Is my financial adviser’s 1% fee normal, or am I being ripped off?

June 16, 2026 — 7:39pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

The financial adviser I used to work with moved on, and I’m looking for a new one. Someone recommended a financial adviser, so I looked into them. They were charging just over 1 per cent per year based on the value of the portfolio. I balked at the fee, but I don’t have much experience, since I was with my old adviser for a long time. Is the fee normal?

It’s not unusual for financial advisers to charge a percentage fee based on the total portfolio value. So, if the fee is 1 per cent and your portfolio is $500,000, you’ll pay $5000. This doesn’t change based on performance. Whether you lose or make money in any given year, you’ll still be paying that 1 per cent fee.

If you’re only looking for investment management, then 1 per cent could be too high. I’ll start by giving you a bit of context.

Historically, investing in the stock market meant you were mostly buying shares in a specific company – or you’d give your money to a fund to do that for you. The idea was that they were the experts who knew how to analyse, pick and manage stocks, getting you a ‘good return’.

What is a good return, though? As a benchmark, the average return of the stock market as a whole over the long term........

© Brisbane Times