Fee transparency
You don’t have to move your money to work with us.
The hardest part of changing advisors is moving your money. So we took that out of the decision.
The two numbers
Planning membership
$400/ month
Covers continuous financial planning and the quarterly meeting system. This is the whole service. It does not require you to move a dollar.
About $13.15 a day, or $4,800 a year.
Asset management: optional
0.48%asset management fee
Only if you would like our help managing investments, and only on the assets you choose to have us manage. Members pay this in addition to the membership; nobody pays it by default.
The firm manages more than $300 million for its clients, as of August 2026.
For context
Roughly half the commonly cited industry figure
We will not show this comparison without its source attached, so the citation sits on the graphic rather than in a footnote at the bottom of the page.
Industry fee comparison based on Bob Veres’ Inside Information advisor fee survey, as analyzed by Michael Kitces in “Financial Advisor Fees Comparison – All-In Costs For The Typical Financial Advisor?”, Kitces.com, July 31, 2017. The 1.00% is the median advisory fee that research reported for accounts up to $1 million. Read the source
“A $2 million account… that saves somebody $10,000 a year. That’s meaningful.”
What the $400 covers
Everything in the planning membership
- Continuous updates to your comprehensive financial plan
- Quarterly meetings across the four critical areas, in the order you choose
- A dedicated team, with access to CPA and estate-attorney partners
- A three-year audit of your tax returns
- Risk-mitigation strategies
- Hedged-equity portfolios
- Tax-loss harvesting
The quarterly meeting system it buys
You also have the flexibility to choose the order. Whether you want to start with tax planning or with investments and risk management, the order of the quarterly meetings is at your discretion.
Just as important
What we don’t do
No products, no commissions
The firm’s only income is the fees its clients pay it.
One membership price
$400 a month for planning, regardless of what you have.
No requirement to transfer assets
Planning is the service; managing money is optional.
No hidden charges
Two numbers: $400 a month and 0.48%.
Why “full-time”
How the firm’s fiduciary model works
Many advisors are fiduciaries for part of their work. On the fee-based account they are obliged to act in your interest. On everything else, the annuity, the insurance policy, the product with a commission attached, they work to a looser standard called suitability, which asks only that the product not be unsuitable for you. Same person, same meeting, two different duties. Ed’s phrase for it is “changing hats.”
Nobody announces the switch. The recommendation that carries a commission is made in the same tone as the one that does not, and there is no referee in the room.
ClientFirst cannot change hats because there is no second hat. The firm holds no commission-bearing licenses, sells no products, and is paid only by its clients. The fiduciary duty applies to every recommendation, every time. That is what the word full-time is doing at the top of every page.
It is also why the fee is printed on this page rather than discussed once you are in the room.
Why the structure is the way it is
Ed Mahaffy gave up six securities licenses to be able to say this.
Every advisory firm says it puts clients first. In 2007, Ed made it structural: he walked away from six commission-bearing licenses to launch ClientFirst as a fee-only fiduciary practice, and has not held one since.
That is the difference between a claim and a constraint. There is no product shelf here, no commission schedule, and no revenue the firm could earn by recommending one thing over another. The only money that arrives comes from the people it advises.
Questions
Fees, answered
What does the $400 a month cover?
Continuous financial planning and the quarterly meeting system: continuous updates to your comprehensive financial plan, and quarterly meetings covering tax planning, income planning, investments and risk management, and estate and legacy. Our quarterly planning system is designed so clients are generally no more than ninety days away from a review of each critical area.
Do I have to move my investments to work with you?
No. Membership covers the planning work whether or not we manage anything. If you would like help with asset management, members pay a 0.48% asset management fee, but transferring assets is never a condition of working with us.
Is there a minimum?
The planning membership is $400 a month regardless of assets, with no requirement to transfer assets. Whether our firm is a good fit is what step one, the 15-minute discovery phone call, is for.
What does fee-only actually mean?
It means the firm’s only income is the fees its clients pay it. ClientFirst does not sell products and does not earn commissions. Ed Mahaffy gave up six securities licenses in 2007 to make that true, and has not held a commission-bearing license since.
How is 0.48% different from what most advisors charge?
It is roughly half the commonly cited industry figure of 1.00% of assets under management. Industry fee comparison based on Bob Veres’ Inside Information advisor fee survey, as analyzed by Michael Kitces in “Financial Advisor Fees Comparison – All-In Costs For The Typical Financial Advisor?”, Kitces.com, July 31, 2017. The 1.00% is the median advisory fee that research reported for accounts up to $1 million.
What is a full-time fiduciary?
A fiduciary is obligated to act in your interest. Some advisors hold that obligation only for part of their work and switch to a sales standard for the rest. ClientFirst is a fee-only registered investment advisor, so the obligation applies to every recommendation.
Start with a 15-minute call
Step one is a 15-minute discovery phone call about your situation: your concerns, your goals, and whether our firm is a good fit. No cost, no obligation, and no requirement to transfer assets.