Essential Planning, LLC

• A percentage of assets under your management
• Hourly charges
• Fixed fees (other than subscription fees)

Item 5.E lists how the firm is compensated for its advice; Items 5.B, 6.A, and 7.A show whether its people or related companies can also earn commissions. Percentage of assets, fixed, hourly, subscription, and performance-based fees come from clients (a performance-based fee depends on investment results); commissions come with a sale or a trade, often from the company behind the product. How fees, commissions, and other arrangements differ

Asset-based fee: 0.6% to 1.25% a year (a range, as the brochure states it)

As stated in the firm's Form ADV Part 2A brochure dated March 23, 2026. Fees can differ by service and may be negotiable; the brochure is the complete statement. Read the brochure on the SEC's IAPD site

$524,444,621 as of October 2026, filing dated March 23, 2026.

A measure of scale, not skill or returns. Discretionary means the firm decides trades; non-discretionary means clients approve each one. What assets under management means

A firm with no individual clients is an institutional manager even if it manages billions; the mix tells you whom the practice is built around.

• Financial planning services
• Portfolio management for individuals and/or small businesses
• Selection of other advisers (including private fund managers)

Registration

SEC-registered investment adviser. Status as filed: Approved.

Registered since

1996 (30 years)

Employees

Total: 11. Performing investment advisory functions: 3.

Wrap fee program participation

No.

Custodians (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3))

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Custodians holding 10% or more of the firm's separately managed account assets, as filed on Form ADV (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3)). A custodian holds client assets; it does not endorse or supervise the firm. AdvisorCensus has no relationship with any custodian.

Other offices (Schedule D, Section 1.F)

1 other office, as of the April 2026 filing

Wolfeboro Falls, NH

States registered or notice-filed

9 states or jurisdictions

CAFLLAMAMENHNYTXVT

SEC-registered investment advisers are examined by the SEC. SEC, state, and exempt registration

5 Reports 5 disclosure items on Form ADV Item 11. View on IAPD.

Questions answered yes on this filing

Regulatory matters Items 11.C to 11.G

• 11.D(3) Has another federal regulator, a state regulator, or a foreign financial regulator ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was a cause of an investment-related business having its authorization to do business denied, suspended, revoked, or restricted?
• 11.E(1) Has a self-regulatory organization (such as FINRA) or a commodities exchange ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate made a false statement or omission?
• 11.E(2) Has a self-regulatory organization or a commodities exchange ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was involved in a violation of its rules, other than a minor rule violation under a plan the SEC approved?
• 11.E(3) Has a self-regulatory organization or a commodities exchange ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was the cause of an investment-related business having its authorization to do business denied, suspended, revoked, or restricted?
• 11.E(4) Has a self-regulatory organization or a commodities exchange ever disciplined the firm or an advisory affiliate by expelling or suspending it from membership, barring or suspending it from association with other members, or otherwise restricting its activities?

Each question covers the firm and its advisory affiliates: its current employees other than clerical staff, its officers, partners, and directors, and anyone who controls the firm or is controlled by it. One event can produce yes answers to several questions. SEC-registered advisers and exempt reporting advisers may leave out events more than ten years old, and may answer 11.A(2) and 11.B(2) for pending charges only. What happened, and who was involved, is on the Disclosure Reporting Pages of the IAPD record. Reading a firm's disclosures

Regulatory assets under management: $275,391,880 in the October 2021 data and $524,444,621 in the October 2026 data, up 90%.

Total employees: 7 in October 2021 and 11 in October 2026.

As filed in each year's data for the same month. Assets under management move with markets as well as with clients coming and going; they measure scale, not skill or returns. Most firms update these figures once a year.

1. April 2026
   • Regulatory assets under management went from $439,657,003 to $524,444,621 (+19%).
   • Registered or notice-filed in CA, LA, NY.

Compared month to month from the SEC's monthly adviser data and the state compilation feed. Owners and control persons are summarized, never named.