Affluent Investors Increasingly Willing to Pay for Advice, Cerulli Finds

Affluent investors are showing a growing willingness to pay for financial advice, reflecting a broader shift toward personalized, fiduciary-driven planning as wealth and financial complexity increase. 

According to Cerulli Associates, 68% of affluent investors said they are willing to pay for advice in 2025, up from just 38% in 2010—a 30-percentage-point increase. The trend has been driven by greater access to advice, continued fee compression and the expansion of fiduciary-based models across the industry. 

Willingness to pay rises significantly with wealth. Among investors with more than $5 million in assets, 75% said they are willing to pay for advice, compared with 64% of those with between $2 million and $5 million. 

“As an individual’s wealth grows, taxes become more burdensome, financial and estate planning becomes more complicated, and additional investment products (e.g., separately managed accounts, alternatives) become more accessible,” said Michael Manning. 

However, demand for advice extends beyond high-net-worth households. Even among investors with less than $100,000 in assets, only 34% said they are not willing to pay for advice, suggesting broad-based interest in guidance across wealth tiers. 

“There remains a segment of investors who are not interested in paying for advice and prefer no-fee self-directed platforms,” Manning added. “Whether this is due to lower financial assets or do-it-yourselfers managing their own portfolios, they may require advice at some point in their lives.”