Flat quarterly membership pricing
Two Flat-Fee Planning Relationships. No AUM Fee.
Planning gives established professionals and families a dedicated advisor for comprehensive coordination. Premier adds advanced implementation for high-asset, retiring, executive, and business-owner households.
Fee-only fiduciary | Billed quarterly | No setup fee | No AUM fee
Simple fee model
What Does Flames Financial Planning Cost?
Ongoing advisory memberships are $900 or $1,650 per quarter.
That is $3,600 or $6,600 annualized. Each three-month period is billed in advance, with no annual commitment and no AUM fee. The right fit depends on whether you need comprehensive coordination or advanced implementation.
Ongoing advisory memberships
Choose the Relationship Built for Your Financial Life
Planning coordinates investments, taxes, retirement, insurance, and estate decisions. Premier adds advanced tax, retirement-income, estate, and implementation work for high-asset or complex households.
Shared foundation
Included in every Flames membership
- Dedicated Flames advisor
- Personalized investment management
- Financial Dashboard
- No AUM advisory fee
Comprehensive ongoing planning
Flames Planning
$900 / quarter
$3,600 annualized
For established professionals and families who want investments, taxes, retirement, insurance, and estate planning coordinated.
Included in Flames Planning
- Comprehensive ongoing financial planning
- Personalized investment management, monitoring, and rebalancing
- Proactive tax guidance and review of one completed personal tax return
- Retirement, insurance, and estate decisions coordinated in one plan
- Wealth.com will- or trust-based estate documents from day one
- Ongoing planning conversations, plan updates, and Dashboard updates
Advanced planning and implementation
Flames Premier
$1,650 / quarter
$6,600 annualized
For high-asset households, pre-retirees, retirees, and families facing advanced tax, retirement-income, estate, or implementation decisions.
Everything in Flames Planning, plus
- Advanced planning led by your dedicated Flames advisor
- Ongoing tax projections, Roth-conversion, and capital-gain modeling
- Retirement-income, Social Security, and withdrawal implementation
- Eligible tax-return preparation and filing with an independent tax partner
- Equity-compensation, concentrated-position, and charitable planning
- Advanced estate strategy, professional coordination, and priority access
Flames offers three membership options. Planning and Premier are the two comprehensive ongoing advisory relationships; Access is a bounded foundational investing option, not comprehensive planning.
Billed quarterly in advance. No annual commitment.
Clear quarterly terms
No Annual Contract and No AUM Fee
Three-month commitment
Each quarter is billed in advance. Membership continues quarter to quarter unless canceled, with no annual commitment.
Cancel before the next quarter
Cancel at any time to prevent the next quarterly renewal. Service continues through the paid quarter, and paid quarterly fees are not prorated or refunded.
0% AUM advisory fee
Investment management is included in the membership. Fund expenses and any applicable custodian, platform, or third-party strategy fees remain separate.
Planning or Premier?
The Difference at a Glance
Both relationships include a dedicated Flames advisor, comprehensive planning, investment management, and the Financial Dashboard. Premier adds deeper modeling, implementation, tax filing, and professional coordination.
Compare the two ongoing advisory relationships
| Planning need | Planning | Premier |
|---|---|---|
| Advisor relationship | Dedicated advisor + planning team | Dedicated advisor + advanced coordination |
| Planning scope | Comprehensive coordination for generally straightforward complexity | Advanced planning and implementation for complex decisions |
| Investments | Personalized management, monitoring, and rebalancing | Included, plus concentrated-position and advanced strategy work |
| Tax planning | Proactive guidance + review of one completed personal return | Ongoing projections, Roth-conversion, and capital-gain modeling |
| Tax-return preparation | Not included | Eligible personal preparation and filing through the independent tax partner |
| Retirement | Comprehensive accumulation and retirement planning | Retirement-income and withdrawal implementation |
| Estate planning | Wealth.com documents + standard facilitation | Advanced estate strategy + attorney coordination |
| Business, equity, and charitable decisions | Straightforward needs within comprehensive planning | Advanced business-owner, equity-compensation, concentrated-position, and charitable planning |
| Quarterly price | $900 ($3,600 annualized) | $1,650 ($6,600 annualized) |
Flat fee vs AUM
See the Dollar Difference Behind a 1% AUM Fee.
A traditional 1% AUM advisor charges more as the portfolio grows. Flames FP charges a flat quarterly membership based on the planning scope. Price is only one part of the comparison, but the dollars should be visible.
Compare the scope
The gap becomes visible
The percentage keeps rising
Swipe to compare all columns
| Portfolio Size | 1% AUM Fee | Flames FP Flat-Fee Model | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | About $5,000 per year | $3,600 or $6,600 annualized and billed quarterly for ongoing advisory relationships | The fee is tied to planning work, not portfolio value. |
| $1,000,000 | About $10,000 per year | The same membership fee if planning complexity does not change | The cost does not automatically rise because your portfolio grows. |
| $2,000,000 | About $20,000 per year | The same membership fee if the planning tier remains the right fit | More money can stay invested, saved, or used for family goals. |
Simple annual illustration only. A 1% AUM fee is shown as 1% of the stated portfolio value. Actual advisor fees, services, breakpoints, investment expenses, and household needs vary.
What is included
What Can Be Included in a Flat Quarterly Membership?
The goal is not to sell a portfolio-only relationship. The goal is to coordinate the parts of your financial life that often affect each other.
Investments
Portfolio guidance and investment management designed around your plan, risk tolerance, taxes, and cash flow needs.
Taxes
Planning adds proactive tax guidance and review of a completed personal return. Eligible Premier members add preparation and filing through the designated independent tax partner.
Retirement
Retirement contributions are covered in Access, comprehensive retirement planning is covered in Planning, and advanced income, Roth-conversion, and withdrawal implementation are covered in Premier.
Estate Guidance
Planning and Premier include day-one access to Wealth.com's client-directed estate-document platform, with Flames facilitation and no legal advice from Flames.
Cash Flow
Help organizing savings, spending, debt, benefits, and the tradeoffs between today and the future.
Ongoing Advice
An ongoing advisor relationship for decisions that come up during the year, not just a one-time plan.
Client perspective
Transparent Pricing Still Has to Lead to Personal Advice.
A clear fee matters because it makes the relationship easier to evaluate. The planning still needs to feel customized to the household behind the numbers.
Read Google reviews"Joel Miller offers a customized, personalized plan for financial health, investments, retirement planning, tax planning, wills, estate planning and more."
Client testimonials from Google reviews. Reviewers were not compensated. Individual experiences vary and are not indicative of future results or outcomes.
Common questions
Flames Membership Questions
How much do Flames memberships cost?
Flames Planning is $900 per quarter and Flames Premier is $1,650 per quarter. These are the two ongoing advisory relationships, annualized at $3,600 and $6,600. Each membership is billed quarterly in advance.
Is there an annual commitment?
No. Each paid quarter is a three-month commitment. Membership continues quarter to quarter unless canceled, and you may cancel at any time to prevent the next quarterly renewal. Service continues through the paid quarter, and quarterly fees are not prorated or refunded.
Does Flames charge an AUM fee or require a minimum portfolio?
No. Investment management is included without a percentage-based AUM advisory fee, and there is no minimum investment balance. Underlying fund expenses and applicable custodian, platform, or third-party strategy fees may still apply.
How are investment accounts and Altruist handled?
Supported investment accounts are held through Altruist, an independent custodian and platform. Access to Altruist's cash solution is subject to eligibility, variable rates, provider terms, and availability. Fund expenses and any applicable custodian, provider, platform, or strategy fees are separate from the Flames membership fee.
Does Flames Planning include tax-return preparation?
No. Planning includes proactive tax-planning guidance and a planning-focused review of one completed personal tax return. It does not include tax-return preparation, filing, amendments, or representation.
Who prepares Premier tax returns, and when must I join?
To qualify, a client must join Premier by September 30 of the applicable tax year and remain an active Premier member through preparation and filing. The return is prepared and signed under a separate engagement with Flames' designated independent tax partner, currently Fifteenth. Flames provides planning and coordination but does not prepare or sign the return.
What tax returns are included with Flames Premier?
The standard benefit includes one federal individual income-tax return and all required state returns for the individual filer. K-1s, Schedule C or E, rental properties, equity compensation, and cryptocurrency reporting within that individual return are included.
If spouses file separately, the membership includes one federal return; a second federal return is separate. Business, trust, estate, gift, amended, and prior-year returns are excluded, as are tax-notice or audit representation, bookkeeping, and records cleanup. Work outside the included individual-return scope requires a separate engagement and may involve separate fees.
Late documents do not create an additional late-document fee. If information arrives too late for the original filing deadline, the independent tax partner may file an extension and cannot guarantee completion by the original deadline.
How do the included estate documents work?
Planning and Premier members receive day-one access to Wealth.com's client-directed estate-document platform. The household benefit supports both spouses or partners and includes standard will-based and revocable-living-trust-based plans. Flames facilitates the process and incorporates relevant planning inputs but does not provide legal advice or draft legal documents. Individualized attorney advice and outside legal fees are separate.
Platform access and future document updates end when the membership ends. A client may retain completed documents already downloaded or executed, subject to Wealth.com's terms.
Watch and learn
Financial Planning, Explained Clearly
Use the video for the walkthrough, then use the written guide for the details, examples, and next steps.
Flat Fee vs 1% Financial Advisor
See how a percentage fee changes in dollars as a portfolio grows and what to compare beyond the headline rate.
Watch and read the guideNext step
Want to Know Which Membership Fits?
Schedule a discovery meeting and we will talk through what you need, which membership is most appropriate, and whether Flames Financial Planning is the right fit.