Craig Wear, CFP: Q3 Advisors Founder, Fees & Bio

Craig Wear is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and the founder of Q3 Advisors, a fee-only registered investment adviser that concentrates on retirement tax planning and Roth conversion strategy for higher-balance retirees and pre-retirees. He is also the author of three books on tax-efficient retirement, including Paying the Piper, Roth Conversion Secrets, and Roth Conversion Reset.

Who Is Craig Wear?

Craig Wear is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founder of Q3 Advisors, a firm built around one question for retirement savers: how do you keep more of what you saved in traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and other tax-deferred accounts once you stop working? His work centers on Roth conversion planning for people with large tax-deferred balances who now face required minimum distributions and Medicare surcharges. He is an independent financial planner and published author.

Rather than positioning himself as a product seller or portfolio manager, Craig has structured his practice around advice-only, tax-focused planning. That distinction matters to the retirees and pre-retirees who typically find him: they usually arrive after reading one of his books, watching a video, or hearing a podcast, and they are vetting the person and the firm before they engage.

Craig Wear and Q3 Advisors

Craig Wear founded Q3 Advisors, LLC in 2019. The firm is headquartered in Arvada, Colorado, and works with families in all 50 states, with the majority of engagements handled virtually. Craig serves as the firm’s founder and leader, and Q3 is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (firm CRD #284220). The firm’s planning team includes CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, paraplanners, and specialists who support its Roth conversion work.

If you searched “craig wear q3 advisors” to confirm the person-to-firm connection, this is it: Craig Wear is the founder of Q3 Advisors, and the firm’s Roth conversion approach reflects the methodology he developed over his career. You can learn more about the firm’s core work on the Roth conversion planning service page.

Craig Wear’s Credentials and Experience

Craig Wear holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation and is a registered Investment Adviser Representative with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His individual record carries CRD #1460884, and Q3 Advisors carries firm CRD #284220. Both records are publicly available through the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) system, which lets anyone confirm registration status, employment history, qualifications, and any disclosures.

Craig has worked as an independent financial planner and adviser, with his more recent work concentrated specifically on Roth conversion planning. Public sources describe the length of his career in slightly different ways, and those descriptions are firm or author sourced rather than independently verified. His regulatory registration history is documented on his SEC IAPD record, and the most reliable way to confirm any specific detail about his experience is to review that record directly.

The Rothology® Methodology

Rothology® is the proprietary planning framework Craig developed to analyze whether, when, and how much a household should convert from tax-deferred accounts to a Roth. Instead of treating a Roth conversion as a one-year decision, the framework weighs the interplay between conversions, future required minimum distributions, Medicare income-related monthly adjustment amounts (IRMAA), and multi-generational wealth transfer over a full retirement horizon.

The goal is to model the lifetime tax picture rather than a single tax year. Because a Roth conversion is treated as ordinary income in the year you make it, the framework looks at how filling lower tax brackets today may reduce larger, less controllable taxes later, once RMDs begin at age 73 (or age 75 for those born in 1960 or later). If you want to see how the math works, Q3’s guides on how much to convert to a Roth and the Roth conversion break-even point walk through the core trade-offs.

Is Craig Wear a Fiduciary?

Yes. Craig Wear and Q3 Advisors operate as a fee-only fiduciary. As an SEC-registered investment adviser, the firm is held to a fiduciary standard requiring it to act in the client’s best interest. Q3 states that it earns no commissions, sells no insurance or investment products, and does not manage assets for a fee. Its compensation comes only from planning fees a client pays directly.

This is the question many people are really asking when they search “craig wear financial advisor”: they want to understand how he is compensated and whether that compensation is tied to selling products or managing assets. Q3’s model is advice-only. Craig does not take custody of your money, does not earn a percentage of your portfolio, and does not receive third-party compensation for recommending any product. You can ask any adviser how they are paid and review the firm’s Form ADV.

Craig Wear / Q3 Advisors Fees

Craig Wear and Q3 Advisors charge fixed, published fees rather than a percentage of assets. Comprehensive financial planning generally runs from $5,500 to $15,000 per year depending on complexity, and the firm’s core Roth conversion engagements carry set prices. Because Q3 does not manage money, there is no separate assets-under-management fee layered on top. The table below summarizes the firm’s published fee structure; confirm current pricing directly with Q3 before engaging.

Service	Published fee	What it covers
Comprehensive financial planning	$5,500 to $15,000 per year	Full planning engagement (includes a Rothology or Rothology Legacy analysis), scaled to complexity
Rothology®	$11,000	Core proprietary Roth conversion analysis and plan
Rothology® Legacy	$8,100	Roth conversion analysis oriented to multi-generational transfer
A-la-carte modules	$1,000 setup + $2,000 first module ($1,500 each additional)	Single-topic planning modules for focused questions
Integration Experience	$1,500 startup + $1,250 per quarter	Ongoing coordination as tax law and your situation change

Publishing these numbers first-party matters because third-party directories often frame a no-AUM firm using metrics built for asset managers. A summary that flags “$0 average assets under management” can look alarming out of context, when in fact managing zero client assets is the intended design of an advice-only fiduciary practice.

How Q3’s Fixed-Fee Structure Works

Q3 charges flat, disclosed fees because the firm’s service is advice rather than asset management. Advisory firms use different compensation models: some charge a percentage of assets under management, some earn commissions on products they sell, and others charge fixed planning fees. Under a fixed-fee structure, the amount is set in advance and does not change based on whether or how much you convert, or the size of your portfolio.

Because the fixed fee stays the same regardless of what you decide to do with your portfolio, Q3 describes this structure as the practical expression of its advice-only, fiduciary approach.

Books by Craig Wear

Craig Wear has written three books aimed at retirement savers who want to understand the tax that is embedded inside their traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. The books are educational rather than personalized advice, and they form much of the published authority that leads readers to Q3 Advisors. Each title approaches the same core problem from a different angle.

• Roth Conversion Secrets: The 5 Biggest Mistakes IRA Millionaires Make. This book focuses on the common errors high-balance savers make when converting and the questions to ask before you start.
• Roth Conversion Reset: An IRA Millionaire’s Roadmap to Renewed Tax Savings (2025). A roadmap for converting tax-deferred assets to tax-free wealth, avoiding the RMD tax trap, and acting during today’s tax environment.
• Paying the Piper: 7 Tax Traps Hidden in Your 401(k) and IRA. This book explains the hidden tax exposures inside tax-deferred accounts and strategies for planning around them.

Readers who want to apply the ideas in practice often move next to the mechanics of sequencing conversions, such as a Roth conversion ladder for early retirees.

Craig Wear Reviews

Craig Wear and Q3 Advisors have built their client base largely through their books, videos, and podcasts, and the firm works with families across all 50 states. This page does not report an aggregate client count. Any client experience is specific to that household, is not a promise of any particular result, and individual outcomes depend on each family’s facts and future tax law.

For client-experience feedback and social proof, Q3 maintains a dedicated testimonials page. If you are weighing whether to engage, that page is the place to read directly from clients, while this page is intended to answer the “who is he and is he legitimate” questions about Craig himself. See the Craig Wear reviews and testimonials page for that firsthand feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Craig Wear a real CFP, and can his credentials be verified?

Yes. Craig Wear holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation and is a registered Investment Adviser Representative with the SEC. You can verify his record independently by searching CRD #1460884 (Craig Gordon Wear) and firm CRD #284220 (Q3 Advisors, LLC) at adviserinfo.sec.gov, which shows registration status, employment history, and any disclosures.

How many years of experience does Craig Wear have?

Craig Wear has worked as an independent financial planner and adviser, with his more recent focus concentrated on Roth conversion planning. Published biographies describe his years of experience in different ways and are firm or author sourced, so the most accurate and current confirmation is his SEC IAPD registration record under CRD #1460884, which documents his registration history.

Is Craig Wear or Q3 Advisors a fiduciary?

Yes. As an SEC-registered investment adviser, Q3 Advisors is held to a fiduciary standard and must act in the client’s best interest. The firm is fee-only, earns no commissions, sells no insurance or investment products, and does not manage client assets for a fee. Its only compensation is the planning fee a client pays directly.

Does Craig Wear sell products or manage my money?

No. Craig Wear does not sell insurance or investment products and does not manage assets under management. Q3 Advisors is an advice-only firm: it does not take custody of your accounts or earn a percentage of your portfolio. Its compensation is the flat planning fee a client pays directly, and you can ask any adviser how they are paid.

Who is the ideal client for Craig Wear?

Craig works primarily with “IRA millionaires,” meaning pre-retirees and retirees who have accumulated large balances in traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar tax-deferred accounts. These households face significant embedded tax liabilities and future required minimum distributions, which is exactly the situation Roth conversion planning is designed to address across a full retirement horizon.

What is the Rothology® methodology?

Rothology® is Craig Wear’s proprietary Roth conversion framework. It models the lifetime tax impact of converting tax-deferred savings by weighing conversions against future RMDs, Medicare IRMAA surcharges, and multi-generational transfer, rather than looking at a single tax year. The aim is to identify a conversion approach that fits a household’s full retirement timeline.

Are there any complaints or disciplinary actions against Craig Wear?

Craig Wear’s complete regulatory record, including any disclosure items, is publicly available on the SEC’s IAPD system under CRD #1460884. Third-party summaries have noted a disclosure item on his record. Because such summaries can lack context, the accurate and current source is his official SEC adviser record, which anyone can review before engaging.

What does Q3 Advisors report about its client base?

Q3 Advisors works with families across all 50 states, reached largely through Craig Wear’s books, videos, and podcasts. This page does not report an aggregate client count, and any description of client experience is not a guarantee of an individual outcome; results depend on each household’s facts and future tax law. For firsthand client feedback, see Q3’s dedicated reviews and testimonials page.

When and where was Q3 Advisors founded?

Craig Wear founded Q3 Advisors, LLC in 2019. The firm is based in Arvada, Colorado, and works with families in all 50 states, mostly through virtual engagements. It is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under firm CRD #284220.