What Does a 1% Advisory Fee Actually Cost You?

Most financial advisors charge a percentage of your portfolio every year - usually around 1%. It sounds small. On a $500,000 portfolio it is $5,000 in the first year, and it rises every year your balance does, whether or not the work changes.

The calculator below compares that against paying by the hour. Enter your own balance, contributions, time horizon, and how many hours of advice you would actually use in a year, and it shows both paths side by side - the fees themselves, and the growth those fees never got to earn.

AMA Financial Planning LLC is a Colorado-registered investment adviser offering hourly, fee-based financial planning at $250 an hour. We manage no client assets, so there is no percentage to charge. If you want a retirement projection, a Social Security timing decision, an investment review, or a second opinion on a plan you already have, you pay for the hours it takes and nothing after that. We serve households in Louisville, Boulder, Superior, Lafayette, Broomfield, Arvada, and across the Front Range.

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a forecast or a guarantee. Returns are assumed constant; real markets are not.