Before the file leaves
Example on the household
Blended 1.00% / 0.85%, exclude employer stock, pull the fee from taxable, never the Roth. Athena confirms the loaded schedule matches that language, then builds the debit list.
Billing
The fee you deduct is the fee they signed. Billing week stops being a rebuild.
Athena reads the signed advisory agreement, AI-parses it, and bills from that document. Clients also sign advisory agreements in Athena, so the contract lives on the household. You do not keep a second fee table that can drift after the paperwork changes. One of the most common SEC billing findings is a fee in the system that no longer matches the contract. This run is built so that gap does not leave the file.
Book a demoThe agreement is the calculator
The debit has to match the document.
New agreements are executed in Athena. Existing ones are stored on the same household and parsed the same way. The loaded schedule is that extract, not a table someone typed later. AI pulls the rate, tiers, exclusions, frequency, and which accounts pay. A change to the agreement is a change to the next bill. If the document and the schedule disagree, the file does not leave.
- AI pulls the rate, tiers, exclusions, frequency, and which accounts pay
- A change to the agreement is a change to the next bill
- If the document and the schedule disagree, the file does not leave
A billing run
Match the contract, raise cash, then send exact dollars to Schwab.
Schwab debits the dollar amounts you send. It does not store your fee schedule, and it will not sell holdings to fund the fee.
Pull the executed document on the household and extract the fee terms. If the loaded schedule does not match, the run stops. Calculate the household fee with tiers, minimums, and named exclusions, on average daily balance or period-end, as the agreement says. Check available cash, then the optimizer trades under the same investing rules so the debit can execute. Send exact dollars on exact accounts through Schwab Send. Failed debits come back here to reconcile and retry.
Read the current agreement
Pull the executed document on the household and extract the fee terms. If the loaded schedule does not match, the run stops.
Calculate the household fee
Tiers, minimums, and named exclusions, on average daily balance or period-end, as the agreement says.
Raise cash if the fee needs it
Check available cash, then the optimizer trades under the same investing rules so the debit can execute. See how those trades run.
Send the Schwab file
Exact dollars on exact accounts through Schwab Send. Failed debits come back here to reconcile and retry.
Trading
Fee cash is raised under the same rules as the overnight book.
Before the Schwab file goes out, the Athena optimizer trades the household so the cash is there. Those trades follow every investing rule: allocation bands, tax location, wash-sale lockouts, restricted lots, and gains budgets. Raise only the cash the bill requires. Taxable and tax-inefficient accounts first. Roth and other tax-efficient accounts stay protected. Same optimizer as harvest, location, and rebalance. Funding priority: taxable brokerage first, Traditional IRA if needed, Roth protected. Fee cash is ready before the file.
- The same optimizer as harvest, location, and rebalance
- Raise only the cash the bill requires
- Taxable and tax-inefficient accounts first
- Roth and other tax-efficient accounts stay protected
Quarterly billing runOptimizer
Funding priority
1 Taxable brokerageUse first
2 Traditional IRAIf needed
3 Roth IRAProtected
Fee cash availableReady before the file
Household rules
Who pays is written in the agreement, not guessed at quarter-end.
Athena can pro-rate across accounts or pull the household fee from taxable. When the household has a taxable account, the fee can come from there so tax-advantaged balances keep compounding. Roth dollars are last, and the agreement can say they never pay. A Traditional or Roth IRA can cover only the advisory fee attributable to that IRA. It cannot pay for a taxable account, a spouse, or another IRA. Employer stock, private positions, cash above a line, or a whole account can sit out of the billable base if the document says so.
Taxable accounts pay first
When the household has a taxable account, the fee can come from there so tax-advantaged balances keep compounding.
Roth pays last
Roth dollars are the last place a fee should land. The agreement can say they never pay.
An IRA only pays its own fee
A Traditional or Roth IRA can cover its own advisory fee. It cannot pay for a taxable account, a spouse, or another IRA.
Named exclusions stay out of the fee
Employer stock, private positions, cash above a line, or a whole account can sit out of the billable base if the document says so.
Around the fee
Invoices, payouts, and retries stay on the same household run.
Once the agreement is the schedule, Athena invoices the household, pays advisors on the split you set, and sends exact dollars to Schwab. The household gets an invoice and a billing statement from the same numbers that built the Schwab file. Split grids pay advisors from the collected fee inside the firm on this run. If the fee does not come out of a Schwab account, the household can pay by ACH or card. When Schwab rejects a debit, the item comes back here. You reconcile it and retry from the same record.
Invoices and statements go out from here
The household gets an invoice and a billing statement from the same numbers that built the Schwab file.
Advisor payouts follow the same fee
Split grids pay advisors from the collected fee. The split is inside the firm, on this run.
Direct bill is still an option
If the fee does not come out of a Schwab account, the household can pay by ACH or card.
Failed debits stay visible
When Schwab rejects a debit, the item comes back here. You reconcile it and retry from the same record.
Billing questions buyers ask first.
How does Athena know what to bill?
Athena reads the signed advisory agreement, AI-parses the fee language, and loads the schedule from that document. Clients also sign advisory agreements in Athena, so new contracts already live on the household. Existing agreements are stored and parsed the same way.
What does AI pull from the agreement?
The rate, tiers, minimums, named exclusions, billing frequency, and which accounts pay. Average daily balance or period-end is taken from the document. When the agreement changes, the next bill uses the new file.
Is this just a file upload to Schwab?
Schwab debits exact dollar amounts from available cash. It does not store your fee schedule or calculate 100 basis points for you. Athena turns the signed agreement into those dollars, invoices the household, checks cash, and then sends the file through Schwab Send.
What if the agreement and the system disagree?
The run does not send the file. Someone reviews the mismatch, and any override is named and logged. That gap is one of the most common SEC billing findings when firms keep a second fee table that can drift after the paperwork changes.
Who pays across the household?
Who pays is part of the agreement. Athena can pro-rate across accounts or pull the household fee from taxable first. Roth is last, and the agreement can say Roth never pays. An IRA can cover only the advisory fee attributable to that IRA.
What can sit out of the billable base?
Whatever the document names. Employer stock, private positions, cash above a line, or a whole account can be excluded if the signed agreement says so. Those exclusions are parsed with the rest of the schedule.
How does trading work before the bill goes out?
The Athena optimizer trades the household so billing can execute, under the same investing rules as harvest, location, and rebalance. It forecasts the cash the fee needs and raises only that amount. Taxable and tax-inefficient accounts first; Roth protected. See Investing.
Will Schwab sell holdings to pay the fee?
No. If cash is short, the debit fails. That is why the optimizer raises cash first, under the same rules as a client cash request. Schwab only pulls dollars that are already available.
What if Schwab rejects the debit?
The failed item comes back to the household. You reconcile it and retry from the same record. The invoice, the payout, and the retry all stay there.
Do households get an invoice?
Yes. The household gets an invoice and a billing statement from the same numbers that built the Schwab file.
How do advisors get paid?
Split grids on the same run pay advisors from the collected fee. Direct bill by ACH or card is available when the fee does not come out of a Schwab account.
Can an IRA under 59½ be billed?
A reasonable advisory fee taken from that IRA for managing that IRA is treated as an account expense, not a distribution. The IRA still cannot pay anyone else’s fee.
Does Athena replace the custodian?
No. Custody stays at Schwab. Athena calculates the fee from the signed agreement, makes the cash available, and sends exact dollars. Schwab debits cash that is already there.
Where does the audit trail live?
On the household. What the document said, what was billed, who overrode a flag, and which Schwab items were retried stay together for exams. You do not reconstruct a quarter from a spreadsheet and a PDF folder.