# Financial advisors for retirees in Santa Maria, CA

> AdvisorCensus lists 1 investment advisory firm with a principal office in the Santa Maria metro area whose Form ADV brochure states a focus on retirees in the firm's own words, from filings as of October 2026. Only SEC-registered firms' brochures are read. Firms are listed alphabetically; sort by years registered or assets band using the controls below.

Source: Form ADV filings as of October 2026. Rebuilt monthly. HTML page: https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/retirees

## At a glance

- Investment advisory firms: 1
- Registration: SEC-registered investment adviser: 1
- How firms are compensated (Form ADV Item 5.E; shares of the firms that file it): Percentage of assets 1 (100%); Hourly charges 1 (100%); Fixed fees 1 (100%)
- Regulatory assets under management (Item 5.F): $100 million to $500 million 1 (100%)
- Years registered: 5 to 9 years 1 (100%)

## Firms (page 1 of 1, 1 to 1 of 1, sorted by name)

| Firm | CRD | City | Registration | Assets band | Years registered | Compensation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [15 Equity](https://advisorcensus.com/firm/15-equity-santa-barbara-ca-310628) ([md](https://advisorcensus.com/firm/15-equity-santa-barbara-ca-310628.md)) | 310628 | Santa Barbara, CA | SEC-registered investment adviser | $100 million to $500 million | 5 | % of assets, Hourly, Fixed fee |

## Questions people ask

**How many financial advisory firms are there in Santa Maria, CA?**
AdvisorCensus lists 77 investment advisory firms with a principal office in the Santa Maria metro area, from Form ADV filings as of October 2026: 33 SEC-registered, 30 state-registered, and 14 exempt reporting advisers. Firms may request removal, so the count can differ slightly from the number of firms that file Form ADV.

**How does AdvisorCensus know a firm works with retirees?**
The firm says so in its Form ADV Part 2A brochure or on its website, and AdvisorCensus records the sentence. Presence on this page means the firm states the focus; it does not mean the firm works only with that group, and absence means no statement was found.

**How many fee-only financial advisors are in Santa Maria, CA?**
29 of the 77 firms meet AdvisorCensus's fee-only test: paid only by a percentage of assets, hourly charges, fixed fees, or subscription fees on Form ADV Item 5.E (no commissions, performance-based fees, or other compensation), with no sales-related compensation ties in the same filing: no employee registered with a broker-dealer or licensed as an insurance agent (Item 5.B), no brokerage, insurance, real estate, or other product sales business (Item 6.A), no related broker-dealer, insurance company, real estate broker, or futures commission merchant (Item 7.A), and no referral fees from others or other sales interest (Item 8). Form ADV has no fee-only box, so this is derived from the filing; it is not a fee-only certification, and a firm's own page lists its compensation arrangements as filed.

**How many financial advisors in Santa Maria, CA offer financial planning?**
41 of the 63 firms in Santa Maria, CA that answer Form ADV Item 5.G, which asks what advisory services a firm provides, report financial planning services, as of October 2026. Exempt reporting advisers do not answer Item 5.G. Each firm page lists every advisory service the firm reports.

**Are the financial advisors in Santa Maria, CA fiduciaries?**
Every firm on this page is an investment adviser that files Form ADV, and an investment adviser owes its clients a fiduciary duty under federal law, made up of a duty of care and a duty of loyalty: it must act in the client's best interest and not put its own interests ahead of the client's, and must eliminate its conflicts of interest or disclose them fully and fairly. Form ADV has no fiduciary box because the duty comes with being an investment adviser. The duty covers the firm's advice; a firm or its people may also sell securities through a broker-dealer or insurance as licensed agents, roles held to other standards. The 29 firms that meet AdvisorCensus's fee-only test report none of those sales ties.

**How do I check whether a financial advisor has disciplinary disclosures?**
Each firm page shows how many Form ADV Item 11 disciplinary questions the firm answered yes and links to the firm's record on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site (adviserinfo.sec.gov), where the detail of each disclosure is public. Individual advisers' records are on the same site and on FINRA BrokerCheck.

**Does AdvisorCensus rate, verify, or recommend these firms?**
No. The directory shows what each firm filed, in alphabetical order unless you choose another sort, and no firm's position depends on payment. Firms that claim their page can add a description and links, marked as provided by the firm; the filed facts are never changed by that content.

**What does regulatory assets under management mean?**
Regulatory assets under management (RAUM) is the figure a firm reports on Form ADV Item 5.F: the securities portfolios it provides continuous and regular supervisory or management services for, at market value, including assets managed without discretion. It measures scale, not performance or quality.

## Related pages

- [Financial advisors in California](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca.md)
- [Financial advisors in Santa Maria, CA](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria.md)
- [Fee-only financial advisors in Santa Maria, CA](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/fee-only) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/fee-only.md)
- [Flat-fee financial advisors in Santa Maria, CA](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/flat-fee) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/flat-fee.md)
- [Hourly financial advisors in Santa Maria, CA](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/hourly) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/hourly.md)
- [Financial advisors for pre-retirees in Santa Maria, CA](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/pre-retirees) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/pre-retirees.md)
- [Financial advisors in Santa Barbara, CA](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/santa-barbara) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/santa-maria/santa-barbara.md)
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- [Financial advisors in Los Angeles](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/los-angeles) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/los-angeles.md)
- [Financial advisors in San Jose](https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/san-jose) (https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/ca/san-jose.md)
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Cite as: AdvisorCensus. Financial advisors for retirees in Santa Maria, CA: 1 firm from Form ADV filings as of October 2026.