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Fee-Only Financial Advisors in Canada: Fee-Only vs Fee-Based and When Advice-Only Planning Fits

Updated

“Fee-only” and “advice-only” describe how a financial advisor is paid, and they don’t mean quite the same thing. Advice-only planners, as the Financial Planning Association of Canada’s directory describes them, take no commissions, sell no financial products and take no referral fees. “Fee-only” is used more loosely: one advice-only firm notes that as charging a percentage of the assets under management has grown, so has the number of advisors who call themselves fee-only. So an advisor who calls themselves fee-only may still charge a yearly percentage of your investments, while an advice-only planner charges for the advice alone. What each kind of advice costs is on how much a financial advisor costs, and the kinds of advisor and how to check them are on how to choose a financial advisor.

What does a fee-only or advice-only planner do?

An advice-only planner builds a plan, or answers a specific question, and doesn’t sell investments or insurance. One advice-only firm describes such planners as advisers who help fit together the pieces of your finances, from retirement, tax and estate planning to investment and insurance strategy, without selling any products. Because the advice is kept separate from products, that firm says most clients of advice-only planners also have a separate investment adviser and insurance agent, and that many clients of advice-only planners are do-it-yourself investors.

The FCAC lists an hourly fee as one way people pay an advisor to create a financial plan. One advice-only firm says its fees are generally flat project fees or ongoing annual fees, with hourly options when appropriate. Published prices for a plan are on what a financial plan costs.

Fee-only vs fee-based: what’s the difference?

A fee-based account is a way of paying for investment management: instead of sales charges on the funds you buy, you pay your advisor one yearly advisory fee, typically negotiated between 1% and 2%, according to the Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site. One advice-only firm draws the line this way: advice-only planning “should not be confused with fee-based investment management, where an investor pays an annual fee to their investment adviser based on a percentage of their investments.” A fee-based advisor, that firm adds, may provide financial planning as well, and its cost may be part of the percentage fee.

A commission-based advisor is paid through the products sold. The FCAC notes that advisors paid by commission have an incentive to encourage you to invest where they will earn more.

The pay-model table compares what each model typically costs.

When does fee-only advice fit?

People use advice-only planners for help that doesn’t involve handing over their accounts:

  • a one-time plan, or an answer to a specific question, that they carry out themselves;
  • a second opinion: one advice-only firm lists portfolio second opinions, and reviews of retirement calculations done by the client or another advisor, among its most common consultations.

The life decisions that bring people to an advisor, such as a pension’s commuted value or a windfall, are listed in do you need a financial advisor. For investing without a personal plan, robo-advisors and do-it-yourself investing are compared in robo-advisor vs advisor vs DIY.

Does a fee-only planner need to be registered?

By law, people who sell mutual funds, stocks and bonds must complete training and register with a provincial or territorial securities regulator; the National Registration Search shows whether an advisor is registered, and the FCAC suggests asking whether any restrictions, terms or conditions have been placed on that registration.

Registration covers advice as well as sales: the Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site says anyone offering investment advice must be registered with a securities regulator unless they have an exemption. Among the FCAC’s questions is whether an advisor is registered with a securities regulator, and their registration category shows what they’re able to offer; checking an advisor’s registration explains how. In Ontario and Quebec, using the financial planner title also needs an approved credential or authorization; New Brunswick’s title protection Act, in force since January 1, 2026, phases in the same requirement, as set out in financial planner vs financial advisor.

One question gets at how a planner is paid: “Do you receive any commission, trailing fee or referral fee from anyone other than me?”

This page is part of our financial planning guides.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 25, 2026 and October 1, 2026. How we check facts.