I’m inheriting $680K from my parents, along with the advisor they trusted for decades. But his 1.75% fee seems steep. Should I keep him or cut ties?

For instance, say your parents left you a portfolio worth $680,000, which could be a life-changing sum, but it’s being managed by somebody you haven’t worked with before or whose investment strategy doesn’t align with yours.

At this point, you might start wondering if you should move the money elsewhere — in the hands of another professional — or even manage it yourself. But the portfolio has strong returns, so why mess with it if it ain’t broke?

This can be a difficult decision, rife with guilt and obligation, especially if your parents have worked with this advisor for decades.

Sticking with the advisor you inherited

Since the portfolio is sizeable, a financial advisor could help with portfolio management, investment management and performance reporting, as well as aligning asset allocation with risk tolerance. The advisor could also help by creating a custom strategy to help you reach your retirement goals and ongoing financial management to adjust the portfolio as necessary.

But it hardly needs to be said that professional advice isn’t free — and there are actually a few different ways of paying for it (1).

On the one hand, you could pay for advisory services through an annual retainer, or even an hourly rate, but these can be costly. A retainer could cost between $6,000 and $10,000 (2), while hourly rates could be anywhere from $200 to $500 an hour (3).

On the other hand, the most common way of paying for wealth management in Canada is through a percentage of the assets under management (AUM), which is charged annually. In this hypothetical scenario, that’s the fee structure being used to pay for managing the $680,000.

You might now ask yourself if the 1.75% rate is reasonable. It depends who you ask.

According to data cited by Camber, the average advisory fee in Canada is around 1.02% for a portfolio of $1 million (4). However, a majority of advisors (58%) use a “graduated” fee structure, where the percentage changes according to the size of the portfolio (5). For instance, they might charge 1.25% for the first $500,000, then 0.75% for the next $500,000, giving an average of 1.0% in total.

Ultimately, 1.75% is perhaps a bit high, but it isn’t totally out of line with a full-service wealth management firm. It does mean that your $680,000 portfolio is costing $11,900 per year — though that should be compared against the returns on the portfolio.

After all, the AUM fee serves as an incentive to maximize returns. In other words, growing your assets is in your advisor’s best interests. So, if the returns are exceptional, then the higher rate may be worth it.

In fact, research from Envestnet found that clients working with financial advisors who focus on financial planning, asset selection and allocation, investment selection, systematic rebalancing and tax management saw 3% higher annual returns on average (6) — although, this is data from a U.S.-based firm.

Even after factoring in the 1.75% fee, there’s a good argument to be made that these higher annual returns more than offset the costs. Plus, a 2025 survey by Vanguard showed that the top reason clients seek out advice was the “peace of mind” that comes with having a professional at their side (7).

Sometimes, it’s about more than just the numbers.

Consider a managed portfolio rather than an active advisor

For those investors who are more concerned about numbers than the “human touch,” another option could be robo-advisors, which charge lower fees, although the advice is less personalized and could limit you to a narrow range of investment options.

If that option doesn’t appeal to you, you could also consider moving the money into smart investment portfolios, which are pre-built and managed by experts but charge you a fraction of the normal rates.

For instance, if you know you should be investing but don’t want the guesswork of doing it alone, Wealthsimple Portfolios offers an easy, hands-off way to grow your money with minimal management fees: 0.5% for portfolios up to $100,000, 0.4% for portfolios between $100,000 and $500,000, and as low as 0.2% for portfolios above $500,000.

Wealthsimple’s pre-built portfolios are tailored to your retirement goals, risk tolerance and investment horizon, so whether you’re saving for retirement, a home or building long-term wealth, there’s a portfolio that’s right for every investor.

Expert-managed and designed to weather market ups and downs, Wealthsimple takes care of the heavy lifting: automatic contributions, dividend reinvesting and smart rebalancing keep your investments on track.

You can invest through RRSPs, TFSAs or non-registered accounts, all from an intuitive online dashboard or their easy-to-use mobile app.

Trusted by more than 3 million Canadians, Wealthsimple manages over $100 billion in assets and provides $1 million in eligible coverage through the CDIC for chequing accounts and CIPF for investments. Plus, as licensed fiduciaries, Wealthsimple’s advisors must put your financial interests first.

As a Money.ca reader, get a $25 bonus when you open your first account and fund at least $1 within 30 days.

Visit Wealthsimple for up-to-date terms and conditions.

Going your own way

Of course, you could start managing the money yourself. But that comes with its own tradeoffs.

To start, self-directed investing puts the burden of research on you to seek out investment opportunities and execute them yourself, which can be time consuming on its own. Then, you might have to educate yourself on how any gains you do make are taxed appropriately, so you don’t break any rules and incur a hefty penalty.

You might also want to consider that — while you might save on the costs of hiring a personal advisor — there are other expenses that come with self-directed investing, including commissions on trades and account fees. And although commissions on trades have been dropping in recent years, account fees can show up in unexpected places, such as currency conversions (8).

That’s why it’s always a good idea for self-directed investors to shop around for trusted brokerages that offer minimal commissions on trades while also reducing account or maintenance fees. For these individuals, there are online platforms like CIBC Investor’s Edge, which gives them the dependability and security of one of Canada’s biggest banks without having to pay exorbitant commissions or fees.

With their comprehensive online trading platform, it actually pays to trade more. Active traders making over 150 trades a quarter can enjoy a discounted commission rate of $4.95 per trade. Plus, CIBC doesn’t charge any account or maintenance fees if the combined market balance of all accounts is greater than $10,000.

For a limited time, you can even get commission-free fractional trading, while still having access to unlimited commission-free trades on over 180 select ETFs. Terms and conditions apply. Offer ends Oct. 31, 2026.

Reduce your banking costs

Shopping around for brokerages is one way to reduce some of those fixed costs. Some Canadians may also qualify for profession-specific banking perks that can help reduce everyday banking costs.

National Bank offers specialized banking packages for professionals in fields like healthcare, engineering, IT, finance, law, teaching, public service, administration, architecture, agriculture and more. Depending on eligibility, the offer can include the following:

• Up to three bank accounts with no fixed monthly fees, with an eligible Mastercard rewards credit card (certain fees apply)
• Personal and home equity lines of credit with preferred terms and conditions
• Preferred value-added services like legal assistance and identity theft protection
• Access to a financial advisor
• An eligible Mastercard rewards credit card (certain fees apply)

According to National Bank, eligible professionals can unlock up to approximately $1,313 in annual savings with higher savings available for select professions such as healthcare and IT.