Barely one-third of all households in the U.S. have enough assets to meet even a $100k asset minimum. In this context, retainer fees can reach a wide swath of the population who can’t be served by the AUM model at all, but do have the income, need, and desire to pay for financial planning services from their cash flow instead. This population includes many adult children of existing clients, clients paying discounted AUM fees, and also prospects who have assets tied up in a business, real estate, or other illiquid investments.