Aspiriant: Platform Profile

Overview

Aspiriant is an employee-owned, SEC-registered wealth-management firm serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth households.

Its current Form CRS states:

• Typical portfolio: $1,500,000+

Its current high-net-worth standard fee schedule ranges from:

• Standard HNW fee range: 0.85%-0.20% annually
• Minimum annual fee: $14,000

That makes the fee minimum more important than a simple account-minimum field.

Aspiriant combines:

• discretionary investment management;
• wealth planning;
• tax planning and compliance;
• family-office services;
• private-market investing;
• affiliated Aspiriant Funds;
• Schwab/Fidelity custody.

May fit better for

• households around or above the $1.5 million typical portfolio reference;
• clients seeking integrated planning and portfolio management;
• families with tax complexity;
• investors comfortable with a minimum annual fee;
• eligible investors interested in private equity, private credit, venture capital or private real assets;
• ultra-high-net-worth families seeking family-office services.

May fit less well for

• small portfolios;
• investors seeking a low-cost robo account;
• clients who need only basic asset allocation;
• investors who want no affiliated-fund conflicts;
• households that assume no absolute asset minimum means no economic minimum;
• investors requiring daily liquidity from private assets.

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Aspiriant, LLC is the legal adviser

Current IAPD information:

• Investment adviser: Aspiriant, LLC
• CRD: 146720
• SEC number: 801-68987
• SEC registration effective: 2008-04-08

Current SEC Form ADV Part 1 amendment:

• Current ADV amendment date: 2026-05-01

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There is no absolute account-size minimum

Current Form CRS:

Aspiriant states that it typically provides services to clients with investment portfolios of:

• Typical portfolio: $1,500,000 or more

Aspiriant can serve smaller portfolios.

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Standard high-net-worth fee range is 0.85%-0.20%

Current Form ADV page:

• Standard HNW fee range: 0.85%-0.20% annually
• Minimum annual fee: $14,000

The actual schedule declines with larger portfolio values under the applicable agreement.

The range applies to the standard high-net-worth schedule, not every Aspiriant service lane.

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The $14,000 annual minimum drives smaller relationship economics

$1 million relationship

Minimum fee:

$14,000

Effective fee:

$14,000 ÷ $1,000,000 = 1.40%

$1.5 million relationship

Minimum fee as percentage:

$14,000 ÷ $1,500,000 ≈ 0.93%

The actual percentage schedule and agreement determine whether the minimum controls.

The illustration shows why “no absolute minimum” does not imply small-account pricing.

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Emerging Wealth has a separate fee structure

Current Aspiriant Form ADV page:

• Emerging Wealth AUM fee: 0.70%
• Emerging Wealth annual planning retainer: $2,400

Store separately.

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Professional fiduciary pricing is separate

Current disclosures show:

• Professional fiduciary fee range: 0.85%-0.45%

Again, this is not the ordinary high-net-worth schedule.

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Investment-management fees are generally billed quarterly in arrears

Current Form CRS:

• Investment management billing: quarterly in arrears
• Valuation method: average daily value

Wealth-planning retainers can be billed quarterly in advance.

Keep the billing lanes separate.

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Aspiriant is fee-only

Current firm materials describe Aspiriant as fee-only.

Fee-only does not mean underlying funds are free.

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Aspiriant advises affiliated funds

Current Form CRS states:

• Aspiriant Funds: Yes
• Aspiriant Funds available only to clients: Yes
• Aspiriant is adviser to Aspiriant Funds: Yes

That creates an affiliated-product conflict.

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Private-market access is material

Current investment-management page describes access to:

• private equity;
• private credit;
• venture capital;
• private real assets;
• co-investments.

These products can be illiquid and can carry additional manager/fund expenses.

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Financial planning and tax services are integrated but distinct

Current service pages cover:

• wealth planning;
• estate planning coordination;
• equity-compensation planning;
• philanthropy;
• tax planning;
• tax compliance.

The client agreement controls.

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Custody generally uses Schwab and Fidelity

Current Form ADV states recommended qualified custodians include:

• Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.;
• Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC / National Financial Services LLC.

Aspiriant can be deemed to have custody under SEC rules for certain authority.

That does not mean it physically holds the ordinary brokerage securities.

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Custodian services can create economic incentives

Aspiriant receives institutional services from custodians.

Current disclosure says Schwab provides services without charge if collective Aspiriant client assets at Schwab meet a stated aggregate threshold.

The adviser remains required to evaluate the relationship in the client's interest.

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Current public AUM is about $18 billion

Current Aspiriant company overview states:

• Public AUM: $18 billion
• Employee ownership: 100%
• Office count: 10

Treat these as public company metrics, not investment-performance claims.

Assessment

Aspiriant is the clearest example in Batch 49 of an adviser with no absolute asset minimum but a meaningful economic floor.

The standard high-net-worth schedule has a $14,000 annual minimum.

That can make a smaller relationship expensive even though the account-minimum field is technically undisclosed.

The second issue is service-lane separation.

The high-net-worth schedule, Emerging Wealth schedule and professional-fiduciary schedule are different.

The review should not compress them into one percentage.