Looking for a financial planning business plan? You're in the right place.
A planning practice has to answer questions that a lender, a state regulator or a co-founder will raise. Do you charge for assets or for planning? How many households can one planner serve? What does registration require, and what does the insurance cost? When does the practice stop losing money? A blank template gives no sense of what a sensible answer looks like.
In this article we'll go through a complete sample plan for a fee-only planning practice in Portland, Oregon, section by section. We'll cover the executive summary, the SWOT analysis and, above all, the financials.
Here's what you'll take away:
- The fee model: compare an asset-based fee with a planning retainer for the same household, so you can defend the way you charge
- The registration and insurance checklist: see what a state-registered adviser has to file and insure before taking a first client, and plan the cost
- The capacity table: work out how many households one planner can carry, and when the next hire is due
- The start-up budget: learn how much cash a practice needs while retainers build one household at a time
- The first year, month by month: spot the months that lose money before they arrive, and plan your cash around them
- The five-year profit, cash flow and balance sheet: understand how pricing, hiring and managed assets show up in the numbers
- The downside case: have an answer ready for "what if clients arrive 20% more slowly?", with the steps the founder takes
If you're setting up a planning practice, read this before you write your own. The practice is fictional, so keep what fits and change the rest.
In this plan
If you need a financial planning business plan template for your own plan, start it in the Toolkit.
The Practice at a Glance
Alder Row Financial Planning is a fee-only planning practice that opens in Portland, Oregon on 1 January 2027. It charges households an annual retainer for ongoing planning, billed monthly, and offers investment management as an optional extra priced on assets. Founder Marisol Hale, CFP, owns 100% of the practice.
The practice needs $115,000: $90,000 of Marisol's savings and a $25,000 bank term loan. Of that, $74,500 is a cash reserve, $15,000 buys equipment and fit-out, and $25,500 pays for registration, the compliance programme and the launch campaign.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $227,785 | $453,200 | $755,700 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($52,839) | $2,857 | $70,892 |
| Closing cash | $43,520 | $39,643 | $61,342 |
The plan has registration approved before opening. Three households have signed non-binding letters of intent and turn them into advisory agreements on 2 January 2027, and the practice reaches 28 retainer households by December 2027. Year 1 is a loss because a paraplanner joins in month 11 and rent, software and insurance run from day one, while retainers build one household at a time. Operating profit is negative from January to July and positive from August. Year 2 is the first profitable year, and a very thin one at $2,857.
Planning fees of every kind bring in 96% of Year 1 revenue. Fees on managed assets are 3.6% that year and 11.0% by Year 5, when the practice manages $48 million for 48 households. At that size the practice remains a state-registered adviser.
A downside case is built in. If new households arrive 20% more slowly and Marisol delays hiring, cuts marketing and her own pay, stays in the Year 2 office and pays no distributions, the practice keeps cash above zero in all five years, with a month-end low of about $22,000.
The fee follows the complexity of a household's finances. A household with $150,000 invested and a stock-award schedule is hard to serve on an asset-based fee: at an illustrative 1% of assets it would pay $1,500 a year, too little to cover the planning hours it needs. A retainer prices those hours directly.
How the Practice Works
Legal name: Alder Row Financial Planning, LLC, an Oregon limited liability company. Owner: Marisol Hale, CFP, 100%. Regulatory status: state-registered investment adviser with the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation. Office: 900 square feet in inner Southeast Portland, moving to about 1,400 square feet in Year 2. Stage: pre-launch. The registration filing is approved before opening, so that advisory agreements are signed only after registration. Three households have signed non-binding letters of intent and will sign advisory agreements on the first working day of 2027.
What Alder Row is for
Alder Row exists to give Portland households with complicated finances and modest portfolios the same standing planning relationship that asset-based firms reserve for households with seven-figure portfolios.
What the first two years should show
- 28 retainer households by December 2027, up from 3 at launch.
- $453,200 of revenue in 2028, with a small profit.
- A senior planner in month 22 and a second paraplanner in month 32, each added as planners approach 50 households.
- Distributions from 2029, paid only from cash the model shows the practice can spare.
The services and what each costs
| Service | How it is priced | Year 1 share of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Planning retainer | $5,000, $7,200 or $9,600 a year by tier, billed monthly | 46% |
| Initial plan for each new retainer household | $3,000, billed at signing | 37% |
| One-off plans and hourly advice | $3,000 a plan, $250 an hour | 14% |
| Investment management, optional | 0.40% on the first $1 million, 0.30% above | 4% |
The three retainer tiers differ by complexity: Core covers a household with one or two income streams and straightforward goals, Standard adds equity compensation, real estate or a business interest, and Complex adds a business sale, an inheritance or a pending retirement date. Households choose a tier at the first meeting. The retainer does not change if a household also uses investment management, and the fee on assets is disclosed as a conflict of interest in the practice's Form ADV brochure. The 0.40% rate is low because it sits on top of the retainer.
Who Alder Row answers to
Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation registers advisers managing under $100 million from an Oregon office, and the practice will report to it for the whole of the plan. The SEC's own guidance is that advisers below $100 million generally may not register with it, and at $48 million of managed assets in Year 5, Alder Row stays well inside the state's perimeter. The details are in the operating section.
Portland Households and Their Options
The profession and what it earns
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted about 299,400 personal financial advisors in 2025 and put their median pay at $105,070 in May 2025, a figure that includes commissions and bonuses at product-selling firms. It projects 1% employment growth from 2025 to 2035, slower than the average for all occupations. It also notes that advisors at planning firms and self-employed advisors either charge a flat fee or earn commissions on the products they sell. The practice is built on the first of those two choices, and it competes for clients rather than waiting for new ones to enter the market.
What planning fees look like
The Kitces Research study conducted in 2018 and published in April 2019 put the median retainer for advisers who charge only retainers at $5,000 a year, the typical hourly fee at $220 and the median standalone plan at about $2,400. These are the most recent figures from a primary source that could be checked for this plan, and they are several years old. Alder Row's tier prices of $5,000, $7,200 and $9,600 are weighted 40%, 35% and 25% across households to give an average of about $6,900 (a simple average of the three tiers would be $7,267), which is 38% above that median. The gap reflects 2027 prices, a Portland cost base and a client mix weighted toward complex households.
The same household, two fee models
An asset-based fee scales with the portfolio. A planning retainer scales with the work. The table uses 1% only as a round number for the arithmetic; it is not a statement about what asset-based firms in Portland charge.
| Household's invested assets | Fee at an illustrative 1% of assets | Alder Row retainer |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 (Core) |
| $690,000 | $6,900 | $5,000 to $9,600 by tier |
| $1,500,000 | $15,000 | $5,000 to $9,600 by tier |
A household with $250,000 invested pays more under a retainer than under an asset fee, and buys more planning time with it. In the first year the cost is higher still: a Core household pays the $5,000 retainer plus the $3,000 initial plan fee, $8,000 or 3.2% of a $250,000 portfolio, falling to 2.0% from the second year. A household with $1.5 million pays less. Alder Row's model fits households whose planning needs outrun their portfolios, and the practice expects to lose some larger-portfolio households to asset-based firms.
What a household could hire instead
| Alternative | What it offers | Why a household picks it | How Alder Row differs by design |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset-based wealth manager | Planning bundled with portfolio management | One fee, one relationship, planning included | A fee set by the work, with no minimum portfolio |
| Brokerage or insurance-company planner | Planning attached to product sales | Familiar brand, low cost to start | Fee-only: no commissions and no product to sell |
| Hourly or project planner | A single plan for a fixed fee | Pay only for what is needed | A standing relationship, with updates and meetings through the year |
| CPA or tax preparer offering planning | Tax-led advice from an existing relationship | Already trusted, already has the numbers | A CFP professional whose full job is planning |
| Digital advice service | Automated portfolios and planning tools | Low fee, instant start | A named planner who knows the household's circumstances |
| Do-it-yourself with software | Calculators and spreadsheets | No cost | A second pair of eyes on decisions that are hard to reverse |
The table describes what each alternative offers and how the practice positions itself. It is not a ranking, and no firm or price is named, because fees change often and each provider publishes its own.
Where the practice is strong and where it is exposed
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| A CFP professional with twelve years of planning for households | One senior person: when Marisol is away, planning reviews wait |
| A fee that does not depend on portfolio size, which opens the market below asset-based minimums | No brand in the market yet |
| Three letters of intent before opening | Year 1 loses money and uses the reserve |
| Openings | Threats |
|---|---|
| Employer stock awards and two-income households with a growing need for planning | Asset-based firms adding lower-priced planning tiers |
| Referrals from CPAs and estate attorneys, who see the gaps | Digital services pushing the price of basic planning down |
| Investment management as a natural step for retainer households | A planner leaving mid-year, taking client knowledge |
Who Hires a Planner on Retainer
The household with a lot going on and a small portfolio
The typical client is a household of two earners aged 35 to 55, with one or two employer stock-award schedules, a mortgage, children and a 401(k), but under $500,000 invested. Asset-based firms have little reason to take them, and they know their finances are more complicated than a calculator allows.
The household approaching retirement
A household in its late fifties or early sixties often needs a single decision answered: when to stop working, how to claim Social Security and how to draw from three types of account. These households have larger portfolios, typically choose the Standard or Complex tier and are the most likely to add investment management.
The household in transition
An inheritance, a business sale, a divorce or the death of a spouse creates a planning need that is large but short. These households often start with a one-off plan at $3,000 and some become retainer households afterwards.
What triggers a call
A stock award vesting, a job offer, a tax bill that came as a surprise, a parent's illness, a first meeting with a mortgage lender. The decision to hire a planner usually follows an event.
What households ask of the practice
A plan written for their situation. A named planner who answers the phone. A fee that is the same every month, agreed before work begins.
From First Meeting to Signed Agreement
The path from enquiry to agreement
A 20-minute introductory call, a free 60-minute discovery meeting, a written proposal with a tier and a fee within two working days, and a signed agreement. Marisol takes every meeting in Year 1. The Form ADV brochure is delivered before the agreement is signed.
The Year 1 pipeline
The model reaches 28 retainer households: 3 from letters of intent signed before opening and 25 from about 62 discovery meetings at a 40% close rate. A further 8 households buy one-off plans.
| Source of new households | Year 1 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Introductions from CPAs, estate attorneys and mortgage lenders | 10 | 35.7% |
| Workshops at employers and community groups | 6 | 21.4% |
| Local search and the practice's website | 5 | 17.9% |
| Existing clients and their friends | 4 | 14.3% |
| Marisol's personal and community network (letters of intent) | 3 | 10.7% |
How a retainer is chosen and held
A household's tier follows the complexity of its finances, with notes agreed at the first meeting. Retainers bill monthly in advance by bank debit and renew each year. Prices rise 3% a year from Year 2.
Keeping households
The model has 7% of opening households leave each year from Year 2: deaths, moves, falling out of need. Households that add management or a second planning engagement are the least likely to go.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retainer households at year end | 28 | 53 | 85 | 120 | 156 |
| Households using investment management | 5 | 11 | 21 | 33 | 48 |
Growth slows in percentage terms after Year 2 because each year adds 32 to 36 net households to a larger base. Planner hiring is timed so that no planner passes about 50 households, and the practice would turn away new retainer households before it let a planner go past that.
How Introductions Turn Into Households
What the launch spends and what it should return
The Year 1 budget is $36,000: $12,000 of launch costs paid from start-up capital and $24,000 of running spend. That is 15.8% of Year 1 revenue; the share falls to 7.9% in Year 2 and 3.7% in Year 5 as referrals take over. Across 28 new retainer households, Year 1 costs about $1,290 for each, against a $3,000 initial plan fee and a retainer that averages $6,900 over a full year.
| Channel | Year 1 spend | What it is expected to do |
|---|---|---|
| Website, brand and photography (launch) | $9,000 | A site that explains the three tiers, shows prices and books a discovery meeting |
| Launch event and partner introductions (launch) | $3,000 | An evening for 25 CPAs, estate attorneys and mortgage lenders; it seeds the referral programme below and is not counted as a source of households itself |
| Referral partner programme | $6,000 | Coffee meetings, a one-page guide for partners and a thank-you note for each introduction; about 10 households |
| Workshops | $6,000 | Lunchtime sessions on stock awards and retirement timing for employers and community groups; about 6 households |
| Search and content | $7,000 | A Google Business Profile, local search advertising and a monthly article answering questions households ask; about 5 households |
| Client annual review events | $2,000 | A yearly event for households that leads to introductions; about 4 households |
| Email and CRM costs | $3,000 | A monthly newsletter and a record of every conversation |
The three households with letters of intent came from Marisol's personal and community network and carry no marketing cost.
Targets to check against
- April 2027: 9 retainer households and the first referral partner introducing a second household.
- June 2027: 14 households and the first workshop booked by an employer.
- September 2027: 21 households, about three of them using investment management.
- December 2027: 28 households and about $16,100 of monthly retainer billing.
Registration, Capacity and Systems
What Oregon asks of a new adviser
The Division of Financial Regulation's page for advisers with an Oregon office managing under $100 million lists these items: a completed Form ADV and a $200 annual fee, a $10,000 surety bond, proof of errors-and-omissions insurance of at least $1 million, a copy of the proposed client agreement, the financial statements required by its rules, and at least one licensed adviser on staff. The individual adviser representative files a Form U-4. The Division's page does not state the representative fee; Oregon's fee rule, read through a third-party mirror of the rule text, sets it at $50 initially and $50 on renewal, which should be confirmed with the Division before filing. The Division accepts the Series 65 exam, and exempts holders of designations that include the CFP certification.
The SEC's guidance is that advisers managing less than $100 million generally may not register with it, and that registration becomes required once an adviser reaches $110 million. The model's largest year-end figure is $48 million.
The CFP certification behind the founder
The CFP Board's certification page lists a bachelor's degree, approved coursework, an examination, 6,000 hours of professional experience (or 4,000 hours of apprenticeship experience), an ethics declaration and a background check. Marisol holds the certification and has logged her hours. Annual certification fees are not listed on that page, so the plan budgets CFP Board dues in a general professional-dues line instead of quoting a figure.
How much one planner can carry
A planner carries up to about 50 retainer households. Each one takes about 22 planner hours a year: four meetings of 75 minutes, preparation and review, ad hoc questions and a yearly plan update. A new household takes a further 14 hours to build the first plan, and a one-off plan takes about 14. At 50 households with 12 new ones and 12 one-off plans, that is about 1,440 hours out of roughly 1,500 client hours a planner has after management, marketing and continuing education. A paraplanner supports every two planners.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retainer households at year end | 28 | 53 | 85 | 120 | 156 |
| Planners at year end | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Households per planner | 28.0 | 26.5 | 42.5 | 40.0 | 39.0 |
| Revenue per planner | $227,785 | $226,600 | $377,850 | $366,400 | $368,575 |
The office and the technology
The office is 900 square feet in inner Southeast Portland, at about $31 a square foot and costing $28,000 in Year 1, with a meeting room and desks for three. The practice moves to about 1,400 square feet in Year 2. Most meetings are held in person or by video. Technology covers financial planning software, a client portal and CRM, a rebalancing platform, a custodian for client assets, email archiving for the books-and-records rules, and cyber-security tools. Software costs $15,000 in Year 1 and $50,000 by Year 5. The practice does not hold client assets itself; a third-party custodian does.
Insurance and the continuity plan
Insurance is budgeted at $9,000 in Year 1 and covers the $1 million errors-and-omissions policy, the bond, cyber liability, general liability and workers' compensation, plus disability cover on Marisol. A written continuity agreement names a planner at another Portland practice who would care for households for up to 90 days if Marisol were unable to work.
Specialists outside the payroll
An outside compliance consultant reviews the compliance manual each year, a CPA prepares the practice's own tax return and an employment lawyer is on call for the first hires. Professional fees are $12,000 in Year 1 and $20,000 by Year 5.
Marisol Hale and the Team
Marisol Hale, CFP, founder and lead planner
Marisol spent twelve years in planning at a Portland wealth manager, joining as an associate and becoming lead planner for about 60 households. She holds the CFP certification and a degree in economics. The $85,000 she invests is eleven years of savings. She is leaving to run a practice built around planning and not around portfolio size. She has reviewed the non-solicitation terms of her former employer with a lawyer, and the three households with letters of intent came through her personal and community network.
Skills the founder still has to buy in
Marisol has not built an adviser registration or compliance programme, has not hired people for her own practice and has not run a marketing programme from nothing. The plan covers these with an outside compliance consultant, an employment lawyer on call, and a referral programme run on a fixed weekly schedule. A mentor who runs a 15-person planning practice in Beaverton reviews the first-year numbers each quarter.
Continuity if the founder cannot work
Marisol is the only CFP professional at launch, so the practice carries disability cover on her and a written continuity agreement. The senior planner hired in month 22 is a CFP professional, which ends the dependence on one person from that point.
Who owns the practice and what the bank holds
Marisol owns 100% of Alder Row Financial Planning, LLC and gives the bank a personal guarantee. The loan agreement carries a covenant requiring quarterly accounts.
The Five-Year Model
One model sits behind every table here: month by month for 2027, then a full year at a time through 2031. The planning figures are listed first, so a reader can check each figure against the reason it was chosen.
Launch funding and the first-year reserve
| Use of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Laptops, monitors, secure phones, printer-scanner | $8,000 |
| Office furniture and fit-out | $7,000 |
| Adviser and representative registration, state filing fees | $1,500 |
| Compliance programme, Form ADV and advisory agreement, entity set-up | $12,000 |
| Launch: website, brand, referral-partner introductions | $12,000 |
| Cash reserve for the first two years | $74,500 |
| Total uses | $115,000 |
| Source of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Marisol Hale's savings | $90,000 |
| Bank term loan | $25,000 |
| Total sources | $115,000 |
Marisol Hale puts in $90,000 of her own savings, 78% of the $115,000 total, and borrows $25,000 from a bank over seven years. The interest rate (10.5%) and the twelve interest-only months are illustrations for this example, not a lender's quote, and the bank asks for a personal guarantee. The $74,500 reserve is sized to the operating shortfall. Before start-up costs, Year 1 operations consume $30,980 of cash and Year 2 consumes a further $719, so the reserve covers about $31,700 of burn with a margin on top. Month-end cash reaches its low in July 2027, at about $23,000 after receivables, roughly one month of Year 1 operating costs. The loan is small on purpose: it keeps that margin in place for $2,625 of interest in Year 1 without asking for more of Marisol's savings.
What the numbers rest on
- Planning retainers average about $6,900 a year per household, or $575 a month, billed monthly in advance. Three tiers, weighted across households, produce that average: Core at $5,000 (40% of households), Standard at $7,200 (35%) and Complex at $9,600 (25%). The weighted figure is $6,920; a simple average of the three tiers would be $7,267. Prices rise 3% a year from Year 2. The Kitces Research study of 2018 put the median retainer for advisers who charge only retainers at $5,000 a year, so this plan sits above that median and should be read as a Portland, 2027, higher-complexity case.
- The plan has registration approved before opening. Three households have signed non-binding letters of intent and sign advisory agreements on 2 January 2027, after approval, and the practice ends Year 1 with 28 households. Year-end households run 28, 53, 85, 120 and 156. From Year 2, 7% of opening households leave each year (2, 4, 6 and 8 households), so gross new households are 28, 27, 36, 41 and 44. Year 2 revenue is 99% above Year 1 because the average household count rises from about 15 to 41.
- Every new retainer household pays a one-time initial plan fee of $3,000 for the first comprehensive plan, against about $2,400 as the median standalone plan fee in the same Kitces study. The fee is billed at signing and rises 3% a year. In the first year a household on the Core tier therefore pays $8,000, which is 3.2% of a $250,000 portfolio and 2.0% from the second year; the model expects such households to come to the practice because their earnings, not their assets, are the planning problem.
- Households that do not want a retainer buy a one-off plan at $3,000 or hourly advice at $250 an hour. Year 1 holds 8 plans and 28 hours, $31,000 in total, then $50,000 to $92,000 a year.
- Investment management is optional and priced at 0.40% a year on the first $1 million of a household's managed assets and 0.30% above, which blends to about 0.40% at the $1.0 million average the model uses. This is low for a firm that bundles planning into the fee, and it is low on purpose: the household already pays a retainer. A higher fee would raise revenue, and the model does not depend on one. About 18% of households take management in Year 1, rising to 31% in Year 5, so managed assets run $5, $11, $21, $33 and $48 million at year end. Those figures already include new savings and market movement; investment returns are not forecast. The practice stays far below the $100 million level where the SEC becomes the regulator.
- Direct costs average about 2% of revenue: card and bank-debit fees on retainers and plan fees, and a rebalancing platform charged at 12% of management-fee revenue.
- Capacity governs hiring. A planner carries up to about 50 retainer households: roughly 22 planner hours per household a year, 14 hours to build each new household's plan and 14 hours per one-off plan, which comes to about 1,440 of the 1,500 client hours a planner has after management, marketing and continuing education. There is one paraplanner for every two planners. Each hire is timed for when planners would otherwise reach 46 to 51 households each, and year-end households per planner stay between 27 and 43.
- Payroll adds 27% to wages for payroll taxes, health cover, Oregon paid-leave contributions, workers' compensation and a retirement match. Wages in the personnel table are launch rates; 3% annual pay raises are charged as a separate line from Year 2. Marisol's $105,000 is close to the BLS median for personal financial advisors ($105,070 in May 2025).
- Insurance of $9,000 in Year 1 covers the $1 million errors-and-omissions policy and $10,000 surety bond that the Oregon registration page lists, plus cyber, general liability and workers' compensation. It is a planning figure for the example, not a quotation.
- Rent is set on 900 square feet in inner Southeast Portland at about $31 a square foot in Year 1, then about 1,400 square feet at about $34 from Year 2. An Oregon LLC would normally be taxed as a pass-through, so the owner would pay the tax personally. The model charges corporate rates anyway, as a cautious placeholder: 21% federal and 6.6% Oregon corporate excise on the first $1 million of income, with the Year 1 loss carried forward. The Oregon Corporate Activity Tax and Portland and Multnomah County business taxes are not modelled.
- Receivables average 10 days: retainers are collected by bank debit in advance, initial plan fees at signing, and management fees quarterly from the custodian.
- Owner distributions of $40,000, $70,000 and $150,000 are paid in Years 3 to 5, only from cash the model shows the firm can spare.
Revenue by fee type
| Revenue stream | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planning retainers (monthly) | $104,650 | $287,800 | $505,100 | $772,800 | $1,071,700 |
| Initial plan fees (new households) | $84,000 | $83,400 | $114,600 | $134,400 | $148,600 |
| One-off plans and hourly advice | $31,000 | $50,000 | $72,000 | $84,000 | $92,000 |
| Investment management fees (assets) | $8,135 | $32,000 | $64,000 | $108,000 | $162,000 |
| Total revenue | $227,785 | $453,200 | $755,700 | $1,099,200 | $1,474,300 |
| Growth on prior year | – | 99% | 67% | 45% | 34% |
Retainers carry the business from the first month and grow from 46% of revenue in Year 1 to 73% in Year 5. Initial plan fees are 37% of Year 1 revenue because every new household pays one, and fall to 10% as growth slows. Management fees, the only line that depends on the size of a portfolio, are 3.6% of revenue in Year 1 and 11.0% in Year 5. Planning fees of every kind make up 96% of Year 1 revenue and 89% of Year 5.
Month by month through 2027
| Month | Planning retainers (monthly) | Initial plan fees (new households) | One-off plans and hourly advice | Investment management fees (assets) | Total revenue | EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2027 | $1,725 | $9,000 | $0 | $0 | $10,725 | ($9,939) |
| Feb 2027 | $2,875 | $6,000 | $0 | $0 | $8,875 | ($11,754) |
| Mar 2027 | $4,025 | $6,000 | $2,000 | $100 | $12,125 | ($8,567) |
| Apr 2027 | $5,175 | $6,000 | $2,500 | $200 | $13,875 | ($6,851) |
| May 2027 | $6,900 | $9,000 | $3,000 | $333 | $19,233 | ($1,597) |
| Jun 2027 | $8,050 | $6,000 | $3,000 | $500 | $17,550 | ($3,247) |
| Jul 2027 | $9,200 | $6,000 | $3,000 | $667 | $18,867 | ($1,956) |
| Aug 2027 | $10,925 | $9,000 | $3,000 | $867 | $23,792 | $2,874 |
| Sep 2027 | $12,075 | $6,000 | $3,500 | $1,067 | $22,642 | $1,746 |
| Oct 2027 | $13,225 | $6,000 | $3,500 | $1,267 | $23,992 | $3,070 |
| Nov 2027 | $14,375 | $6,000 | $3,500 | $1,467 | $25,342 | $4,393 |
| Dec 2027 | $16,100 | $9,000 | $4,000 | $1,667 | $30,767 | $9,713 |
Monthly revenue is uneven because initial plan fees follow signings: it dips in February, June and September, when two households sign instead of three. EBITDA, which is profit before interest, depreciation and tax, is negative from January to July and positive from August. The model applies no seasonal pattern, since fee-only planning has no filing season to follow. The lowest month-end cash balance is in Jul 2027, at about $23,000 after allowing 10 days for receivables.
Planners, associates and support staff
| Role | Annual wage | Starts | Year 1 end | Year 2 end | Year 3 end | Year 4 end | Year 5 end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founder and lead planner (CFP) | $105,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Planning associate (paraplanner) | $62,000 | Month 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Client service associate | $50,000 | Month 20 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Senior planner (CFP) | $102,000 | Month 22 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Second planning associate (paraplanner) | $62,000 | Month 32 | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Second senior planner (CFP) | $106,000 | Month 42 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Second client service associate | $50,000 | Month 46 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Associate planner (CFP) | $92,000 | Month 54 | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Total payroll incl. on-costs | $146,473 | $270,933 | $437,938 | $578,273 | $750,147 |
Marisol works alone until a planning associate joins in month 11, at about 25 households. A client service associate follows in month 20 and a senior planner in month 22, when the founder alone would otherwise carry about 49 households. The second paraplanner starts in month 32 (about 74 households), the second senior planner in month 42 (about 101 households, 50 a planner before the hire and 34 after it), a second service associate in month 46 and an associate planner in month 54, at about 138 households. The within-year household counts are interpolations, since the model is annual after Year 1. Marisol's $105,000 is paid from month 1 and is already inside the costs, so profit is what remains after her salary.
Profit and loss
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $227,785 | $453,200 | $755,700 | $1,099,200 | $1,474,300 |
| Direct costs (card and bank-debit fees, rebalancing platform) | ($4,426) | ($8,806) | ($14,684) | ($21,358) | ($28,646) |
| Gross profit | $223,359 | $444,394 | $741,016 | $1,077,842 | $1,445,654 |
| Payroll incl. on-costs | ($146,473) | ($270,933) | ($437,938) | ($578,273) | ($750,147) |
| Rent | ($28,000) | ($48,000) | ($49,500) | ($51,000) | ($52,500) |
| Utilities | ($3,000) | ($4,200) | ($4,300) | ($4,400) | ($4,500) |
| Marketing | ($24,000) | ($36,000) | ($46,000) | ($50,000) | ($54,000) |
| Insurance | ($9,000) | ($11,500) | ($14,500) | ($16,500) | ($19,000) |
| Professional fees | ($12,000) | ($16,000) | ($18,000) | ($19,000) | ($20,000) |
| Software subscriptions | ($15,000) | ($26,000) | ($34,000) | ($42,000) | ($50,000) |
| CFP Board dues, continuing education and Oregon renewals | ($3,000) | ($4,500) | ($6,000) | ($6,500) | ($8,000) |
| Phones, supplies, postage and client meetings | ($4,000) | ($5,200) | ($6,000) | ($6,500) | ($7,000) |
| Equipment replacement and new-hire kit | $0 | ($4,000) | ($3,000) | ($4,000) | ($6,000) |
| Bad debt allowance | ($1,000) | ($2,000) | ($3,000) | ($4,000) | ($5,000) |
| Annual pay raises (3% a year) | $0 | ($8,128) | ($26,670) | ($53,622) | ($94,150) |
| EBITDA | ($22,114) | $7,933 | $92,108 | $242,047 | $375,357 |
| Depreciation | ($2,600) | ($2,600) | ($2,600) | ($2,600) | ($2,600) |
| Interest | ($2,625) | ($2,476) | ($2,128) | ($1,742) | ($1,313) |
| Income tax | $0 | $0 | ($16,488) | ($62,312) | ($97,370) |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($27,339) | $2,857 | $70,892 | $175,393 | $274,074 |
| Start-up costs expensed at opening (compliance programme, registration, launch marketing) | ($25,500) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($52,839) | $2,857 | $70,892 | $175,393 | $274,074 |
Year 1 loses $27,339 before start-up costs and $52,839 after them. Year 2 is the first profitable year, at only $2,857, and pays no income tax because the Year 1 loss is carried forward. EBITDA margin is 1.8% in Year 2, 12.2% in Year 3, 22.0% in Year 4 and 25.5% in Year 5. Margins widen because hires wait for planners to reach capacity: Year 3 adds one paraplanner, and the second senior planner arrives in month 42.
Cash movements
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | ($56,480) | ($719) | $65,205 | $168,582 | $266,397 |
| Equipment and fit-out | ($15,000) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Funding received | $115,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Loan principal repaid | $0 | ($3,158) | ($3,506) | ($3,892) | ($4,321) |
| Owner distributions | $0 | $0 | ($40,000) | ($70,000) | ($150,000) |
| Net change in cash | $43,520 | ($3,877) | $21,699 | $94,690 | $112,076 |
| Closing cash | $43,520 | $39,643 | $61,342 | $156,032 | $268,108 |
Cash stays positive in every year. The lowest year-end balance is $39,643 at the end of Year 2, when operations are roughly cash-neutral. Distributions begin in Year 3, once the balance sheet can carry them. The loan is repaid on its original schedule, with no early payment.
Balance sheet
| At year end | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $43,520 | $39,643 | $61,342 | $156,032 | $268,108 |
| Accounts receivable | $6,241 | $12,416 | $20,704 | $30,115 | $40,392 |
| Equipment and fit-out (net) | $12,400 | $9,800 | $7,200 | $4,600 | $2,000 |
| Total assets | $62,161 | $61,860 | $89,246 | $190,747 | $310,500 |
| Bank loan | $25,000 | $21,842 | $18,336 | $14,444 | $10,123 |
| Paid-in capital | $90,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 |
| Retained earnings | ($52,839) | ($49,982) | ($19,090) | $86,303 | $210,377 |
| Total liabilities and equity | $62,161 | $61,860 | $89,246 | $190,747 | $310,500 |
Break-even and the ratios behind it
| Measure | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBITDA margin | -9.7% | 1.8% | 12.2% | 22.0% | 25.5% |
| Net margin (before start-up costs) | -12.0% | 0.6% | 9.4% | 16.0% | 18.6% |
| Payroll incl. pay raises as share of revenue | 64% | 62% | 61% | 57% | 57% |
| Revenue per full-time equivalent at year end | $113,893 | $113,300 | $151,140 | $157,029 | $184,288 |
| Average monthly revenue | $18,982 | $37,767 | $62,975 | $91,600 | $122,858 |
| Monthly revenue needed to cover operating costs | $20,861 | $37,092 | $55,147 | $71,030 | $90,959 |
| Debt service cover (EBITDA / interest + principal) | -8.4x | 1.4x | 16.3x | 43.0x | 66.6x |
A year breaks even when its average month brings in more than the needed figure beside it in the ratios table. Year 1 averages $18,982 against $20,861 needed, so it loses money. Year 2 averages $37,767 against $37,092, a narrow pass. Debt service cover is negative in Year 1, because EBITDA is below zero while interest is being paid, and is 1.4x in Year 2 and above 16x from Year 3.
If new households arrive 20% more slowly
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $182,228 | $362,560 | $604,560 | $879,360 | $1,179,440 |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($40,541) | $9,256 | $46,162 | $117,588 | $152,542 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($66,041) | $9,256 | $46,162 | $117,588 | $152,542 |
| Closing cash | $31,566 | $35,324 | $73,951 | $182,718 | $325,317 |
This case cuts every revenue line by 20% in every year, which in practice means households arrive 20% more slowly and fewer opt into management. The response: every hire from month 13 starts six months later, marketing is cut by 20%, Marisol takes a 20% pay cut, the firm stays in its Year 2 office and no distributions are paid. The third planner is kept (the second senior planner starts in month 48 instead of 42), because two planners would be carrying about 62 households each by Year 5. The pay cut and the marketing cut are applied from January 2027, as if the shortfall were known in advance; in practice they would follow it by some months, and the true low point would sit below the one shown. On those terms the lowest year-end cash is $31,566, the lowest month-end cash is about $22,000 in August 2027 (close to the base case, because the cuts apply from the start) and the practice is profitable from Year 2. Year 2 profit of $9,256 is above the base case's $2,857 because the response saves about $95,000 (delayed hires $61,000, Marisol's pay $27,000, marketing $7,000) against about $89,000 of lost gross profit; it is the response working, not a forecast, and for several months of Year 2 Marisol would carry about 51 households alone, a stretch above her 50-household ceiling that she accepts. Year 5 profit is $152,542, 44% below the base case, as the hires that return are paid for from a smaller book. Equity at the end of Year 1 is $23,959, thin enough that the firm would speak to its bank about the covenant before the year ended. Closing cash in later years is higher than in the base case only because no distributions are paid. Without the response, the same shortfall would leave about $100 of cash at the end of Year 1 and a negative balance during Year 2.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Personal financial advisors, Occupational Outlook Handbook: May 2025 median pay, 2025 employment and 2025 to 2035 projection.
- Kitces Research, average financial planning fees by model, study conducted 2018, published April 2019.
- Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, investment advisers registration: Form ADV, fee, surety bond, errors-and-omissions insurance and representative exam requirements.
- Oregon Administrative Rules, OAR 441-175-0002, adviser and representative licence fees (text via Oregon Public Law).
- SEC, Investment advisers, registration thresholds for small, mid-sized and large advisers.
- CFP Board, How to get certified, education, examination, experience and ethics requirements.
- Oregon Department of Revenue, revenue streams, corporate excise tax rate of 6.6% on the first $1 million of taxable income.
Create a plan as complete as this one
Pick the amount of help you want.
Do it yourself
$197 Toolkit, 12 months
Build your plan with the AI Wizard and every tool you need, at your own pace.
Start my plan →Done with you
$497 Toolkit Plus, 12 months
Our AI builds the plan with you, section by section, from your answers.
Want a person too? Upgrade to a consultation with an MBA graduate.
See Toolkit Plus →Done for you
From $1,997 written for you
We research and write the whole plan, and you review the finished draft.
See the writing service →That is the example. For your own business, the financial planning business plan template walks you through each section.