There is no perfect wealth advisor fee model, but there are some that are flat out wrong. For example, some advisors charge a fee—while also receiving the kinds of product commissions and kickbacks that divide their interests unacceptably. And some investments pack hidden expenses, or cost you more due to behind-the-scenes tax inefficiencies or sneaky behaviors (this Forbes piece calculates the total to be up to 6.22% of your total investment).
At Ignite Investing®, you’ll never pay commissions, you’ll never have to worry that I'm taking kickbacks for selling you a financial product you don’t need, and I'll be 100% transparent in what we're doing and how it impacts your money. We minimize costs for our clients by keeping portfolio trading costs low, by avoiding mutual funds with sales charges (12b-1 or any kind of front-end or back-end loads).
How do we make our living? Simple. By charging a percentage of the assets that I manage on your behalf. That way, our fates are tied and you can rest assured that my incentives are aligned with yours. All of your investment returns will be reported to you transparently, so you’ll know exactly what you’re paying.
Our fees are tiered—the more I manage for you, the less we charge on the whole account. Sometimes we charge more for smaller accounts or for especially complex situations that require additional administrative or advisor time and resources. But there are never any surprises or hidden fees. You’ll be able to calculate what your fees will be before you open your account.
I'm proud of our transparent and fair fee model, and I've had many happy clients tell me that my advice, the trust they put in me, and their ongoing results make everything well worthwhile.
What exactly am I paying? There is a designated one-time "Get Started" fee for participation in our Ignite Investing® Program (no matter how many accounts you are opening) divided into two tiers:
If you have between $100,000 - $399,999 of investable assets: $299
If you have between $400,000 - $750,000 of investable assets: $199
The expense ratio for the DGEIX mutual fund is 0.25% annualized. The expense ratio is deducted from the performance of the mutual funds, so you will never see this dollar amount deducted.
Management fees are deducted from your account at the end of each quarter and are based upon your account balance on the last day of the quarter (March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31).
The fee to HWM is 1% annually (or .25% quarterly) of your account balance.
The fee to Buckingham is .50% annually (or .125% quarterly) of your account balance. These fees will be reported on your Schwab account statement and on your Buckingham performance report.