Honest comparison
PeakWorth vs Financial Advisor
A human CFP charges 1% of your assets every year. PeakWorth charges $9.99/mo to plan the same thing.
The short version
A fiduciary CFP is genuinely valuable for complex situations — equity comp, business sales, estate planning, divorce. For the 90% of households whose plan is “save aggressively, invest in index funds, optimize tax-advantaged accounts,” a 1%/yr AUM fee quietly compounds into six figures of lost wealth. PeakWorth is the planning engine without the fee drag.
Financial Advisor is best for
Households with genuinely complex situations — concentrated stock, business exits, blended families, special-needs planning, imminent major life transitions — who want a fiduciary human in the loop and are comfortable paying for it.
Typical AUM fee 1.0%/yr; $250k–$500k account minimums common. Fee-only flat-fee CFPs: $2,500–$10,000/yr.
PeakWorth is best for
Households whose plan is fundamentally “save aggressively, invest sensibly, optimize accounts, time the big decisions” — and who would rather keep the 1%/yr that an AUM advisor would extract.
14-day free trial. Then $9.99/mo Navigator.
Feature by featureHow they compare
| Feature | PeakWorth | Financial Advisor |
|---|---|---|
Fiduciary standard | Tool, not advisor | If you pick the right one |
Account minimum | None | $250k–$500k typical |
Pricing model | $9.99/mo flat | ~1%/yr AUM |
Cost on $500k portfolio | $119.88/yr | $5,000/yr |
Cost on $1M portfolio | $119.88/yr | $10,000/yr |
Always-on planning Update your plan whenever, not just at quarterly reviews | ||
Multi-decade projection | Yes (their software) | |
FI age | Sometimes | |
Decision Hub (buy/rent, lease, job change, kids) | Built-in | Ad-hoc, billed by the hour |
Tax-aware projections | ||
Complex estate / business / equity comp work | ||
Behavioral coaching in a market crash | AI advisor (Peak plan) + Decision Hub | Real human, real call |
PeakWorth vs a 1% AUM Financial Advisor — head to head
A good fee-only fiduciary earns their keep on complex edges; a 1%/yr AUM fee mostly pays for software-driven planning. Many users pair a flat-fee CFP with PeakWorth. Figures are typical — confirm your advisor's terms.
| Feature | PeakWorth | 1% AUM Financial Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | Flat $119.88/yr, independent of balance | ~1.0%/yr of assets |
| Account minimum | $0 — free Quick Start, no signup | $250k–$500k common |
| Automated portfolio management | No — it's the planning layer; you keep assets where you like | Yes — discretionary management is the core service |
| Cost on a $1M portfolio | $119.88/yr (flat) | ~$10,000/yr, growing as the portfolio grows |
| Retirement output type | Dated FI Age — plus a year-by-year projection to age 95 | A dated plan — rebuilt at each quarterly review |
| Update cadence | Instant — re-runs the moment a decision comes up | Quarterly review cadence |
| Decision modeling (buy-vs-rent, bonus, debt payoff) | Yes — the Decision Hub, on demand | Yes — but advisor-mediated, not instant |
| Dual-income household modeling | Yes — first-class (separate incomes, accounts, and goals) | Yes — handled within the advisor's plan |
| Complex-situation judgment (equity comp, estate, business sale) | Limited — software, not a fiduciary human | Yes — where a good CFP earns the fee |
| Behavioral coaching in a crash | AI advisor + stress-test scenarios | Yes — a human voice on the phone |
| Data export | Yes — CSV import/export of your data | Varies by advisor |
Run the math on your own portfolio
Open full calculatorReal, after inflation
Typical 0.8–1.2%
USD per year
Terminal wealth — flat fee
$6,778,888
Terminal wealth — 1.00% AUM
$5,385,796
Foregone wealth from fees
$1,393,092
after 30 years
Estimates only. Assumes fees come out of returns each year and the flat fee comes out of contributions before they compound. Actual results vary with market returns, tax treatment, and contribution timing.
The real reasonsWhy people switch
- 1%/yr sounds small. On a portfolio that grows from $500k to $2M over 20 years, those fees compound to roughly $250k of foregone wealth.
- Most household plans are not actually complex — index funds, max the 401(k), HSA, IRA, time the big decisions. PeakWorth handles that without the AUM drag.
- Always-on instead of quarterly: model a job change, baby, or home purchase the day it comes up, not at the next review.
- No account minimum, no onboarding interview, no “sorry, you don't qualify yet.”
Context
We are not anti-advisor. A good fee-only fiduciary CFP is genuinely worth the money for complex situations — concentrated stock, a business sale, an inheritance, a divorce, special-needs planning, or imminent retirement decumulation. If that describes you, hire one (look for NAPFA or XYPN, fee-only, fiduciary).
What we push back on is the default: “I have $500k, so I should hand it to an advisor for 1%/yr forever.” That fee structure was designed in a world where ongoing planning required a human on the phone. Today, the planning math is software, and PeakWorth is that software at a flat fee.
Many of our users keep a flat-fee CFP for a one-time deep-dive every few years and use PeakWorth for the day-to-day plan in between. That combination tends to be cheaper, more current, and more honest than a percentage-of-assets relationship.
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Run it through PeakWorthFrequently asked
Is PeakWorth a fiduciary?
PeakWorth is a software tool, not a registered investment advisor, so the fiduciary framework doesn't directly apply. We don't manage your money, take referral fees, or get paid to recommend products — the only thing PeakWorth is paid for is the subscription. If you want a fiduciary human in the loop for complex decisions, hire a fee-only CFP and use PeakWorth alongside them.
Should I fire my advisor and switch to PeakWorth?
Not necessarily. Run the math: take your AUM fee percentage, multiply by your portfolio, and compare that to PeakWorth's $119.88/yr. Then ask honestly what your advisor does that the software can't — behavioral coaching in a crash, tax-loss harvesting, estate planning, business-sale work. If the answer is “not much, mostly rebalances index funds,” the math is one-sided. If they're doing real planning work for a complex situation, the fee may be earned.
What about robo-advisors like Betterment or Wealthfront?
Different category — robos automate portfolio management at 0.25%/yr, but they don't really plan. They don't tell you when you can retire, model a baby, or score a buy-vs-rent decision. Many PeakWorth users hold their assets at a robo (or a low-cost broker) for the management piece and use PeakWorth for the actual plan. See the dedicated PeakWorth vs Robo-Advisor comparison at /vs/robo-advisor.
How does a 1% AUM fee really impact me over 30 years?
On a portfolio starting at $500K, contributing $30K/yr, growing at 7% real, a 1%/yr fee subtracts about $1.39M of terminal wealth over 30 years versus a flat-fee tool. The fee compounds because it comes out of the asset base every year — you lose both the fee and the future returns on that fee.
When IS a human advisor worth the cost?
Concentrated single-stock positions, business sales, equity comp at IPO, inherited wealth, divorce, second marriages with kids from the first, special-needs trust planning, the year before retirement decumulation starts, and any situation where the wrong move costs more than the advisor's fee. For these, a flat-fee fiduciary CFP (NAPFA or XYPN) is usually the better choice than an AUM relationship.
Does PeakWorth help during a market crash?
Yes — that's exactly when the projection matters most. The AI advisor and Decision Hub will walk you through what a 30%, 40%, or 50% drawdown does to your FI age and what (if anything) you should change. That said, if a human voice on the phone is what keeps you from selling at the bottom, that alone may justify an advisor relationship.
PeakWorth provides educational projections, not financial advice. We are not a registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, tax preparer, or attorney. Consult a licensed professional before making major financial decisions. Read full disclosures