Empower Personal Strategy Review 2026: Pros, Cons and How It Compares - NerdWallet

Our Take

4.0

NerdWallet rating

Reviewed in: Oct. 2025

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2025

The bottom line:

Empower Personal Strategy has fees that are on the higher end. All clients have access to a team of financial advisors; those with at least $250,000 invested get two dedicated financial advisors.

Fees

• 0.49%-0.89% management fee
• Account minimum: $100,000

Promotion: None, no promotion available at this time

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Individual securities available.
• Comprehensive investment management tools.
• Dedicated financial advisors for balances $250,000 or more.
• Advanced tax optimization strategy.

Cons

• $100,000 account minimum.
• High management fee.

Full Review

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Where Empower Personal Strategy shines

Advisor access: Empower Personal Strategy gives you access to either a team of advisors or two dedicated advisors depending on your account balance. All advisors are fiduciaries and certified financial planners (CFPs) are available upon request.

Where Empower Personal Strategy falls short

High minimums: Empower requires new clients to have at least $100,000 in assets under management. This is high considering the minimal financial planning services the firm offers to investors at that level. You could get similar service for a cheaper fee elsewhere.

Tax and estate planning help: Tax planning is only available to wealth management clients with at least $250,000 and estate planning is only available to private clients with at least $1 million.

Alternatives to consider:

For low minimums and fees: Vanguard Personal Advisor

For tax planning and estate guidance: Facet

Empower Personal Strategy at a glance

| Costs and minimums | Empower's client minimum is $100,000. Fees are based on assets under management and the client's needs. For each tier, the specified fee rate is applied only to the portion of the client’s assets that falls within that tier: | First $1 million: 0.89%. | Up to $3 million: 0.79%. | Next $2 million ($3 million to $5 million): 0.69%. | Next $5 million ($5 million to $10 million): 0.59%. | Amount over $10 million: 0.49%. |

| Advisor expertise | Advisors aren't always certified financial planners, but CFPs are available upon request. Clients also have access to financial planning specialists, tax, estate, insurance, Social Security, and equity compensation specialists, plus dedicated operations teams. |

| Scope of advice offered | Clients with $100,000 to $250,000 in investment assets receive advice and retirement planning help, as well as tools for tax optimization, rebalancing, allocation, and education planning. Clients with $250,000 to $1 million get dedicated advice, access to specialists, and a customized portfolio. Those with over $1 million get one-on-one Private Client status, with customized investment plans, two dedicated advisors, in-depth tax specialists, legacy and estate planning, and access to private equity and banking options. |

| Advisor accessibility | Clients with $100,000 up to $250,000 work with an advisory team. Those with $250,000 or more have two dedicated advisors. All advisors are held to the fiduciary standard. Clients are given a direct phone line to their advisors. |

| Transparency | Empower is a fee-only RIA. |

| Portfolio construction | The firm says its core asset allocation approach is tailored to each client’s retirement plan. Portfolios are primarily stocks, ETFs, and fixed income but may also include real estate and commodities. Clients with at least $1 million can get into a diversified private equity fund. Crypto is available on a customized basis through ETFs. Empower also offers ESG portfolios. |

What to know about Empower Personal Strategy's account minimum and fees

• Empower Personal Strategy has a $100,000 minimum, which feels mismatched with the services it offers to clients with that level of assets. Similar services typically have lower minimums. Whereas financial advisors we review that set higher minimums tend to offer more comprehensive services, similar to what Empower offers to clients with at least $250,000 in AUM.
• Empower Personal Strategy investors pay 0.89% of their assets managed on their first $1 million. Managing your investments with a traditional financial advisor can cost significantly more than working with Empower; the average advisor charges more than 1% of assets managed. At higher balances with its private client service, Empower drops its fee further, ranging from 0.79% on your first $3 million to as low as 0.49% for over $10 million.
• Empower Personal Strategy’s annual fee is all-inclusive, meaning there is no setup or onboarding fee.
• Clients have to pay the expense ratios of the exchange-traded funds included in the portfolio in addition to the management fee. At Empower those fees are fairly low, averaging only 0.07%. These fees are charged by the investment funds, not Empower.