Just to be very clear for anyone else who comes across:

Fee-only simply means they are paid an agreed on price from you and they don't get kickbacks, commissions, any type of reward for where you put your money. Fee-only fiduciaries will also have a link on their website to a PDF that very clearly describes the relationship and pricing.

There are hourly fees and AUM fees. I have only seen hourly fees apply for the creation of a financial plan. I did not see any offering in my area of someone managing a portfolio for less than 1% AUM.

The cost of a financial plan was quoted to me at least $6500, so not cheap.

I talked to a "normal" financial advisor as well—they get kickbacks. They tried to put me in super aggressive setups, life insurance, etc. It was not discussed upfront what their cuts are and it was very clear that it wasn't best for me. Be very very cautious if you ever go down this route.

This is not true, I used to believe that and then I met with a fee only advisor, and they did in fact want a percentage of AUM. What the fuck!

Here's what NAPFA says, https://www.napfa.org/financial-planning/what-is-fee-only-ad...:

"Fee-Only financial advisors may be paid hourly, as a retainer, as a percentage of assets (AUM), or as a flat fee, depending upon the planner you choose."

What you are describing is advice-only not fee-only. That's what I want, an advice-only advisor. Good luck finding one. I can't.

I'm probably better off just taking the Series 65 myself for now to see what parts I don't know.

Percentage of AUM is a common structure for wealth management/financial advisors.

It’s extremely common, but it’s not fee only.

Fee only takes an up front fee, sometimes fixed, sometimes hourly.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102014/feeon...

The article you're quoting directly contradicts your view, e.g.

>Generally, though, most agree, fee-only refers to payment from fixed, flat, hourly, or percentage-based fees.

That’s right! Did you know there’s a name for the subset that don’t?

No, you have that wrong. The opposite of "fee-only" is "commissioned-based" - where you don't have transparency into the cost of the advice (which is free at the point it's offered) because it's kicked-back to the advisor by the funds etc. that are being offered.

A fee based on AUM is an entirely standard way of paying a fee-only adviser.

ref. https://www.napfa.org/financial-planning/what-is-fee-only-ad...

For ongoing management. Yes. That’s NOT what people need most of the time.

Yes but that is the opposite of fee-only

Not true. There’s AUM fee only, and flat fee only.

The term fee-only universally applies to flat fee. Anything AUM based is not fee only.

Could you look at some of the links in this thread applicable to the issue, rather than simply repeating your (minority) opinion as though it's gospel?