A calculator is one of the few things on an advisor's website that gives a visitor something back before they hand over an email address. They move a slider for their age or their savings, and they see a number about their own money. Firms add them for that reason, and then find that the number on the screen is a projection, which the SEC treats as hypothetical performance.
This guide covers the calculators worth putting on a wealth management site, the inputs each one needs, what the SEC Marketing Rule and FINRA Rule 2214 ask of a tool that shows projected results, and how to set one up on HubSpot CMS. The rules are quoted from the regulators' own text, checked in October 2026.
What a calculator does on an advisor website
Most pages on an advisory firm's site describe the firm. A calculator is about the visitor. Someone who has just watched their projected retirement balance change as they dragged a slider has a reason to keep reading, and a question to bring to a first meeting.
The calculator also does some of the first meeting's work. A prospect who has already put in their age, savings and monthly contribution arrives knowing roughly where they stand, and the conversation can start from there.
A calculator should not be the only route to a meeting, and it should never be gated behind a form. Put the consultation button beside the result, where the visitor's attention already is.
The calculators worth adding
Retirement savings
This is the one most visitors expect. It needs five inputs:
- current age
- planned retirement age
- current savings
- monthly contribution
- an expected annual return
The result is a projected balance at retirement, best shown alongside how much of it came from contributions and how much from growth.
Set the default values to a typical client. If your clients are mostly in their fifties, a default age of 30 shows a large number that has nothing to do with them.
Investment growth
This works for a visitor who has a lump sum to invest and wants to see what it could become. Its inputs are:
- the initial investment
- a monthly addition
- the number of years
- an expected return
It suits a page about portfolio management better than a page about retirement, because the question it answers is different.
Fee cost
This is the calculator fee-only and low-fee firms tend to use most. It sets two fee rates side by side on the same portfolio and shows the difference over time. Its inputs are:
- a portfolio value
- a number of years
- two fee rates
- an expected return
The gap grows faster than most people guess. On the default values of the calculator in the film below, $500,000 over 25 years at a 7% return, a 0.5% fee leaves $2,413,850 and a 1.5% fee leaves $1,906,696, a difference of about $507,000.
Present it as an illustration of how fees compound. It should not be a claim about any named competitor's costs.
What the SEC asks of a calculator
For a registered investment adviser, the rule that matters is the Marketing Rule, 17 CFR 275.206(4)-1.
Its definition of hypothetical performance, in paragraph (e)(8), covers "performance results that were not actually achieved by any portfolio of the investment adviser." It expressly includes targeted or projected returns. A retirement projection on your website falls inside that definition unless an exclusion applies.
The exclusion for interactive tools
Paragraph (e)(8)(ii)(A) excludes an interactive analysis tool, where the client or prospect uses the tool to produce simulations and statistical analyses of likely outcomes. The exclusion holds only if the adviser does four things:
- Describes the criteria and methodology the tool uses, including its limitations and key assumptions.
- Explains that results may vary with each use and over time.
- Where it applies, describes the universe of investments the tool considers, how it selects them, and any reason it favours some over others. The adviser must also state that investments the tool does not consider may have similar or better characteristics.
- Discloses that the tool's outcomes are hypothetical in nature.
A calculator where the visitor sets the inputs and sees the result is the kind of tool this exclusion describes. Whether yours qualifies depends on those four disclosures being on the page with it.
If the exclusion does not apply
Hypothetical performance can still appear in an advertisement, but only under paragraph (d)(6). The adviser must adopt and implement policies and procedures to make sure the performance is relevant to the likely financial situation and investment objectives of the intended audience. The adviser must also give enough information to understand the criteria, assumptions, risks and limitations behind the figures.
A public website has no defined audience, and the SEC has acted on exactly that point. On September 11, 2023, it settled charges against nine advisers for advertising hypothetical performance "to mass audiences on their websites" without the required policies and procedures. The penalties came to $850,000 in total, between $50,000 and $175,000 per firm.
If you are also a broker-dealer
FINRA Rule 2214 covers investment analysis tools offered by member firms, and its conditions mirror the SEC's. You must describe the methodology, limitations and key assumptions, explain that results vary, and describe the universe of investments where relevant. You must also display a statement that begins with "IMPORTANT:" and says the projections are hypothetical, do not reflect actual results and are not guarantees of future results.
None of this is legal advice. Your chief compliance officer should approve the calculator, its default values and its disclosure text before the page goes live, and keep a copy of the page as it was published.
What to write next to the calculator
A single line reading "for illustrative purposes only" covers the fourth condition and none of the others. A disclosure written to the exclusion's conditions reads more like this, adapted to your own tool and approved by your compliance team:
"This calculator projects a future balance from the figures you enter and a constant annual return that you choose. It assumes contributions are made monthly and that returns compound annually, and it does not account for taxes, fees, inflation or market losses. Results change each time the inputs change and are not a prediction of how any investment will perform. The outcomes are hypothetical and do not reflect actual investment results."
Keep the disclosure close to the result. It should be visible without the visitor having to open anything.
Setting one up on HubSpot CMS
HubSpot has no calculator module of its own. You build one as a custom module, or use a theme or module that ships with one. Our guide to building an interactive calculator in HubSpot CMS covers the custom route: the inputs, the formulas and the lead capture.
The Harrington & Co theme was built for wealth management firms, and its calculator module has a setting for each of the three types above. Setting one up looks like this:
- Add the Financial Calculator module to a page and choose the calculator type: Retirement Savings, Investment Growth or Fee Impact Comparison.
- Set the slider ranges and defaults. Each slider's label, minimum, maximum, step and default value is a field, so you can set the defaults to a typical client and cap the expected return at a figure your compliance team accepts.
- Write the disclaimer. The module's Disclaimer Text field prints under the calculator. Replace the default line with the disclosure your compliance team has approved.
- Put it where the decision is made. The Calculator Hero module puts a calculator beside a landing page's heading and consultation button, so the visitor sees the result and the next step together.
- Check it on a phone. The calculator stacks under the heading on small screens. Drag each slider with a thumb before you publish, and confirm the disclosure is still visible under the result.
The video below shows the theme's calculators on its live demo, along with the rest of what the theme includes.
Frequently asked questions
Is a retirement calculator on my website hypothetical performance?
The projected result is, under the Marketing Rule's definition, unless the tool meets the exclusion for interactive analysis tools. That exclusion needs four disclosures on the page: the methodology and assumptions, that results vary, the universe of investments where relevant, and that the outcomes are hypothetical.
Can I use a calculator from a third-party vendor?
Yes, and the same rules apply to what it shows on your site. Check that the vendor's tool lets you display the required disclosures, and keep a record of the version you published.
Should I ask for an email before showing the result?
We would not. The calculator's job is to show the visitor something about their own money, and a form in front of the result asks them to pay before they see it. Show the result, then offer the consultation beside it.
What return should the calculator default to?
One your compliance team is comfortable defending as a reasonable assumption for the audience, stated in the disclosure. Avoid defaults that only make sense for a best case.
See the calculators on a live site
The Harrington & Co demo has the retirement calculator in a landing page hero and the fee comparison further down the investment page, so you can try both before deciding anything. The theme page lists everything else it includes: Harrington & Co for HubSpot.
If you are planning a wider build for an advisory firm, our guide to building a financial advisor website on HubSpot CMS covers the other pages: advisor profiles, compliance disclosures, client outcomes and consultation booking.