Find a Financial Advisor in California

Financial planning in California at a glance

California is the most populous state in the country, home to roughly 39.4 million people, and its economy outranks those of most nations. Income and wealth are spread across very different regions. The Bay Area and Silicon Valley run on technology and venture capital. Greater Los Angeles blends entertainment, the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, aerospace and health care. San Diego leans on the Navy, biotech and tourism. Sacramento is a government town, the Central Valley grows a huge share of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables, the Inland Empire has become a warehouse and logistics corridor, and the North Coast and Sierra foothills attract retirees and second-home owners.

Each region produces its own planning puzzles. An engineer in San Jose may hold more net worth in restricted stock units than in any bank account. An almond grower near Fresno may be working out how to hand off acreage to the next generation. A state employee in Sacramento may be choosing a retirement date under CalPERS. An Orange County couple who bought decades ago may pay property tax on a value far below what the home is worth today.

Financial advisors in California: services and what they charge

A financial advisor helps you pull goals, investments, taxes and insurance into one plan you can actually follow. California has every variety: wirehouse branches in downtown San Francisco and Century City, independent registered investment advisers in suburbs from Walnut Creek to Irvine, insurance-centered practices in farm towns, and virtual fee-only planners who never meet clients in person.

Pricing broadly tracks national patterns, though firms in the most expensive metros often sit toward the upper end of each range.

Wealth management in California

Wealth management ties investments to tax strategy, trusts, charitable giving and, for owners, the sale or succession of a business. With so many founders, early employees and entertainment professionals in the state, a few themes recur:

• Startup and public company equity. Incentive stock options, RSUs and pre-IPO shares can create large tax bills and concentrated risk. Spreading exercises and sales across tax years matters even more because the state taxes capital gains at ordinary rates.
• Liquidity events. Selling a company or a large block of stock can push one year’s income into the top state and federal brackets, which makes donor-advised funds, charitable trusts and installment sales worth reviewing.
• Real estate held for decades. Rentals and family homes bought long ago often carry big unrealized gains. Holding them for life can give heirs a stepped-up basis, and when property qualifies as community property, the whole value can be stepped up at the first spouse’s death.

Some wealth managers accept only clients above a set asset level, so ask about minimums and pricing in the first conversation.

Financial planners in California

A financial planner writes down where you stand, where you want to go and the steps in between: spending, savings, debt, insurance, investing, taxes and basic estate documents. A Certified Financial Planner professional has completed coursework, a board exam and an experience requirement and commits to a fiduciary standard when giving financial advice.

Questions California households often bring to a planner include:

• Whether to buy or keep renting when the median owner-occupied home is valued near 695,000 dollars statewide and far higher in many coastal counties. Our budgeting and saving guide can help you set a down payment target without starving retirement savings.
• How to use ScholarShare 529, the state’s college savings plan. California offers no state deduction for contributions, but qualified college withdrawals avoid state and federal income tax. The college savings guide compares account types.
• How to save for retirement when an employer offers no plan. CalSavers, a state-run program, gives many private-sector workers an automatic Roth IRA funded through payroll.
• Whether a health savings account still pays off, since California does not follow the federal tax break for HSAs and taxes contributions and earnings at the state level.

Could your plan use a fresh look?

A financial planner who works with California families can walk through your spending, savings and next steps with you. It is free and carries no obligation.

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Retirement planning in California

California’s treatment of retirement income is a mixed picture. Social Security benefits are fully exempt from state income tax. Nearly everything else, including pensions, 401(k), 403(b) and IRA withdrawals, annuity payments and investment income, is taxed as ordinary income under the same progressive brackets that apply to wages. That puts the order and timing of withdrawals at the center of the plan. Converting traditional savings to Roth accounts in low-income years can cut lifetime taxes. Federal law generally bars California from taxing retirement plan and IRA distributions received after you become a resident of another state, so people planning to leave often wait to take large distributions until the move is complete. Our tax planning guide explains how brackets and timing interact.

Property tax is the other big lever. Under Proposition 13, a home is assessed at its purchase price, called the base year value, and that assessment can rise by no more than 2 percent a year while you own it. Long-time owners often pay a fraction of what a new buyer pays on the same street.

Proposition 19, in effect since 2021, reshaped the rules for older homeowners and families:

• Moving at 55 or older. Homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or whose home was lost to wildfire or another disaster can transfer their base year value to a replacement primary residence anywhere in California, up to three times. If the new home costs more, part of the price difference is added to the transferred value.
• Passing a home to children. The parent-child exclusion now generally applies only when a child makes the family home their primary residence, and only up to a limit, so inherited rentals and vacation homes are usually reassessed.
• Filing windows. Claims go to the county assessor within set time frames, so ask before you sell, buy or transfer title.

Public employees make up a large share of California retirees. CalPERS administers pensions for state workers, many non-teaching school employees and hundreds of cities, counties and special districts, while CalSTRS covers public school and community college educators. Most CalSTRS members do not pay into Social Security through their teaching jobs. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed in January 2025, ended the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which can raise benefits for these workers if they earned Social Security elsewhere or through a spouse. Our retirement planning guide walks through the bigger picture.

A thorough California retirement plan usually covers:

1. A realistic budget covering housing, Medicare premiums and supplemental coverage.
2. A withdrawal sequence that manages state and federal brackets year by year.
3. Coordinated decisions on Social Security, any pension payout option and survivor benefits.
4. A decision on where to live, comparing a Prop 19 transfer inside the state with a move elsewhere.
5. Current estate documents, often including a revocable living trust to keep the home out of probate.

Life insurance in California

Life insurance protects the people who rely on your income or would inherit your debts. Term coverage buys the most protection per premium dollar for a fixed stretch, such as until the kids finish school or the mortgage is gone. Permanent coverage, including whole and universal life, lasts a lifetime and builds cash value at a higher price. Our life insurance guide covers how to size a policy.

Some points specific to California:

• Housing costs raise the stakes. A large mortgage, or the cost of staying in an expensive area after a death, can push the coverage a family needs well above national rules of thumb.
• Community property. When premiums come from earnings during marriage, both spouses may hold an ownership interest in the policy. Naming someone other than your spouse as beneficiary can invite a later claim unless the spouse consents in writing.
• Free-look rights. California gives buyers a window to cancel a new individual life policy for a refund, and the window is longer for buyers 60 and older.

The California Department of Insurance licenses agents and insurers, takes consumer complaints and lets you check a license online. A fee-only advisor can review a policy you already own without earning a commission on a replacement.

Investment advisors in California

Investment advisers who charge for advice register with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation or, once they manage enough assets, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Registered investment advisers owe a fiduciary duty to put clients first. Brokers answer to FINRA, and many professionals hold both registrations.

Before signing an agreement, search the person and firm on SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure and FINRA BrokerCheck, and read the Form ADV Part 2 brochure, which lays out services, fees and conflicts. Good topics for a California investment advisor:

• Concentration in one employer. A tech or biotech worker whose salary, bonus and shares all come from one company may need a schedule to diversify over time.
• Taxable account strategy. High state rates make tax-loss harvesting, asset location and California municipal bonds worth discussing, since interest on in-state munis is generally exempt from both state and federal income tax for residents. Our investing basics guide explains the core ideas.

How to choose a financial advisor in California

1. Define the job: a one-time plan, equity compensation help, retirement income, an insurance review or full wealth management.
2. Confirm in writing that the advisor acts as a fiduciary for every recommendation.
3. Ask for your total yearly cost expressed in dollars.
4. Look the advisor up on the SEC and FINRA sites and, for state-registered firms, with the DFPI.
5. Ask about experience with people like you, such as tech employees, public workers, physicians, growers or retirees.
6. Talk with two or three candidates and choose the one who explains clearly and asks good questions.

Many Californians, from Eureka to El Centro, now meet their advisor only by phone or video.

Cities and counties we serve in California

Cities

Counties

California financial planning guides

Each topic has its own page with California rules and costs:

Frequently asked questions