Tiers by role. One retainer.
The partner at $900, the associate at $300, drawn from one retainer. The record knows who worked the hour and what it costs the client.
Industries · Professional advisors
The retainer draws down. You see it before the client does.
A $12,500 retainer is 25 hours only you know. Ceed keeps the count, holds the hour that would cross it, and computes the invoice from the engagement letter.
For advisory firms of two to fifty people. Ceed never holds client money or custody.
Marlow Fastener · August · exit advisoryHeld
28.0 of 25 h
Wed 19 Aug · 3.0 h · Quality-of-earnings binder, buyer’s second request list · Marcus T.
Held for approval. 3.0 h over the retainer.
ApproveDecline
$12,500
the monthly retainer
25 h
the hours behind it
$500
the hour past it
$12.50
Ceed, this month
A time log at invoice. Or a count every morning.
The advisor itemizes a time log when the invoice is drafted. The client reads that the retainer is nearly exhausted, and the conversation about the extra hours happens on the worst day for it, with the invoice in hand.
Ceed counts every entry against the retainer as it is logged, associates included. The hour that would cross 25 waits for the partner, and the client hears about it that week, from you, before anything is invoiced.
“I sent my first invoice, itemizing all of the time/hours... It nearly exhausts the $25k retainer... He’s looking over my time log (which I absolutely despised creating), and he’s surprised/frustrated about it.”
u/CFP25, r/CFP, August 2025.
Held. Not hidden.
The hour that would push a client over budget is saved, marked, and waits for a yes or no. Nothing is billed quietly. Nothing disappears.
- Logged
3.0 h · Marlow Fastener · Diligence binder
- Held
Over the 25-hour retainer. Waiting for Claire.
- Approved
On the August invoice at $500. The success fee waits for the close.
One set of hours. Everything follows.
Collectives. One invoice, three statements.
A retainer split among three advisors is one invoice to the client and three statements, each computed from the hours its advisor logged.
Never custody. Never the money.
Ceed never holds a client’s money. The client pays your firm’s own bank. Ceed is the record the invoice and the statements are computed from.
Invoice · Marlow Fastener · August 2026Computed
Exit advisory retainer · 25 h$12,500.00
Approved hours past the retainer · 3.0 h at $500.00$1,500.00
Total$14,000.00
Computed from the engagement letter dated 2 Feb 2026. The success fee is invoiced at close, from the same letter.
From the field. In their words.
What advisors say in public about hourly billing, retainers, success fees and getting paid. Linked and dated. Not our words.
Said on X.
Hourly pricing illustrates the gap particularly well: advisors charge an average of approximately $300 per hour, yet spend nearly 2 hours on unbillable activities for every billed hour.
I encourage people to only hire a flat-fee financial planner, with or without investment management.
Without investment management is called advice-only financial planning, available as an hourly, project-based, and ongoing service.
Working with a qualified professional isn’t inexpensive.
But, for these families, paying a flat, one-time fee is worth it for the clarity and confidence they gain as they head into their next chapter.
Said on YouTube.
Said elsewhere.
- YouTubeGuide to Fee Models for New Financial AdvisorsAdvise Wise · February 2025 · fee models with real firms
- RedditI tried hourly billing, and I hated itr/CFP · August 2025 · a $25,000 retainer discovered at the invoice, 134 comments
- RedditGetting paid a flat feer/CFP · February 2026 · deposits, invoicing and receivables that reach a year
- RedditFlat fee retainer vs AUMr/CFP · July 2026 · tiered flat retainers billed monthly or quarterly
- ArticleM&A Fee Guide 2024 to 2025, US editionFirmex, Axial and Divestopedia · August 2025 · 212 advisors on retainers and success fees
- ArticleHow financial advisors actually charge for their servicesKitces Research · June 2025 · who bills hourly, by retainer and by assets
Of what you invoice. That is the pricing page.
Invoice $12,500 this month for Marlow Fastener and Ceed costs $12.50. A month you invoice nothing costs nothing. No seats, no tiers, no minimum.
Questions. Answers.
Can a $25,000 retainer draw down at three hourly tiers, with the hold at the hour that exhausts it?
Yes. Rates by role are the agreement. Every entry draws the retainer down at the rate of whoever worked it, and the entry that would exhaust it is held the moment it is logged.
Do monthly retainers credit against the success fee at close?
The engagement letter is the agreement, and the invoice is computed from it. Write to hello@ceed.so with your letter’s fee clause and a person replies with how it maps.
Our collective splits one retainer among three advisors. One invoice, three statements?
Yes. One invoice to the client, computed from the letter. Three statements, each computed from the hours its advisor logged.
Will the client see a time log that maps to meetings they remember?
The client sees what the agreement puts on the invoice. The hours behind it are on the record by date, person and task, in your words, for you to show or not.
Does Ceed touch client money or custody?
Never. Clients pay your firm’s own bank. Ceed computes the invoice and the statements and holds no money.
From the blog: Held. Not hidden. The agreement said 40 hours. The month said 47. Other firms Ceed is for: Management consulting · Accounting and fractional CFOs · Fractional executives · all nineteen.