Costing, fees and your bottom line

Session overview:

The landscape of the financial advice industry continues to evolve as client needs change. Consumers are becoming more specific about what their needs are and what they are willing to pay for. As the number of clients seeking financial planning over and/or in addition to investment management services increase, advisors are expanding their fees, product and service offerings, and billing models.

There is no longer a perfect or one-size-fits-all fee structure. How best to bill advisory clients has been, and continues to be, a controversial topic and for good reason. There can easily be an inherent conflict between lowering costs for clients and managing a profitable business. This is true for only for financial advisers, but for any business really.

Across the board, advisors are implementing different fee models, such as flat fees, hourly fees, subscription fees, fixed retainers, assets-under-management-based fees, net asset-based fees, or even a combination of these. Project-based financial planning is also being seen more, with one-time financial plans, limited-term engagements and “ask me anything” services becoming an option to consumers.  

Advisors need to determine what is right for their own firms and clients, weigh the pros and cons for each methodology or combination of approaches, and during the process, consider how best to sustain a business that can support clients. 

What will you learn in this webinar?


  • Financial viability of the different fee structures being used
  • What are the trade-offs of different billing methods?
  • Who comes first when it comes to fees – the business or the client?
  • What to take into consideration when deciding on your fee structure?
  • How do you go about changing a fee structure
  • What’s happening globally in the financial advice space and fees?

About our guest speakers:

Alan Moore, MS, CFP® | CEO and Co-Founder | XY Planning Network

Alan Moore, is the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, a support network for advisors looking to serve next-generation clients. He is also the CEO of AdvicePay, the first and only compliant payment processor for financial advisors. He is passionate about helping financial planners start and grow their own fee-only firms to serve Gen X & Gen Y clients. Alan has been recognized by Investment News as a top “40 Under 40″ in financial planning, and a 2020 Icon & Innovator, and was the first recipient of the NAPFA Young Professional award in 2015.

Jaco van Tonder | Advisor Services Director | Ninety One Asset Management
Jaco is head of Advisor Services in South Africa at Ninety One. Prior to moving into this role, Jaco was sales director for the South African Advisor team and head of distribution for Ninety One Investment Platform. Having previously worked for the Sanlam Group, Jaco occupied various positions which included heading up the product development for the Sanlam platform business, Glacier from 2000 to 2003, and heading up the business development and distribution team from 2003 to 2009. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and holds a B.Sc (Hons) degree from the University of Stellenbosch. 


Management South Africa (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider (FSP 45679) regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority.