An advice fee is unusual: it is a price with no product attached. You are paying for professional work, and good work of that kind is often quiet. Much of it happens before a meeting or long after one.
The work can include understanding your position, analysing options, making recommendations and reviewing the plan. Depending on the agreement it may also cover implementation, meetings, reporting and coordination with your accountant or attorney.
What the phrase does not give you is a standard package. One advisor charges once for a plan. Another takes an ongoing percentage for continuing service. The fee might be deducted from your investment, paid by debit order or invoiced directly. Commission is a different payment mechanism again, though both can compensate advice-related work.
Which is why the rate is the least interesting part of the conversation. What matters is what work is included, how often it happens, how it reaches you, and what sits outside scope. If an ongoing advice fee continues, you should be able to name the ongoing service behind it.
Try this now
Find your advice or service agreement and summarise the promised service in five lines: planning, implementation, contact, review, extra work. Then write down the expected annual fee in rand, not only the quoted method.
Ask your advisor
- Which specific services does my advice fee cover over the next twelve months?
- How do I change or end the mandate?
- Will the fee change if my investment value, needs or service level changes?
A fair assessment considers both price and delivered scope. It does not assume expensive means good or cheap means poor.