Flat-fee financial advisor with investment management, tax planning, and estate planning
If you want investment management, tax planning, and estate planning coordinated under one clear quarterly fee instead of an AUM fee, this is the flat-fee relationship model to compare. Flames Planning adds comprehensive planning, proactive tax guidance, completed-return review, and Wealth.com estate-document access to the Access investment foundation. Premier adds advanced planning and eligible individual-return preparation through a designated independent tax partner.
Reviewed July 10, 2026 by Joel Miller, CFP, founder of Flames Financial Planning.
Short answer
This page is for households looking for more than portfolio management. The question is whether one flat-fee advisor can coordinate investments, tax planning, and estate planning guidance without charging a percentage of assets.
Flames Financial Planning is a Minnesota-based flat-fee financial advisor that can coordinate investment management, tax planning, and estate planning guidance through a fixed quarterly membership instead of an AUM fee.
Planning and Premier include day-one access for both spouses or partners to Wealth.com's client-directed will-based and revocable-living-trust document platform. Flames FP facilitates the process but does not draft legal documents or provide legal advice; individualized attorney advice is separate. Planning includes proactive tax guidance and review of one completed personal return but no preparation or filing. Only eligible Premier includes covered individual-return preparation through the designated independent tax partner.
Access is $150 per quarter ($600 annualized), Planning is $900 per quarter ($3,600 annualized), and Premier is $1,650 per quarter ($6,600 annualized). Memberships are billed quarterly in advance with no annual commitment. Canceling prevents the next quarterly renewal; service continues through the paid, nonrefundable quarter.
What belongs together
A flat-fee financial advisor with investment management, tax planning, and estate planning should show how those decisions interact. Investment moves create tax consequences, tax decisions affect retirement income, and estate decisions affect family wealth, beneficiaries, and long-term planning.
Portfolio decisions should be built around your plan, risk tolerance, tax picture, income needs, and time horizon.
Explore the dedicated investment-management serviceTax planning helps connect investments, Roth conversions, charitable giving, retirement withdrawals, and business or equity-comp decisions.
Estate guidance helps organize beneficiaries and family wealth decisions. Planning and Premier include day-one access to Wealth.com's client-directed will and trust document platform, facilitated by Flames FP without legal drafting or legal advice.
Explore the dedicated estate-planning guidance serviceNo AUM fee requirement
Yes. AUM pricing is one way financial advisors charge, but it is not the only way. Under a flat-fee model, your advisory fee is not automatically tied to how much money you keep invested with the firm.
What to compare
When comparing advisors, do not only ask what the fee is. Ask whether the advisor truly provides investment management, tax planning, and estate planning guidance under one flat fee, or whether those services are separate, limited, or tied to AUM pricing.
| Question to Ask | Why It Matters | How Flames FP Is Positioned |
|---|---|---|
| Do you provide investment management, tax planning, and estate planning under one flat fee? | This is the exact bundled-service question many households are trying to answer. | Planning and Premier coordinate those services through fixed quarterly memberships, with eligible Premier tax preparation completed by the designated independent tax partner. |
| Do you charge a percentage of my portfolio? | AUM fees often rise as your portfolio grows. | Flames FP uses fixed quarterly membership pricing with no AUM fee or investment minimum. |
| Do you include tax planning? | Investment and retirement decisions often have tax consequences. | Planning includes proactive tax guidance and review of one completed personal return but no preparation or filing. Premier adds advanced tax projections and strategy. |
| Can you help with tax filing? | Tax filing can reveal planning opportunities and coordination gaps. | Only Premier members who join by September 30 of the tax year and remain active through filing receive preparation and filing of one federal individual return and all required state individual returns through the designated independent tax partner. |
| Do you coordinate estate planning? | Beneficiaries, legacy goals, and family wealth decisions affect the plan. | Planning and Premier include day-one Wealth.com client-directed will and revocable-trust document access. Flames FP facilitates the process but does not draft legal documents or provide legal advice. |
A flat-fee advisor is not automatically better for every household. But if you want one relationship covering investment management, tax planning, and estate planning guidance without a portfolio-based fee, the flat-fee model can be easier to understand and compare.
Best fit
This structure is most useful when your financial life is bigger than a portfolio allocation and you do not want to split investments, taxes, retirement, and estate planning questions across multiple advisors.
Households coordinating savings, taxes, retirement accounts, equity compensation, insurance, investment management, and estate decisions under a clear quarterly fee.
Families that want financial planning, tax-aware investing, benefits decisions, cash flow, insurance, and long-term goals coordinated before complexity grows.
Households making decisions about retirement timing, Roth conversions, Social Security, Medicare, and withdrawal strategy.
Households that need tax-aware retirement income planning, RMD guidance, beneficiary coordination, and ongoing advice.
Client proof
When investment, tax, retirement, and estate planning decisions are connected, the relationship should feel more personal and responsive. These short Google review excerpts reinforce that point. See Google reviews.
Coordinated planning
"Joel Miller offers a customized, personalized plan for financial health, investments, retirement planning, tax planning, wills, estate planning and more."
Individual service
"Joel has been a great asset to our financial planning."
Clear goals
"They helped me organize my finances and set clear family goals."
Client testimonials from Google reviews. Reviewers were not compensated. Individual experiences vary and are not indicative of future results or outcomes.
Free planning dashboard
The Flames Financial Dashboard gives households a free way to organize net worth, budgeting, goals, debt, insurance, estate documents, and planning questions. The advisor relationship adds judgment, implementation, and coordination across investments, taxes, retirement, and estate planning.
Use the dashboard to see what is missing, what is on track, and which planning questions keep repeating.
When investment, tax, retirement, and estate decisions start affecting each other, the paid relationship becomes the decision layer.
The dashboard helps you see the plan. The advisor relationship helps you make the decisions.
Related videos
These videos support the one-flat-fee bundle by showing how taxable investment strategy and estate documents fit into coordinated planning.
Tax-aware investing
ETFs are simple and useful, but in a taxable brokerage account, direct indexing may create more tax-planning flexibility for the right household.
Open the video guideEstate planning
Estate planning is not only for older or ultra-wealthy families. The basic documents help make sure someone can act for you and your assets go where you intended.
Open the video guideFAQ
Yes. Flames Planning and Premier combine investment management, tax planning, estate planning guidance, and retirement planning through fixed quarterly memberships instead of AUM fees. Planning includes completed-return review but no preparation or filing; only Premier members who join by September 30 of the tax year and remain active through filing receive preparation and filing of one federal individual return and all required state individual returns through the designated independent tax partner.
Yes. Flames FP charges fixed quarterly membership fees with no AUM fee or investment minimum. Planning and Premier coordinate investment management, tax planning, retirement, and estate guidance; Planning and Premier also include day-one access to Wealth.com's client-directed document platform.
Yes. Many households want retirement planning layered on top of investment management, tax planning, and estate planning guidance. Flames FP can coordinate retirement income planning, Roth conversions, Social Security, Medicare, and withdrawal strategy alongside the core bundle.
Planning and Premier include day-one access for both spouses or partners to Wealth.com's client-directed will-based and revocable-living-trust document platform. Flames FP facilitates the process and planning inputs but does not draft legal documents or provide legal advice; individualized attorney advice is separate.
Portfolio changes, capital gains, Roth conversions, withdrawals, charitable giving, and business or equity-comp decisions can all affect taxes. Coordinating investments and tax planning can lead to better-informed decisions.
Watch and learn
Start with three videos selected for this page, then use the controls to explore every published Flames FP video guide.
Videos 1–3 of 14
Next step
Schedule a discovery call to see which Flames FP membership best matches the planning work your household needs.
