How do you actually get paid?
What financial advisory firms need to publish
Compensation structure genuinely affects whose interest is served, and most people never think to ask directly.
How customers actually ask it
The same intent arrives in wording your page probably does not use. All of these mean the same thing:
- “How do you actually get paid?”
- “fee only vs commission”
- “advisor compensation”
- “hidden fees”
What a complete answer contains
For financial advisory firms specifically, an answer is only complete when it covers all 4:
- 1
The real compensation structure, stated plainly
- 2
Whether the firm is fiduciary
- 3
That not all advisors work this way
- 4
Real fee percentages or amounts
A worked example
Illustrative — not a real business
We're fee-only, meaning we're paid directly by clients — typically 1% of assets under management annually, or a flat retainer for planning-only engagements — and we never receive commissions from selling any financial product. We're also a fiduciary, legally required to act in your best interest, not just recommend something 'suitable.' Not every advisor works this way, so it's worth asking directly with anyone you're considering.
Which page should own it
Compensation and fiduciary disclosure page
What silence costs
This is the single most consequential fact a prospective client can know, and most firms never volunteer it clearly.
More questions financial advisory firms get
- What should I invest my money in right now?
- What's your minimum account size?
- Are you fee-only, and what does that actually mean for the advice I get?
- Do I need a minimum amount of money to work with you?
- What should I actually be investing in right now, given the market?
- Once I'm a client, how often will I actually hear from you?
Related
industry
AI customer support for financial advisory firms
The single most consequential thing a prospective client can know about a financial advisor is how they're compensated and whether they're legally bound to a fiduciary standard — most people never ask, and the answer genuinely changes whose interest is being served. RubyRep discloses this proactively, answers general process questions fully, and never gives specific investment or allocation advice without an actual engagement.
term
What is AI customer service?
AI customer service means answering customer questions with a language model rather than a person. The useful implementations are grounded in a specific business's own content; the poor ones let a general model improvise, which produces confident answers that are wrong.
term
What is a knowledge base?
Traditionally a knowledge base is a help centre humans read. For AI support it is the source material a representative answers from — which means an ordinary website, well written, can serve as one without a separate help centre.
Does your site answer this already?
Point RubyRep at your website and ask it this exact question. If it cannot answer, neither can your customers.