we are proud of our flat-fee model

What is a flat fee?

A flat fee is just like it sounds: a flat, consistent fee we feels reflects the level of work and complexity in our retirement planning services. 

How does a flat fee compare to an assets under management (AUM) fee?

AUM fees are charged as a percentage of assets. This means that your advisory fees are proportional to your investable assets. Typically, this means the more assets you have, the higher your fees.

Why does hilltop planning charge a flat fee instead of an aum fee?

Hilltop Planning charges a flat fee because we believe complexity of service doesn’t always correlate with account size. For instance, is managing 1 million dollars twice as much work as $500,000?  We would argue no. In this regard, we believe a flat fee per household, per project, or per hour, offers more consistency and transparency to our clients.

Can you give me an example of how this works in practice?

Absolutely.  Our flat fee for comprehensive planning is $8,500. If we compare that to a 1% AUM fee, (universally considered the industry standard) the fee would be comparable to Hilltop Planning managing $850,000 of assets. How would other account sizes compare? Take a look at the table below.