RIA startup cost estimator
How much does it cost to start an RIA? The honest answer is your own quotes, added up. List each startup cost line, from the Form ADV filing fee to the CRM, the outsourced CCO, the insurance and the lease, and the estimator totals your one-time and first-year recurring costs and shows which lines you have not priced yet. Each line links to where you get its quote.
Startup cost estimator: the tool
Startup cost estimatoradviserdeck.com
Every amount starts empty. Type the quotes you have, pick how often each is paid, and tick the lines your firm does not need. Your entries stay in this browser only.
Registration and filingsnot priced
Paid to FINRA, which runs the IARD, when the firm first files Part 1A. The amount is on the IARD fee schedule. See the IARD fee schedule.
Paid with each annual updating amendment. Whether one falls inside your first 12 months depends on your fiscal year end. See the IARD fee schedule.
Set by each state, not by the SEC. Ask the securities regulator of each state where you will do business.
Where your state requires them for the people who give advice. Your state regulator lists what applies.
A consultant or attorney, if you do not draft them yourself. Compare RIA compliance consultants.
Compliance programnot priced
A salary share if an owner takes the role, or an outsourced CCO's fee. When an outsourced CCO makes sense.
Drafted in-house from a template, or by a consultant. Start from the compliance manual template.
Your own time, or a consultant's review of the program each year. Plan the review.
A suite that holds policies, attestations, reviews and evidence. Compare RIA compliance software.
Collecting and reviewing access persons' holdings and transaction reports. Compare personal trading software.
Reviewing and keeping your website, social posts and other advertisements. Compare advertising review software.
Technology stacknot priced
Client records, notes and tasks; many firms price it per user. Compare CRMs for advisers.
Captures the written communications the books and records rule asks you to keep. Compare email archiving.
If you will text clients, a service that keeps and supervises the messages. Compare compliant texting.
If you will post publicly or run a firm website. Compare social media archiving.
Plans, projections and client reports. See the adviser software stack by layer.
Performance, billing, rebalancing and client reporting. See the adviser software stack by layer.
Devices, backups and the safeguards for client information. What Regulation S-P asks of your systems.
Insurancenot priced
Ask an insurance broker who places cover for advisers.
Often quoted beside professional liability.
General liability, a bond, or anything your broker, landlord or custodian asks for.
Officenot priced
Skip this line if you work from home.
The landlord's or workspace's quote.
Business lines and service.
Legal and business setupnot priced
An attorney's quote, plus your state's business filing.
The client contract you will sign with every client.
Tax filings, payroll and the books of the business.
Your own lines
not pricedAnything the list leaves out: a marketing budget, a custodian’s charge, travel, your own salary.
First-year budget, your figures
Nothing priced yet
- One-time costs0
- Recurring costs, first 12 months0
- Lines priced0 of 27
What the rules put on the listCard 01
- Form ADV initial filing fee, paid to FINRA as IARD operatoronce17 CFR 275.204-1(c)
- Annual filing fee, with each annual updating amendmentyearly17 CFR 275.204-1(c)
- Annual updating amendment, after the fiscal year end90 days17 CFR 275.204-1(a)(1)(i)
- Regulatory assets at which you must apply for SEC registration$110MForm ADV Part 1A Instruction 2.a
- Written compliance policies and procedures17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(a)
- Review of the policies, at leastannually17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(b)
- A designated chief compliance officer17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(c)
- Most books and records kept5 years17 CFR 275.204-2(e)(1)
What it computes
RIA startup costs are mostly quotes you collect: a consultant’s fee, a software subscription, an insurance premium, a lease. The estimator is the sheet you collect them on. It adds up only what you type, in whatever currency you type it, and gives three answers.
- One-time costs: every line marked one-time, added once
- Recurring costs for the first 12 months: monthly lines times 12, yearly lines once
- The lines still unpriced, each with where to get its quote
You will find no price on this page, by design. Vendor prices change, depend on firm size and are often quoted only on request, and a typical figure copied from somewhere else would sit in your budget looking like a quote you never got. Filing fees are the same: the SEC’s Form ADV fees are set out on IARD’s fee schedule, and each state sets its own. Read the amount from the source on the day you budget.
The lines follow the order a new adviser meets them in. The guide to starting an RIA walks through the same steps in prose: choosing SEC or state registration, filing Form ADV, writing the compliance program and setting up the systems that keep the records. If you are deciding between hiring and outsourcing compliance, the RIA compliance consultants comparison lists what each firm offers, so you know whom to ask for a quote.
Worked example
A sole adviser has five quotes in hand, is still waiting on an outsourced CCO’s proposal, and will not text clients. The amounts below are round example numbers chosen to show the arithmetic. They are not quotes, averages or market prices.
Example budget: round numbers, for the arithmetic only
| Line | How often | Amount entered | One-time | First 12 months, recurring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance manual and written policies | One-time | example: 1,000 | 1,000 | |
| Deposit, furniture and fit-out | One-time | example: 1,000 | 1,000 | |
| CRM | Per month | example: 100 | 1,200 | |
| Email archiving | Per month | example: 100 | 1,200 | |
| Professional liability (errors and omissions) | Per year | example: 1,000 | 1,000 | |
| Chief compliance officer (outsourced) | Per month | left empty | Not priced yet | |
| Compliant texting | Not needed | Left out | ||
| Totals | 2,000 | 3,400 |
Example numbers only. Arithmetic as the tool runs it.
The tool reports a first-year budget of 5,400 (2,000 one-time plus 3,400 recurring), five of six lines priced, and one line not needed. The two monthly lines count 12 times each, so 100 a month becomes 1,200 in the first year. The CCO line adds nothing to the total yet, but it heads the “Not priced yet” list with a link to the outsourced CCO guide, which is the point: an empty line is a reminder, never a zero.
Recurring lines also carry on after the first year. The yearly ones include the Form ADV annual filing fee, which falls due with each annual updating amendment; the Form ADV annual amendment date planner gives that date from your fiscal year end.
The rule text
Two sentences put lines on the list for every SEC-registered adviser. The first is the filing fee; the second is the person who runs the program, whether that person is an owner, an employee or an outside firm.
The same paragraph of Rule 204-1 adds that an amended Form ADV “will not be accepted by FINRA, and thus will not be considered filed with the Commission, until you have paid the filing fee.” The rule names the fee; the amount is on IARD’s fee schedule. A state-registered adviser pays what its state sets; we have not read the state schedules, so those lines are left for you to price from your state securities regulator. None of this is legal or tax advice: check the list with your compliance counsel before you commit to a budget.
Where the rule says so
8 lines in the worksheet come from a rule for SEC-registered advisers. Open a row for the rule’s words and the paragraph to cite. The full texts are on the eCFR: Rule 204-1, Rule 206(4)-7, Rule 204A-1 and Rule 204-2.
Form ADV initial filing fee (IARD)
An initial fee on the first electronic filing of Part 1A.
“You must pay FINRA (the operator of the IARD) an initial filing fee when you first electronically file Part 1A of Form ADV.”
17 CFR 275.204-1(c)
Form ADV annual filing fee
A fee each time the annual updating amendment is filed.
“After you pay the initial filing fee, you must pay an annual filing fee each time you file your annual updating amendment.”
17 CFR 275.204-1(c)
Chief compliance officer (in-house or outsourced)
A named person administers the policies.
“Designate an individual (who is a supervised person) responsible for administering the policies and procedures that you adopt under paragraph (a) of this section.”
17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(c)
Compliance manual and written policies
Written policies and procedures, adopted and implemented.
“Adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation, by you and your supervised persons, of the Act and the rules that the Commission has adopted under the Act”
17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(a)
Annual compliance review support
A review at least once a year.
“Review, no less frequently than annually, the adequacy of the policies and procedures established pursuant to this section and the effectiveness of their implementation”
17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(b)
Code of ethics and personal trading monitoring
Access persons report; the firm reviews.
“Provisions that require all of your access persons to report, and you to review, their personal securities transactions and holdings periodically as provided below;”
17 CFR 275.204A-1(a)(3)
Email archiving
Written communications on advice, funds, orders and performance are kept.
“Originals of all written communications received and copies of all written communications sent by such investment adviser relating to: (i) Any recommendation made or proposed to be made and any advice given or proposed to be given;”
17 CFR 275.204-2(a)(7)
Advisory agreement drafting or review
Every written client agreement is kept.
“All written agreements (or copies thereof) entered into by the investment adviser with any client or otherwise relating to the business of such investment adviser as such.”
17 CFR 275.204-2(a)(10)
The rule sets the duty, never the price. The program lines are explained in the guide to Rule 206(4)-7, the code of ethics line in the guide to the investment adviser code of ethics, and the archiving lines in the guide to Rule 204-2.
Lines the business puts on the list
The rest are costs of running a firm rather than duties a rule names. Whether you need each one depends on how you will work, which is why every line has a “Not needed for my firm” box.
Registration and filings
State registration or notice filing fees, Representative registration and exams, Help preparing Form ADV and Form CRS
Compliance program
Compliance software, Advertising review
Technology stack
CRM, Compliant texting, Website and social media archiving, Financial planning software, Portfolio management and reporting, Computers, IT support and security
Insurance
Professional liability (errors and omissions), Cyber liability, Other cover
Office
Deposit, furniture and fit-out, Rent or shared office membership, Phone, internet and utilities
Legal and business setup
Entity formation and operating agreement, Accounting and bookkeeping
To check the whole program rather than its budget, the RIA compliance checklist lists each duty by firm type, and the guide to the adviser software stack shows which system keeps which record.