Is a Financial Advisor Worth 1%? Exent vs an Advisor
What a 1% advisory fee costs over 10, 20 and 30 years, what the fee actually pays for, and how Exent gives you a full analysis of your portfolio for a flat subscription.
ResourcesGuide
How to Check a Portfolio Your Advisor or Robo Built
A second opinion on a portfolio someone else manages comes down to two questions: what you pay in total, and whether the portfolio is built the way it was described to you. Here is a checklist for both.
Key takeaways
- Check two things: what you pay in total and how the portfolio is built. Add the advisory fee to the funds’ expense ratios. Illustratively, 1% plus 0.5% on $500,000 is $7,500 a year.
- A useful second opinion covers allocation against your stated risk level, overlap between funds, concentration, crash losses in dollars and a fair benchmark.
- SEC-registered advisers and brokers must give retail clients a short Form CRS relationship summary covering services, fees and conflicts of interest.
- You can look up an adviser’s record on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and on FINRA BrokerCheck.
In this article
- How do I check a portfolio someone else built for me?
- What should a second opinion on my portfolio include?
- How much am I really paying?
- Is the portfolio built the way it was described?
- Which documents should I ask my advisor for?
- Common mistakes when reviewing an advisor’s portfolio
- How do I get a second look without giving anyone access?
How do I check a portfolio someone else built for me?
Get a recent statement with every holding and its value, then check the cost and the structure separately. Cost is what you pay each year, in dollars. Structure is how much risk the portfolio really takes, compared with what you agreed to.
You do not need to second-guess every fund choice. You are looking for mismatches: a “moderate” portfolio that fell like an all-stock one, five funds that own the same companies, or fees that add up to more than you realized. The same checks apply to a robo-advisor, a bank wealth account or a portfolio a relative set up for you.
What should a second opinion on my portfolio include?
- Total cost: the advisory fee plus each fund’s expense ratio, weighted by how much you hold, in dollars per year.
- Allocation: the real split between stocks, bonds and cash, compared with the risk level in your agreement.
- Overlap: funds that hold the same large companies, which makes several funds one bet.
- Concentration: any single stock, sector or region that dominates the total.
- Crash loss: what the current holdings would have lost in 2008, 2020 and 2022, in dollars.
- Benchmark: performance compared with a simple mix of index funds at the same risk, not only with the S&P 500 index.
- Cash drag: how much sits in cash, and whether it is earning anything.
- Turnover and taxes: frequent trading in a taxable account can create tax bills you did not plan for.
How much am I really paying?
Usually more than the headline fee, because fund expenses come on top of the advisory fee and are taken inside the fund, so they never appear as a line on your statement. An illustrative fee stack on $500,000:
| Illustrative setup | Advisory fee | Fund expenses | Total per year | On $500,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advisor using active funds | 1.00% | 0.50% | 1.50% | $7,500 |
| Advisor using index funds | 1.00% | 0.05% | 1.05% | $5,250 |
| Robo-advisor | 0.25% | 0.10% | 0.35% | $1,750 |
| Index funds, no adviser | 0% | 0.05% | 0.05% | $250 |
- Advisor using active funds
- Advisory fee
- 1.00%
- Fund expenses
- 0.50%
- Total per year
- 1.50%
- On $500,000
- $7,500
- Advisor using index funds
- Advisory fee
- 1.00%
- Fund expenses
- 0.05%
- Total per year
- 1.05%
- On $500,000
- $5,250
- Robo-advisor
- Advisory fee
- 0.25%
- Fund expenses
- 0.10%
- Total per year
- 0.35%
- On $500,000
- $1,750
- Index funds, no adviser
- Advisory fee
- 0%
- Fund expenses
- 0.05%
- Total per year
- 0.05%
- On $500,000
- $250
Illustrative rates, not quotes from any firm. Over time the gap compounds. At an illustrative 7% a year before costs, $500,000 grows to about $1,935,000 in 20 years, against about $1,459,000 with 1.5% a year taken out. Try your own numbers in the fee drag calculator, and see how to check fund fees.
Is the portfolio built the way it was described?
Compare the actual holdings with the risk level on paper. Count every stock fund, including “balanced” and target-date funds, by what they hold. Then replay a crash. In Exent’s data, as of Sep 30, 2026, the S&P 500 fell 34.1% peak to trough in the 2020 COVID crash. On an illustrative $500,000 with 70% in broad US stocks, that is about $119,000 from the stock part alone.
If that number surprises you, the portfolio may be riskier than the label suggests. Also check for overlap. Several large-cap funds often hold the same top companies. Our ETF overlap tool shows how much.
Which documents should I ask my advisor for?
- Form CRS. A short relationship summary that SEC-registered advisers and broker-dealers give retail investors. It covers services, fees, conflicts of interest and disciplinary history. See the SEC’s Investor.gov bulletin on relationship summaries.
- Form ADV brochure. The adviser’s longer disclosure. You can find it on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site.
- Background check. FINRA BrokerCheck shows a professional’s work history and any disclosures.
- Your agreement and fee schedule, including whether the adviser acts as a fiduciary on all of your accounts.
Common mistakes when reviewing an advisor’s portfolio
- Judging one strong or weak year instead of risk-adjusted results over several years.
- Comparing a 60/40 portfolio with the S&P 500. Use a benchmark with similar risk.
- Ignoring fund expenses because they never appear as a separate charge.
- Selling everything after a review. In a taxable account, changes can trigger capital gains, so check the tax cost first.
How do I get a second look without giving anyone access?
Work from the statement, not a login. A recent statement or a holdings export is enough for every check above: fees, the real stock and bond split, overlap, concentration, a crash replay and a fair benchmark. A spreadsheet handles most of it. Keep the review about numbers, not about the person. If the review raises questions, take them to the adviser first, or to a fee-only planner for an independent view. For the bigger decision, see how to evaluate a financial advisor.
How to get this second look with Exent
- Upload a screenshot or PDF of the advisor’s statement (or a CSV, Excel file or Google Sheet); no brokerage login.
- Exent checks concentration, overlap through correlation clusters and the real stock and bond mix, and compares results with a risk‑matched benchmark.
- It replays the portfolio through 2008, 2020 and 2022 so you can see the crash loss in dollars before you talk to the adviser.
Frequently asked questions
Compare your results with a simple index mix at the same risk level, after all fees. Then check whether the portfolio matches the risk you agreed to and whether the planning help justifies the cost.
Total fees in dollars, the real stock and bond split, overlap between funds, concentration, crash losses in past downturns and a fair benchmark.
Add the advisory fee to the expense ratio of each fund you hold, weighted by its size. Your Form CRS and Form ADV brochure describe the adviser’s fees.
Yes. Robo-advisors usually charge less, but the same checks apply: total cost, allocation against your risk setting, overlap and crash losses in dollars.
Use the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site for registered advisers and FINRA BrokerCheck for brokers. Both are free.
See what your portfolio is really made of.
Upload a screenshot of your holdings and get concentration, overlap, crash exposure and a risk-matched benchmark in about a minute.
Check my portfolioLimited offer$1.95 for unlimited checks· unlimited checks
Educational content, not investment advice. Examples are illustrative; past performance does not guarantee future results.