Account minimums decide whether a firm will take you on. Fee structure decides what the relationship costs once it has.
Among the six providers here, the minimums run from $0 at Schwab and Facet to $5 million for Vanguard's top advisory tier, and the bills arrive as a monthly subscription, a flat annual charge, or a percentage of assets that shifts as the balance grows.
Minimums and Fees at All Six Firms
The fastest way to narrow the field is to check what each provider requires before it will manage money for you, and how it gets paid.
| Provider | Account minimum | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Stash | $1 | $12 monthly subscription |
| J.P. Morgan | $25,000 | 0.5% to 0.6% annual fee |
| Empower | $100,000 | 0.49% to 0.89% annual fee |
| Vanguard | $3,000 to $5 million, depending on advisory level | 0.20% to 0.40% annual advisory fees; $15 to $30 per $10,000 invested |
| Charles Schwab | $0 | None for stock and ETF trading; no opening or maintenance fees |
| Facet | $0 | $2,400 to $8,000 per year flat fee |
The headline numbers hide the tiering inside most of these firms. A $0 minimum at Schwab buys commission-free trading, not an advisor; the managed products carry their own thresholds, and each firm's tiers are broken out below.
How a Flat Fee Compares With a Percentage of Assets
Most advisors bill a percentage of assets under management, which means the bill grows with the portfolio even when the work doesn't. Facet charges a flat annual fee instead, generally $2,400 to $8,000 depending on which services you use.
A fixed number behaves in the opposite way: it never moves with the balance, so it thins out as a share of a growing portfolio and weighs heaviest on a small one. The same $2,400 is a minor line item against a large account and a substantial charge against a modest one.
A subscription works the same way in miniature. Stash's $12 per month is the same $12 whether the account holds a few hundred dollars or a few thousand: cheap in absolute terms, but a meaningful percentage of a very small balance.
Schwab Separates Free Trading From Its Four Managed Portfolios
Schwab's brokerage side has no account or trade minimums on most offerings, no commissions on stock and ETF trading, and no opening or maintenance fees. Managed portfolios are a separate matter:
| Product | Minimum | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Schwab Intelligent Portfolios | $5,000 | No advisory fee |
| Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium | $25,000 | $300 one-time planning fee, then $30 per month |
| Schwab Wealth Advisory | $500,000 | Starts at 0.80% annually |
| Schwab Managed Portfolios | $25,000 | Starts at 0.90% annually |
Portfolios rebalance automatically as markets move. One-on-one guidance from a Certified Financial Planner comes with the Premium account.
Tax-loss harvesting is restricted to Intelligent Portfolios clients with $50,000 or more in assets, and it's voluntary: eligible clients have to ask for it to be switched on, which is easy to overlook.
Facet Pairs a Flat Fee With a CFP, and Buys Only ETFs
There's no account minimum at Facet, no commissions, and no product sales; members pay the flat annual fee and are matched with a Certified Financial Planner, whose work is held to a fiduciary standard.
Three financial industry veterans set the firm up in 2016, with wider access to planning services as the stated goal.
The constraints are worth knowing: investing is limited to ETFs, there are no in-person meetings, and the flat fee makes it a poor fit for smaller portfolios.
Stash's Membership Fee Buys a Smart Portfolio, Not an Advisor
Stash starts at $1 and charges no management or add-on commission fees. Instead there's a $12 monthly subscription for platform access.
Under the Stash Plan, Stash builds a Smart Portfolio based on your stated goals and risk level, and it has full authority over that discretionary managed account. You can also buy stocks and ETFs yourself, in full or fractional shares.
Two extras come attached to the membership. The Stock-Back Card is a debit card that earns 1% back in stock on eligible purchases, up to 3% in bonus categories, on up to $1,000 of spending per month.
Spending above that earns 0.125%, and rewards land in your Stash Invest account as shares rather than cash. Membership also includes $10,000 in group life insurance coverage through Avibra, subject to eligibility rules and state availability.
What Stash does not offer is a dedicated financial advisor. Investment advisory services are offered through Stash Investments LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser, and diversification does not eliminate the risk of loss.
Vanguard's Four Advisory Tiers and Its Investor-Owned Structure
Vanguard was founded in 1975 and manages over $8 trillion. The company has no outside shareholders. Its funds own the management company, and the funds in turn belong to the people who put money into them.
The advisory lineup scales with how much guidance you want:
| Service | Minimum | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Advisor (robo-advisor) | $3,000 | 0.20% to 0.25% |
| Personal Advisor | $50,000 | 0.35% to 0.40% |
| Personal Advisor Select | $500,000 | Tiered, maximum 0.30% |
| Personal Advisor Wealth Management | $5 million | Tiered, maximum 0.30% |
The product range covers mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and bonds. The trade-off is access: apart from Digital Advisor, the minimums sit well above what several competitors ask.
J.P. Morgan Personal Advisors Starts at $25,000 and Assigns a Team
J.P. Morgan Chase holds about $3.39 trillion in total assets under management and serves first-time investors and high-net-worth clients alike.
J.P. Morgan Personal Advisors requires a $25,000 minimum and charges advisory fees between 0.5% and 0.6% annually, with the rate falling as the balance rises.
The advisors act as fiduciaries, but at this level you work with a team rather than one named person. A dedicated advisor requires J.P. Morgan Private Client status and a $250,000 minimum investment.
After an initial meeting, the team recommends a portfolio and rebalances it periodically as markets shift. Automatic tax-loss harvesting isn't part of the package.
For people who'd rather steer themselves, J.P. Morgan Self Directed Investing has a $1 minimum, $0 online commissions on unlimited trades, and a fee of $0.01 to $0.03 per $1,000 of principal on sales of U.S. stocks and ETFs.
There's a cash bonus of up to $1,000 for opening and funding a Self-Directed Investing account, scaled by deposit: $1,000 at $250,000 or more, $325 at $100,000–$249,999, $150 at $25,000–$99,999, and $50 at $5,000–$24,999.
The promotion is limited to one per customer and one new account, and it requires enrolling through the offer page. Investment and insurance products are not FDIC insured and may lose value.
Empower Includes Tax-Loss Harvesting Above $100,000
Customer assets at Empower come to about $1.5 trillion. The planning tools are free to use, and so is an online investment account, which carries no setup or yearly charge and places trades at no commission.
Tax-loss harvesting is included in its managed offerings, which is what sets it apart from J.P. Morgan here.
Getting to the managed side takes $100,000 in assets, and the annual fees are on the higher end of this group:
| Tier | Minimum | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| Investment Services (advice from a team) | $100,000 | 0.89% |
| Wealth Management (two dedicated fiduciary advisors) | $250,000 | 0.89% |
| Private Client (two dedicated fiduciary advisors) | $1 million | Sliding scale from 0.89% at $1 million to 0.49% above $10 million |
Dedicated fiduciary advisors begin at the $250,000 level.
Fiduciary Duty and the Four Things That Separate These Providers
A fiduciary is legally obligated to put your interests ahead of their own. Advisors who work on commission are paid when products get sold, so their incentives can point toward a particular fund or insurance contract rather than toward what fits your plan.
Fee-only advisors charge an hourly rate, a flat fee, or a percentage of assets under management, and nothing else.
Fiduciary status aside, four differences separate these providers, and most of them turn on the size of the balance:
- A percentage fee grows with the portfolio; a fixed one doesn't. Stash's $12 a month and Facet's flat $2,400 to $8,000 a year stay put whatever the balance does, while the other four take a cut of assets. Fund expenses may sit on top either way.
- Small balances hit the door charge first. Schwab and Facet open at $0, Stash at $1, and Vanguard's robo tier at $3,000, with J.P. Morgan at $25,000, Empower at $100,000, and Vanguard's wealth management tier at $5 million.
- Larger balances buy people rather than software. A robo-advisor builds and maintains a portfolio from your goals and risk answers at lower cost. Dedicated human advisors cost more and handle the questions software can't; at Empower and at J.P. Morgan Private Client, they start at $250,000.
- What the portfolio holds doesn't track the balance at all. Vanguard's lineup reaches across mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and bonds, while other providers here build with ETFs alone. Neither approach is wrong, and they don't behave the same way.
A $25,000 Balance at Each Provider
Picture someone with $25,000 to invest. That amount clears the minimum for J.P. Morgan Personal Advisors, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium, and Schwab Managed Portfolios.
It's well past Vanguard Digital Advisor's threshold but nowhere near Personal Advisor's. It's a quarter of what Empower requires for portfolio management. And it's irrelevant to Facet, which has no minimum but charges the same flat fee it would charge someone with ten times as much.
None of that ranks the six firms. It sorts them by which pricing model handles a balance of that size and the service attached to it. At higher balances, a percentage fee carries a further question: whether it still corresponds to work being done.
Independent Directories for Finding a Fee-Only Fiduciary
Beyond the firms above, several organizations run free search tools for fee-only fiduciary planners:
- The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA)
- Alliance of Comprehensive Planners (ACP)
- Garrett Planning Network
- XY Planning Network
- Wealthramp
Recommendations from friends and family are another starting point, though a personal referral is no substitute for checking fiduciary status and fees yourself.
Anyone managing money for you should also be registered. Advisory firms and individual representatives appear in public regulatory databases, where you can see their registration and disciplinary history at no cost.
Where Each Provider Fits, and What Can Change
Schwab is built for self-directed traders first, with managed options layered on. Facet fits larger portfolios that would pay more under a percentage model and don't need in-person meetings.
Stash suits someone starting out who wants an automated portfolio and can absorb a fixed monthly cost. Vanguard's investor-owned structure and low advisory fees come with steeper minimums above the robo tier.
J.P. Morgan appeals to existing Chase customers who want fiduciary advice from a team at a moderate minimum. Empower's draw at six figures is tax-loss harvesting, at a higher fee than most here.
Two things travel with every figure above. Firms revise minimums, fee tiers, promotional terms, and features on their own schedule, so the terms attached to a specific account sit in that firm's current disclosures and nowhere else. And every one of these accounts holds investments that can lose value.
