Next Step Financial Planning is a investment adviser based in Orland Park, IL, that has not yet been scored, with 1 registered advisor. Score based on public SEC and FINRA filings.
registered
Next Step Financial Planning
Next Step Financial Planning, LLC · CRD #330276
A fee-only investment adviser with a clean regulatory record and fiduciary commitment.
No longer registered
This firm is no longer registered with the SEC, any state regulator, or FINRA. We don't score firms that are no longer registered.
The firm’s regulatory record stays available below. A firm can stop being registered for many ordinary reasons, including closing, merging, or the owner retiring.
Fidelon Fact Sheet
Next Step Financial Planning, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser in Orland Park, IL. It has one registered advisor. It charges one yearly percentage of your account, and it does not report earning commissions. Its services include financial planning. Its record shows no customer complaints, regulatory actions or fines.
How This Firm Works
Registration & Standard of Care
Investment Adviser — this firm is a registered investment adviser, held to a fiduciary standard — legally required to act in clients' best interests.
How This Firm Gets Paid
- Charges a percentage of assets under management
- Does not earn commissions on product sales
What you’d pay
Your balance falls in the All accounts band, charged at 2.00% on the full amount.
This fee is negotiable
“These fees are generally negotiable and the final fee schedule will be memorialized in the client’s advisory agreement.”
From their Form ADV Part 2A. Most investors never ask.
Not included above
- • Clients are responsible for the payment of all third party fees (i.e. custodian fees, brokerage fees, mutual fund fees, transaction fees, etc.)
Estimated from the firm’s Form ADV Part 2A brochure — not a quote. Actual fees are set in your agreement and may differ. Costs charged by others (custodians, fund managers) are not included.
What This Firm Charges
| Account Size | Annual Fee |
|---|---|
| All accounts | 2.00% |
Billed quarterly basis
Extracted from Form ADV Part 2A brochure
Specializations
Extracted from Form ADV Part 2A brochure
Key Findings
Strengths
- Fee-only compensation — no commission income reported
- Registered as investment adviser with fiduciary obligation
- No broker-dealer registration — advisory services only
- Clean regulatory record — no disclosures, arbitrations, or fines
- Transparent fee structure — charges advisory fees, no commissions
Conflict Audit
Zero material conflicts identified in regulatory filings.
Source: Form ADV Part 1, Items 6-8; Part 2A, Items 10-14
What this firm says about how it gets paid
“Additionally, the amount of assets in your account affects our advisory fee; the more assets you have in your advisory account, the more you will pay us and thus we have an incentive to increase those assets in order to increase our fee.”
“Our financial professionals can receive commissions”
Source: the firm’s own Form CRS, filed 2025-12-17 — quoted directly
Regulatory Track Record
0
Disclosures
Clean record — no disclosures found
$0
Total Fines
Clean record — no fines found
Regulatory Events
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does the TransparencyScore measure?
The TransparencyScore measures how clearly and completely an advisor or firm discloses important information in their regulatory filings — things like fees, conflicts of interest, disciplinary history, and business practices. A higher score means better disclosure quality, not better investment performance.
Where does this data come from?
All data comes from public regulatory filings: SEC Form ADV (Parts 1, 2, and 3), FINRA BrokerCheck, and the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database. These are official filings that firms and advisors are legally required to submit.
Does a low score mean they're a bad advisor?
Not necessarily. A low score means the firm's public filings are less transparent — they may use vague language about fees, skip details about conflicts, or have a more complex regulatory history. Some excellent advisors work at firms with poor disclosure practices. The score measures the filing, not the person.
How often is this data updated?
Fidelon refreshes data from SEC and FINRA sources on a regular schedule. Form ADV filings are updated annually by firms (with amendments throughout the year), and BrokerCheck data is updated as events are reported. Scores are recalculated after each data refresh.
Can an advisor or firm improve their score?
Yes. Scores are based on what's in public filings. A firm that rewrites its ADV brochure in clearer language, discloses conflicts more specifically, or resolves outstanding regulatory issues will see its score improve at the next refresh. The incentive structure is intentional.
Data Sources
Scores are generated using Fidelon's published scoring methodology and reflect the quality of public disclosures, not the quality of investment advice. A firm that improves its disclosures will see its score improve. Fidelon does not provide investment advice.
Verify on SEC IAPD
Last scored: · Score version: 3.15 · CRD #330276