In certain Canadian provinces, anyone can call themselves a financial planner. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says so plainly.
So the title on the business card tells you very little. What tells you a great deal is how that person gets paid.
That question does more work than any label on a website, because the labels themselves are not standardized in Canada. Here is what each payment model usually means, what the regulators actually say, what planning costs a business owner, and exactly how Ocean 6 is paid.
The ways Canadian planners get paid
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada gives three examples. In its words, you may pay:
- a fee if they help you create a financial plan
- a commission or a trading fee if they buy a stock on your behalf
- a percentage based on the value of the assets they manage for you, also called management expense ratio
These payment methods often appear under labels such as fee-only, fee-based, commission and advice-only. Because a firm may use more than one method, the label alone does not tell you how that firm is paid.
| Model | Who pays the firm | What to confirm before you sign |
|---|---|---|
| Fee-only / fee-for-service | You, directly, at a set rate. Hourly, flat, or graduated by the amount invested | Whether any affiliated business earns anything on investments or insurance |
| Fee-based | Usually you, directly, through an ongoing fee often calculated on the assets in the account | Whether any commission or embedded product compensation applies as well |
| Commission | It varies. Sometimes you, as a sales or trading charge. Sometimes the product company, from inside the product | Who receives it, how much it is, and whether it repeats every year |
| Advice-only | You, for the advice alone, with no products and no asset management | The exact scope, and what happens when it is time to implement |
None of these four is a regulated designation. They are descriptions in common use, and firms apply them with real variation.
They also overlap, which is part of why the labels confuse people. Advice-only is the narrowest of the four: like a fee-only firm it takes nothing from product companies, and unlike a fee-only firm it does not manage investments or sell products at all. You get the plan and you implement it yourself.
What does fee-only mean in Canada?
CIRO’s investor education pages say that for fee-only services, advisors charge a set rate and do not collect commissions. The set rate can be hourly, flat, or graduated according to the amount you invest.
That is guidance written for investors, not a binding definition of the term.
CIRO also discusses “fee for service” and “fee-only” together, under one heading. The two are commonly used to mean the same thing, and no Canadian regulator publishes a binding, industry-wide definition separating them.
So treat the label as a starting point for a question, not as an answer.
What is the difference between fee-only and fee-based?
Fee-only means the fee is the only money the advisor’s firm makes from you. Fee-based has no single settled meaning in Canada, so the honest answer is that it depends on who is using the word.
In securities regulation, a fee-based account usually means you pay an ongoing fee directly to the dealer, often calculated on the assets in the account, and the dealer generally receives nothing from the fund company. The Canadian Securities Administrators described it in those terms in Consultation Paper 81-408.
Elsewhere in the industry, plenty of firms use fee-based to mean a fee plus compensation from the products you buy. Both usages are in circulation. Neither one binds anybody.
So the label cannot answer the question by itself. What answers it is the complete compensation arrangement, in writing: what you pay the firm, what the firm earns if you buy what it recommends, and whether an affiliated business earns anything as well.
What is a trailing commission, and why does it matter?
A trailing commission is an ongoing payment from a fund company to the advisor’s firm, for as long as you hold the fund.
Part or all of it typically reaches the advisor personally.
CIRO makes two points about it that are worth reading twice. It comes out of the fund’s management fee rather than your account, so you may never notice it. And because different funds pay different amounts, CIRO notes it may influence an advisor’s recommendation.
It is the strongest reason to ask an advisor directly what they earn on what they recommend.
How much does financial planning cost for a business owner in Canada?
The fee you can see is rarely the expensive part.
A great deal of financial advice in Canada is offered free. It is not free. It is paid for out of the products you end up buying, and the section above describes one way that happens.
That changes what gets looked at. When advice has to arrive in a shape a product can fill, the conversation narrows to what is on the shelf, and it usually ends when the sale does rather than carrying on as your life changes.
For an incorporated business owner the parts do not sit still. The corporation, the holdco, how you pay yourself, the tax bill, the eventual exit, the family. Those parts move against each other. Advice that only ever looks at one of them cannot see how they interact, so the openings in structure, in tax and in timing are the ones least likely to get raised. Nothing about that shows up on an invoice.
Then there is the fee you can see. Ask every firm you speak with for two things in writing: the fee range, and what is included at each level. Two firms can quote the same number for very different work. Ours run from $6,500 to $25,000 a year, and the tiers are set out below.
Paying a planner directly is what makes the rest of it possible. With no product compensation sitting in the middle, the work can cover the whole picture: the business, the investments, the tax strategy, the insurance, the estate. Clients rarely describe what they got back as a number. They describe sleeping better, and saying yes to an opportunity without hesitating first.
When does a firm have to tell you what you are paying?
For investment accounts, CIRO says advisors and investment firms must explain the fees and charges you will pay at four points.
- When you open an account
- Before accepting an instruction from you to buy or sell an investment product
- After you buy or sell, in your monthly or quarterly account statements
- Within 60 days of a change in the fees you would be charged
Securities law adds an annual Charges and Compensation Report on top of those four.
If you have never received any of it, it is a fair thing to ask about.
There is a second layer for CFP professionals. FP Canada’s Standards Council requires them to disclose compensation and any conflicts of interest in writing.
How Ocean 6 is paid
Everything above applies to us too. Here it is, specifically.
Is Ocean 6 fee-only?
Our financial planning is offered on a fee-only basis. The firm as a whole is not fee-only, and we do not describe it that way.
Our financial planning is offered on a fee-only basis: you pay a transparent, flat fee for your plan, no commissions, and no obligation to use our investment or insurance services. Investment management and insurance are separate, optional services.
If you choose to use us for investments or insurance, those services come from separate Ocean 6 entities and we do earn compensation on them. That is why we say fee-only financial planning, and never fee-only firm.
Do I have to move my investments or insurance to Ocean 6?
No. Moving your investments or insurance to Ocean 6 is entirely your choice. We are proud that the majority of our clients choose to trust us with managing theirs, because of the confidence they have built in our advice and our approach. Your financial plan stands on its own, wherever your accounts are held.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada calls “financial advisor” a general term, and its own examples include an investment broker and an insurance agent. Somebody licensed to sell one thing can use the title. That matters, because a plan built by a person who can only see one part of your finances stops where their licence stops.
Most advisors offer a single service and leave you to manage everyone else. The columns below describe what a practice is set up to do. They are categories, not particular firms, and many practices sit across more than one.
| Ocean 6 | Planning only | Investments only | Insurance only | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builds the financial plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Manages investments | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Arranges insurance | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Implements the plan for you | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
The last row is the one that matters. A planning-only firm can write an excellent plan, then hand it to you to carry out. A firm that only sells investments or only sells insurance can act, but only inside its own lane. Ask any advisor which column they sit in, and who does the work after the plan is written.
The plan itself is not limited to those three lines either. We map everything into the 8 Pillars of Wealth: goals, cash flow, corporate structure, tax planning, risk management, investment management, debt management and legacy.
Your accountant and lawyer carry on doing what they do. We quarterback them, and that coordination is the centre of how we work.
What does Ocean 6 charge?
Three planning tiers, set by the complexity of your situation rather than by what we might sell you.
- Protector, $6,500 a year. A strong foundation to maintain and protect.
- Builder, $12,500 a year. Actively growing and repositioning wealth.
- Changemaker, $25,000 a year. Multiple entities, major transitions, legacy planning.
Every tier includes the full service. What changes between tiers is the depth and complexity of the work, and the seniority of the advisor your situation requires.
Investment management is optional, separate, and priced as a percentage of the assets you choose to have managed by Ocean 6 Investment Solutions Inc. That schedule is published on our pricing page alongside these tiers.
We confirm your tier on the Discovery Session. No quote and no commitment until both sides see the fit.
Which Ocean 6 entity does what?
Ocean 6 operates through three registered entities: Ocean 6 Wealth Advisory Inc. handles financial planning, led by CFP®-certified planners; Ocean 6 Investment Solutions Inc. is the investment side, a mutual fund dealer regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF); and Ocean 6 Insurance Solutions Inc. handles licensed insurance. Your investments are held by an independent, third-party custodian, not by Ocean 6 directly.
That structure is what lets the planning fee stand on its own. The fee is set by the complexity of your situation, and it does not change if you buy nothing else from us.
What a business owner should actually ask
Do not shop for a label. CIRO publishes four questions for exactly this, and the fourth is the one that matters most here.
- What are your educational and professional qualifications and experience?
- Are you registered with a firm?
- What kinds of products and services do you offer?
- How are you paid?
Ask the fourth one in full. Not the headline fee, everything: what you charge, what you earn if I follow your recommendation, and what happens if I want the plan without the products.
A planner who answers all of that plainly and quickly is worth more than one with the right word on their homepage.
This article is general educational information only. It is not personalized financial, investment, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Regulatory requirements and our fees are current as of August 2026 and can change. Your situation is unique, so please speak with your accountant and your advisor before acting.
Ocean 6 Wealth Advisory is based in Vancouver and works with incorporated business owners and their families. Book a Discovery Call and we will confirm the fit and the tier before anyone commits to anything.
Sources and references
Primary regulatory and government sources. Last reviewed August 15, 2026.
- CIRO – Fees and Costs: Supports the description of fee-only services, how trailing commissions work, the four points at which fees must be explained, and the management expense ratio.
- CIRO – Selecting an Advisor: Supports the four questions to ask an advisor, including “How are you paid?”
- CSA Consultation Paper 81-408: Supports what “fee-based” means in a securities account: an ongoing fee paid directly to the dealer, with the dealer generally receiving no compensation from the investment fund manager.
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada – Choosing a financial advisor: Supports the point that in some provinces anyone may use the financial planner title, and the three common ways advisors are paid.
- FP Canada Standards Council – Terms of Engagement: Supports the requirement that CFP professionals disclose compensation and conflicts of interest in writing.
