolidation happening in the financial planning industry. \u201cOur view is that when a firm\u2019s owners change, so too could the advice. Every client should be asking, \u2018Is this what my adviser really thinks or is it coming from their new boss?\u2019\u201d says Rogovy. You can find advisers at CFP Board and NAPFA, or get matched with a fiduciary adviser with this tool <\/a>from our ad partner SmartAsset.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about more than fees, though<\/p>\n

No matter how much you\u2019re paying, it\u2019s imperative that you see the value in what you\u2019re getting in return for a fee. \u201cThe value of an adviser is directly related to what you need as a client. Some people are OK managing their investments themselves without an adviser, while others want to delegate investment management to a professional. Some advisers provide only investment management while others provide comprehensive life and financial planning. The key is to pay for the services you value and not for the things you can do yourself,\u201d says Zigmont.<\/p>\n

When comparing different IRA management options, Peter Reagen, financial market strategist of Birch Gold Group, says he recommends taking a behavioral approach. \u201cRobo-advisers remove the emotion from investing, keeping it a methodical process. Traditional advisers provide guidance to help you stay on track with long-term goals during market volatility. Self-directed investing is for those confident in their ability to manage risk and manage common investing biases,\u201d says Reagan.<\/p>\n

When looking for an adviser, keep in mind that the certified financial planners designation is often considered the gold standard in financial advising. CFPs complete extensive coursework, pass exams, perform thousands of hours of work-related experience and uphold a fiduciary duty, meaning they\u2019re required to put their clients\u2019 best interests ahead of their own at all times. Working with a fee-only fiduciary adviser eliminates the potential for conflicts of interest, as there\u2019s no incentive involved for the adviser.<\/p>\n

Have an issue with your financial planner or looking for a new one? Email questions or concerns to picks@marketwatch.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Questions edited for brevity and clarity. By emailing your questions to The Advicer, you agree to have them published anonymously on MarketWatch; they may appear anonymously in other media and platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: \u201cI signed up with a financial company a couple months ago, but now they\u2019re being bought out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[2552,8139,85029,79,13782,41565,6567,18,47522,18131,19,41586,3442,41557,17,47521,234,235,19363,41589,41574,41575,41590,41576,26243,10654],"class_list":{"0":"post-282597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-banking","10":"tag-banking-credit","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-corporate","13":"tag-corporate-industrial-news","14":"tag-credit","15":"tag-eire","16":"tag-financial-investment-services","17":"tag-financial-services","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-industrial-news","20":"tag-investing","21":"tag-investing-securities","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-mpsmartasset","24":"tag-personal-finance","25":"tag-personalfinance","26":"tag-securities","27":"tag-selection-of-top-stories","28":"tag-selection-of-top-stories-trends-analysis","29":"tag-suggested-reading-industry-news","30":"tag-suggested-reading-investing","31":"tag-suggested-reading-investing-securities","32":"tag-synd","33":"tag-trends"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}