Most alternatives to Q3 Advisors are other ways to pay for the same job: a multi-year Roth conversion schedule, re-checked every year, before RMDs, the widow’s penalty and your heirs’ 10-year payout rule push your tax bill up. Rothology® is one flat fee for that whole job, and it works alongside the advisor and CPA you already have.
How do the alternatives to Q3 Advisors compare?
| Rothology® from Q3 Advisors | Percentage-of-assets advisor | Your CPA | Planning software | Hourly or subscription planner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | $11,000 once ($9,000 from Jan 1, 2027) | A yearly share of the assets they manage, commonly 0.8% to 1.0% past $2 million | Their fee for your tax work | A yearly subscription, plus your own time | About $300 an hour, $3,000 a plan or $4,500 a year (medians) |
| Who builds the multi-year conversion schedule | CFP® professionals who do Roth conversion planning and nothing else | Your advisor, if planning is part of the service | Not part of preparing your return | You | The planner, as one part of a wider plan |
| After the first year | Annual reviews included for the life of the plan | Ongoing, inside the yearly fee | The next return they prepare | You re-run the model | Another hour, plan or subscription year |
Can your current advisor handle your Roth conversions?
Only if they’ll put a schedule in writing: how much to convert each year, which bracket to fill, how each conversion moves your Medicare premiums, and what your spouse and heirs will owe on what’s left. If you pay a percentage of your assets, you’re already paying for that planning.
Most advisors bill that way. Kitces Research’s 2024 survey found 92% of advisors use asset-based fees in some way, and for portfolios past $2 million the common range is about 0.8% to 1.0% a year. On average, advisors attribute about 59% of that fee to investment management and about 41% to planning and other advice.
A firm that offers Roth conversion planning at no separate charge once you move your assets to it works the same way. The planning still has a price. Advisors who bundle planning into their fee attribute an even larger share of it, about 46%, to planning and advice.
You don’t have to leave your advisor to get a schedule. We build the Rothology plan and coordinate with the advisor you have. If you’d like to test the advice you’re getting first, start with these questions to ask a Roth conversion advisor.
Isn’t Roth conversion planning your CPA’s job?
Not if all you’ve hired them for is your return. Tax preparation looks back at the year you just finished. Conversion planning looks forward across the next decade or more. A CPA focused on the return in front of them is often right that a smaller conversion lowers this year’s tax, and that’s where the advice can part ways with your lifetime tax bill. Many households use both: a planner builds the multi-year conversion schedule, and the CPA files the return that reports it.
Can you plan Roth conversions yourself with software?
You can. Consumer planning apps that include a Roth conversion tool cost about $129 to $359 a year as of November 2026. That’s the cheap part. With software, you’re the planner. You pick the return, inflation and tax-law assumptions, decide when a higher Medicare premium is worth it, and re-run the model every year as balances, brackets and your health change.
Our clients include tax attorneys, CPAs, engineers, physicians, and federal employees who researched Roth conversions on their own and still chose to work with a Roth conversion advisor who does nothing else. If you’d rather run it yourself, read about these four DIY Roth conversion mistakes before you lock in a number.
What about an hourly or subscription planner?
This is the closest thing to Rothology: a fee-only planner who bills for advice rather than assets. SmartAsset, citing 2024 Kitces Research, puts the median at $300 an hour, about $3,000 for a standalone plan and about $4,500 a year for a subscription.
With a generalist planner, the conversion schedule is one part of a broader plan. With Rothology, it’s the whole job, built by CFP® professionals who do Roth conversion planning all day.
How much does Q3 Advisors charge?
Rothology is a one-time consulting fee: $11,000 through December 31, 2026, and $9,000 from January 1, 2027, at every age. Annual reviews are included for the life of the plan, and we don’t charge a percentage of your assets. Here’s how the Rothology process works.
What does six years of conversion planning cost on a $2.3 million IRA?
Across 918 active Rothology plans started in 2026 (as of November 12, 2026), the median starting pre-tax balance is $2,315,000, and the median plan converts over 6 years.
At 0.8% a year, the low end of the common range, a percentage fee on $2,315,000 comes to $18,520 a year, or $111,120 over six years if the balance never grew. Part of that pays for managing your investments, so compare only the planning share: about 41% on average, or roughly $45,600. A subscription planner at about $4,500 a year comes to about $27,000. Rothology is $11,000, once.
What six years of Roth conversion planning costs on a $2,315,000 pre-tax balance
Is Q3 Advisors worth it for you?
Rothology is built for IRA millionaires: usually households with $1 million or more in pre-tax accounts, and at least $750,000. Across the 918 plans started in 2026, 93% began with $1 million or more in pre-tax accounts, and 35% with $3 million or more.
Share of 918 active Rothology plans started in 2026, by starting pre-tax balance
At those balances, the fee is small next to what’s at stake: the tax on every dollar you, your spouse and your heirs eventually take out of those accounts. We back it with a refund offer. If your estimated lifetime tax avoidance, plus the tax your heirs are projected to avoid, comes to less than $500,000, we refund the full consulting fee. You must be pre-qualified by one of our Roth conversion advisors. You can read what clients say about working with us.
