According to data from Cerulli Associates, advisory fees increased on average 2.8 basis points from 2020 to 2021 for all investors. The data showed that the average account fee in 2021 was 0.69 percent, compared to 0.66 percent in 2020. Fees increased for clients with $10 million to $25 million in assets, according to Cerulli data. Clients with more than $50 million in assets did not see significant rises in fees.
Scott Smith, Cerulli's director of advice relationships reasoned that "we have seen firms offering more and more services to their clients so paying more is not much of a problem."
Nonetheless, the issue is not settled. For example, Michael Kitces, an industry blogger, said his research found that long-standing predictions of fee erosion are "unfounded." Kitces stated that advisory firms did not face pressure to lower fees, but saw pressure to expand their services to justify their charges. On the other hand, AdvisorHub has reported that fees have been under pressure for quite some time amid the increasing number of ways to compensate advisors and competition for discount players.
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