Reasonable Fee for 1 Time Financial Advice

[Acastus]

FIRE is imminent for me, and I want to get an independent analysis from a fee based, NAPFA approved, financial advisor. I may only take a sabbatical, but as I am age 56, this is something of a one way decision for my career. I can likely find a job if I need it, but it will be a slog through age discrimination to get it, and I doubt it will pay as well. I would rather know I am able to retire, and how much margin I have. I posted a case study on MMM a year ago, and due to some inheritance we are in even better shape now than I expected. My analysis and this community give me a thumbs up. This is strictly a belt-and-suspenders level final analysis before I quit.

What is a reasonable fee to review my investments, recommend a spending range with probability of success, adjust the nest egg for spending instead of accumulation, provide recommendations on optimizing spending for tax efficiency and ACA qualification, and look for gaps in my current plans? I have 1 quote for $2500. That feels OK to slightly expensive to me.

Bonus question:  Am I being overly cautious? Or just extra prudent?

[Lucky Recardito]

From what I've heard anecdotally (from friends/peers and via tangentially-work-related knowledge of this space), that sounds to me like the high-ish end of "fine." I've mostly heard numbers between $1500-$2500. Seconding your "OK to slightly expensive" read!

I think the more important thing (more important than price) is your feeling of whether the person you've found is going to "feel" worth it to you. You say you're FIRE, and that the bossy nerds here agreed with you a year ago. My guess is that you've already done some major due diligence yourself, and are pretty comfortable researching and running numbers. Spending $1500 vs $2500 as a one-time expense is, at this stage and for this decision, probably far less important than genuinely feeling like the person looking at your stuff really gets you and your goals, and genuinely knows more than you do, and actually gives you the peace of mind and confidence that you're looking for.

[Acastus]

The junior advisor in the team is a burned out engineer who left a different division of my megacorp and became a financial advisor. Hey, I'm a burned out engineer, too! That is scarily sympatico.