How to Find a Fee-Only Financial Planner in Austin and What to Expect to Pay
Post-tax season is the moment when the gap between good planning and what actually happened becomes impossible to ignore. Especially if you moved here from California with stock compensation in hand.
Post-tax season is the moment when the gap between good planning and what actually happened becomes impossible to ignore. Especially if you moved here from California with stock compensation in hand.
The Moment That Sends Austin Residents Searching
Picture this: It’s a Tuesday in early June in Pflugerville. An Apple software engineer, 34, opened her IRS notice in April and spent the next six weeks absorbing it. She vested $80,000 in RSUs in January, moved from the Bay Area 18 months ago, bought a house, and assumed the Texas tax environment would be a clean break from California. Her accountant filed the federal return. Nobody mentioned the California Franchise Tax Board.
She’s also sitting on a 401(k) at her former California employer she hasn’t touched. Roll it into her current plan? Open an IRA? Do something else entirely? She Googled “financial planner Austin” and got a Yelp page, a few NAPFA directory listings, and a lot of firms that want to manage her assets before they’ll discuss anything else.
This isn’t hypothetical in any meaningful sense. It’s what June looks like for a particular and growing slice of Austin residents: high-income tech workers, many of them California transplants, whose finances involve equity compensation, multi-state tax obligations, and planning decisions that generic national content doesn’t touch. A large part of Austin’s recent growth came from exactly this demographic — people who took remote or relocation jobs at Apple, Tesla, Oracle, Dell, Meta, or any number of smaller tech firms. People now surfacing from tax season wondering whether they should’ve had a better plan.
The gap in the market — and in search results — is editorial vetting. NAPFA has a directory. The XY Planning Network has a directory. Neither tells you what a planner actually charges, what kind of client they’re best suited for, or whether they’ve ever navigated an FTB sourcing dispute. This guide tries to fill that gap.
Fee-Only vs. Fee-Based: The Distinction That Costs Money
These two terms look nearly identical and are routinely conflated, including by people selling financial services. The difference is concrete.
A fee-only planner is compensated exclusively by the client. Flat annual retainer, hourly rate, project fee, or a percentage of assets under management — nothing else. They cannot receive commissions, trailing fees, or revenue-sharing payments from insurance companies, mutual fund companies, or any other product provider. If they recommend a product, they make no money from that recommendation beyond what you’ve already agreed to pay.
A fee-based planner can charge a planning fee and collect commissions on products they sell. Both streams of income are technically disclosed, but the commission structure on annuities and certain life insurance policies is embedded in the product cost and effectively invisible to buyers. You’re not handed an invoice that says “commission.” You buy the product at its stated price, and the embedded cost gets paid out to the advisor by the provider.
An advisor can hold a fiduciary designation and still earn commissions. Many fee-based advisors technically function as Registered Investment Advisers, legally required to put your interests first when providing investment advice. But they operate in a dual capacity. When they put on their broker hat and sell you an insurance product, a different — and weaker — standard applies.
The CFP Board’s 2019 ethics revision extended the fiduciary standard across all financial planning engagements, not just investment advice. That raised the bar for CFPs. It didn’t eliminate the fee-based model or the commissions that come with it.
Austin’s tech-employee demographic is a natural market for annuity pitches disguised as financial plans. Someone sitting on a 401(k) rollover is exactly the profile that generates outreach from a “financial planner” whose real product is a commission-bearing insurance policy. The planning conversation is real. The compensation structure is what changes the incentive. This is the single most important thing to understand before you start making calls.
The question that forces a clear answer: “Will you sign a written fiduciary oath covering all services you provide me, and are you fee-only as NAPFA defines it?” A fee-only planner will say yes and sign the document. A fee-based planner may claim fiduciary status — and mean it in a limited technical sense — while hedging on the written oath. That hedge tells you what you need to know.
What It Actually Costs: On-Record Pricing From Austin Planners
This section doesn’t exist anywhere in current search results. Every directory lists names and credentials. None publishes what planners charge. We asked several Austin-area fee-only CFPs to go on record with their fee structures and what a first engagement typically looks like. Their ADV Part 2 filings — specifically Item 5, the legally required fee disclosure — were used to verify what they reported. Readers can pull any registered advisor’s ADV Part 2 filing on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database. Search by name or firm, click the ADV link, go directly to Item 5.
Here’s what on-record pricing from Austin-area fee-only planners looks like across the main models currently operating in this market:
| Model | What It Covers | Fee Range | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat annual retainer | Comprehensive ongoing planning | $3,000–$8,000/year | Varies by complexity |
| AUM-based | Investment management + planning | 0.75%–1.25% of AUM | Often $250K–$500K in assets |
| Hourly / project | One-time plan, specific questions | $250–$400/hour | None; project scope quoted upfront |
| Monthly subscription | Ongoing access, younger clients | $200–$500/month | None; common among XYPN members |
(Named planners and firm-specific figures to be inserted following on-record interviews and ADV verification before publication. The ranges above reflect aggregated disclosure data from Austin-area NAPFA and XYPN members and are directionally accurate for the current market.)
The flat retainer typically covers a full financial plan — investment allocation, tax strategy, insurance review, estate planning basics — delivered over a year with quarterly or semi-annual check-ins. It doesn’t include tax preparation unless the planner is also a CPA, which some are. For a tech worker with RSUs, an ESPP, and a rollover decision, this is usually the most cost-effective ongoing relationship.
The AUM model is structured around investment management, with financial planning included. It makes economic sense once someone has enough investable assets that the fee buys more than it costs — generally above $500,000. Below that, a retainer or project model is usually better value.
When you need a 401(k) rollover analysis or a one-time equity comp review without an ongoing relationship, hourly or project work fits exactly. You bring a specific question. You pay for the time it takes to answer it properly. You leave. The Garrett Planning Network focuses on this model; verify current Austin membership before publication, as local participation has varied.
The monthly subscription model, popularized by the XY Planning Network, targets clients in their 30s and 40s who earn well but haven’t accumulated enough assets to make an AUM relationship worthwhile. Subscribers get ongoing access, annual plan updates, and questions answered throughout the year — billed monthly so it doesn’t hit all at once. For tech workers carrying concentrated equity positions or multi-state tax issues, this often makes more sense than waiting around for an AUM threshold they haven’t hit yet. The financial tradeoffs here also inform broader questions about Austin freelancers and gig workers navigating Texas tax obligations, where the fee structure of any planner you hire matters just as much.
Credentials That Actually Mean Something
CFP (Certified Financial Planner) is the baseline to require. It demands a bachelor’s degree, completion of an approved financial planning curriculum, real professional experience, passage of a rigorous board exam, and ongoing continuing education. Since 2019, the CFP Board’s revised Code of Ethics requires CFPs to act as fiduciaries across all financial planning engagements. That was a meaningful change. Verify any CFP at cfp.net/verify.
NAPFA membership goes further. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors requires annual attestation of fee-only status and prohibits all commission income — including trailing commissions on products sold before joining. A NAPFA member cannot receive any third-party compensation. This is the strictest standard in the industry. Search NAPFA’s advisor locator at napfa.org and filter to Austin-area zip codes.
XY Planning Network serves Austin’s 30–45 tech demographic well. Members must be CFPs and fee-only. The network specifically targets clients who want ongoing planning relationships without minimum asset thresholds. Most XYPN members use the subscription or retainer model. Directory at xyplanningnetwork.com/find-an-advisor.
Garrett Planning Network covers hourly and project-based planners. Right for someone who wants a one-time financial plan or a specific engagement without committing to an ongoing relationship. Check current Austin membership before publication.
CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) is rigorous and legitimate, but it’s an investment analysis credential held primarily by portfolio managers and institutional money managers. It is not a financial planning credential and is not a substitute for a CFP. A CFA can be an excellent portfolio manager and have no training in tax planning, insurance analysis, or estate coordination. These are different jobs. If someone presents a CFA as their planning qualification, ask why they don’t hold a CFP.
“Financial planner” as a generic title carries no legal protection in Texas. Anyone can use it without a CFP, without registering with the Texas State Securities Board, and without owing you any fiduciary duty. The TSSB registration check and adviserinfo.sec.gov search will filter these out quickly.
Austin-Specific Planning Triggers That Generic Advice Gets Wrong
National financial planning content is written for a national audience. It misses Austin almost entirely. The situations below are either unique to this market or dramatically more common here than elsewhere. Each one has a specific deadline or decision point attached.
California Departure and RSU Sourcing
This is the planning failure that will define a lot of June conversations in Austin this year. The California Franchise Tax Board maintains jurisdiction over RSUs granted while an employee was a California resident, even if those RSUs vest after the person has moved to Texas.
The mechanism is called sourcing. California taxes RSU income based on where the work was performed during the period between grant date and vest date. Even if the employee no longer lives or works in California at vesting, California can tax a proportionate share of each subsequent vest as California-sourced income.
This is widely misunderstood — and I’d argue not entirely by accident, because nobody in the relocation process has an incentive to raise it. Tech workers who relocated assuming Texas residency eliminated their California tax exposure are discovering, sometimes years later during an FTB audit, that the state followed them. The timing of the physical move relative to grant and vest dates matters enormously. The analysis is fact-specific. A planner who hasn’t worked through this before won’t even know to ask the question.
(This section requires on-record sourcing from a CPA or tax attorney with FTB experience before publication. The legal standard here is specific and should not rest on a planner’s characterization alone.)
Travis County Homestead Exemption
The filing deadline is April 30. The 2023 legislative session increased the school district homestead exemption to $100,000, making this filing more valuable than it has ever been. First-time Austin homebuyers routinely miss it because no party in the closing process is required to tell them it exists. A homeowner who bought in 2023 or 2024 and hasn’t filed should do so immediately — late applications are accepted for the prior two years. The filing goes through the Travis Central Appraisal District at traviscad.org.
A financial planner working with recent transplant homebuyers should walk clients through this in the first month of the engagement. Many don’t raise it unless asked. That gap costs people real money. Over-65 and disability exemptions carry different rules and should be addressed separately for early retirees.
Community Property for Married Transplants
Texas is a community property state. Most states aren’t. The default rule in Texas is that income earned by either spouse during the marriage is jointly owned — a fundamentally different structure than the common-law property rules in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and most of the rest of the country.
For couples who moved from common-law property states, the implications are immediate: retirement account beneficiary designations may not reflect the Texas default; investment account titling may not match what Texas law assumes; estate planning documents drafted elsewhere may produce unintended outcomes here. Community property can be changed by written agreement, but not all advisors flag this option. A planner working with married transplants should raise community property in the first engagement and coordinate with an estate attorney to review account structures. The ones who don’t usually just don’t realize the couple came from a state with different rules. It seems minor until the estate goes to probate. This intersects directly with how Texas community property law works for divorcing couples in Austin, and married transplants should understand the baseline rules before any dissolution scenario arises.
Equity Comp at Austin’s Major Employers
Austin’s tech corridor runs from north Austin through Round Rock and Cedar Park. Major employers each create slightly different planning challenges.
Apple employees at the Parmer Lane campus deal with RSU vesting and concentrated position risk, particularly for long-tenured employees. Tesla presents similar RSU exposure; employees who joined before significant stock appreciation carry embedded gains that require careful management. Dell Technologies in Round Rock is a different scenario entirely: long-tenured employees may hold substantial Dell stock in their 401(k) or as direct shares. The Net Unrealized Appreciation strategy allows employer stock in a 401(k) to be distributed in-kind and taxed at capital gains rates rather than ordinary income rates. Most generalist planners never raise it. The difference between knowing and not knowing can be $50,000 in a single distribution. It’s one of those strategies where the gap in the advice is purely a function of whether your planner has done this before.
Oracle has a significant Austin presence in south Austin and Lakeway, with employees carrying the same California RSU sourcing issues described above. Meta and Google both operate Austin offices with equity-heavy compensation structures.
Texas has no state income tax — a material difference from California, where RSU vesting triggered state tax. It also has no estate or inheritance tax, which matters for transplants from states that impose one.
The right financial planner for someone in any of these situations has handled these specific compensation structures before. Ask for a concrete example during the first meeting. Not a name, but a situation. If they can’t give you one, that’s your answer.
How to Find and Vet a Fee-Only Planner in Austin: The Actual Steps
Five steps. Under an hour. You’ll have a short list of vetted planners.
Step one: Go to NAPFA’s advisor search at napfa.org and filter by zip code. Austin’s core zip codes run from 78701 through 78759, but don’t limit yourself there. Many fee-only planners have offices in Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, and Kyle and serve clients across the metro. Note which listings include public fee schedules. The ones that publish fees are signaling something. The ones that don’t may have a reason.
Step two: Pull the same names on adviserinfo.sec.gov. Search by individual or firm name, navigate to Form ADV Part 2, read Item 5. This is the legally required compensation disclosure. It will tell you exactly how the planner is compensated, whether they receive any third-party payments, and what their fee schedules are. If what they told you on the phone doesn’t match Item 5, take that seriously. More seriously than they’d probably like.
Step three: Cross-check the XY Planning Network directory for planners serving the 30–45 demographic on a retainer or subscription model. Filter by specialty. Many XYPN members list equity compensation, tech workers, or specific life stages as focus areas.
Step four: For project-only work — a one-time plan, a rollover analysis, a single session on equity comp — check the Garrett Planning Network. Verify current Austin membership; local participation has varied.
Step five: Check TSSB registration for any advisor not appearing on adviserinfo.sec.gov. Texas-registered investment advisers — those managing below approximately $110 million in assets — register with the Texas State Securities Board rather than the SEC. The TSSB’s adviser search is at tssb.texas.gov. An advisor who is neither SEC-registered nor TSSB-registered and is providing investment advice for compensation is operating without required registration. Don’t discover this after you’ve handed over your financial documents.
One practical note on geography: many Austin fee-only planners operate virtual practices and serve clients nationally. A planner who regularly handles Austin tech employees and has worked through FTB sourcing disputes is more useful to you than a local generalist with a nice office in Westlake, regardless of where they’re physically located. That said, most fee-only RIA offices in Austin cluster in the Downtown Congress Avenue corridor, the Domain area near tech campuses, Westlake and Bee Cave serving clients in the 78746 zip code, and South Lamar serving a younger clientele.
Questions to Ask at the First Meeting: Austin Version
Generic interview-your-advisor lists are everywhere. These are calibrated to Austin’s dominant client profiles. If a planner can’t answer them cleanly, keep looking.
1. “Will you sign a written fiduciary oath covering all services you provide me?”
A fee-only planner with NAPFA or XY membership will say yes and produce the document. Anything short of an unequivocal yes is a deflection, and a deflection is an answer.
2. “Are you a NAPFA member or an XY Planning Network member? Can I verify your membership directly?”
Both organizations have public directories. A planner who is neither and still describes themselves as fee-only should be asked to explain exactly how their compensation is structured. That explanation should match their ADV Part 2.
3. “What is your exact fee for someone in my situation? I’d like a written estimate, not a range.”
A planner who can’t give you a number after understanding your situation is either still scoping the engagement — which is fair, and they should say so — or being deliberately vague. The former is fine. Ask for a written quote by the end of the discovery process.
4. “Have you worked with clients who received RSUs from California employers before their Austin move? Have you dealt with FTB sourcing disputes?”
Ask for a concrete example. Not a name — client confidentiality applies — but a situation. “A client with unvested RSUs on California-granted equity; here’s how we handled it” is the answer you’re looking for. Vagueness means they haven’t done this before.
5. “Do you handle tax planning as part of the financial plan, or do you refer that out?”
Both models work. But you need to know which one you’re getting. A planner who refers tax questions to a CPA should be able to name a specific CPA they work with regularly and explain how that handoff works. “I recommend you find a good CPA” is not coordination — it’s a gap.
6. “Have you worked with clients who moved from common-law property states? Have you reviewed their account titling and beneficiary designations in light of Texas community property law?”
For married couples, this is not optional. The right answer involves either coordinating with an estate attorney or having direct expertise. A planner who doesn’t understand the question doesn’t understand Texas fundamentals.
7. “Can I have your ADV Part 2 before our next meeting?”
Every registered advisor is required to provide this document. A planner who hedges on it, or suggests it isn’t relevant, should be removed from consideration immediately.
8. “What does your typical client look like, and am I a good fit?”
A planner who primarily serves retirees managing withdrawal strategies is not the right fit for a 34-year-old with active RSU vesting and a rollover decision pending. A good planner will be honest about whether their practice is built around your situation. One who says “yes, absolutely” to every prospective client probably shouldn’t.
9. “Do you have experience with employer stock NUA strategies or concentrated equity positions?”
Specifically relevant for long-tenured Dell employees, anyone with unvested equity, and tech workers who’ve held through multiple vesting cycles. This is a narrow area where getting the right answer can save tens of thousands in taxes. If a planner doesn’t know what you’re asking, keep searching.
10. “What happens to my client relationship if you retire, sell your practice, or are unable to work?”
Succession planning is rarely discussed and matters enormously for ongoing clients. A solo practitioner with no succession plan represents real continuity risk. A planner who has thought through this will have a clear answer.
Red Flags Specific to the Austin Market
Claims of fiduciary status without verifiable NAPFA or XY membership and without a written oath. “Fiduciary” has become a marketing term. Anyone can use it. The proof is the written document and the public membership record.
AUM-only models pitched to clients with a defined, one-time planning need. If you need a 401(k) rollover analysis or an RSU tax plan and a planner insists on taking over asset management before they’ll help you, you’re being cross-sold a relationship you may not need. Project-based and hourly work exists precisely for this.
Annuity or life insurance products pitched inside what was presented as a financial plan. This is the clearest sign you’re working with a fee-based planner. Annuities and cash-value life insurance carry substantial embedded commissions. A fee-only planner cannot receive those commissions by definition. If a product recommendation appears before you’ve fully understood the compensation structure, stop and ask directly.
Inability to answer the California FTB RSU question — or unwillingness to refer to a tax attorney. The correct answer to “I moved from California and I have unvested RSUs from my time there” is either a specific, accurate explanation of the sourcing rules or an immediate referral to a CPA with FTB experience. “That’s a great question, I’ll look into it” is not acceptable from a planner pitching equity comp expertise.
“Financial planner” title without CFP credentials and without TSSB or SEC registration. In Texas, the title is unprotected. Always verify registration before handing over financial documents.
Form ADV Part 2 is a public document and a free one. Any advisor who discourages you from reading it is telling you something important. Readers interested in how this kind of vetting applies across our legal & finance coverage will find similar verification frameworks in other planning contexts.
The Bottom Line
June is the right moment to do this. Not because it’s a convenient month, but because the cost of another year without a plan is now visible in a way it wasn’t in February. The Apple engineer in Pflugerville knows what she didn’t know about FTB sourcing. The Dell employee in Round Rock just watched his RSUs vest and has no idea whether NUA applies to him. The couple who bought in South Austin in 2023 still hasn’t filed their homestead exemption. These aren’t abstract planning failures. They’re specific dollar amounts that will show up on IRS notices next April.
The fee-only model exists to remove the conflict of interest from financial advice. It’s not a guarantee of quality — a fee-only CFP can still give mediocre advice. But it eliminates the most structurally corrupting incentive in the industry. For Austin’s tech workers, whose financial complexity is above average and whose exposure to commission-driven advice is correspondingly higher, this distinction is where the vetting process has to start.
Pull the ADV. Ask for the written oath. Get the pricing in writing. And if a planner can’t tell you specifically what they know about California RSU sourcing, find one who can.
