RETIREMENT PLANNING CAN

be a daunting task. Whether it's figuring out how much to save or how to manage those savings in retirement, many investors wish they had professional help.

But working with a financial adviser isn't cheap. Fee-only financial planners those who are not paid a commission for the investment products they sell can charge between $150 and $300 an hour, according to Dennis Houlihan, a fee-only Certified Financial Planner (CFP) in Fort Wayne, Ind. Having a comprehensive plan drawn up and followed through, he says, adds up to $2,500 at the bare minimum.

What if you can't spend that much? Over the past few years, large mutual-fund companies like Fidelity, Vanguard and T. Rowe Price have developed services that, for a small one-time fee or even no fee at all, will create a retirement saving and management plan. Lately, they've enhanced these services with a human touch: They now offer consultations with a personal advisor and annual follow-up conversations to tweak your retirement plan as needed.

T. Rowe Price launched its revamped advisory services earlier this month, following a similar move by Vanguard this April. Fidelity, which currently offers to its investors a suite of online retirement planning tools, plans to make those tools available to non-Fidelity customers by the end of the month.

These services aim to come as close to having your personal advisor as possible, at a fraction of the cost. Vanguard charges a one-time $1,000 fee, while at T. Rowe Price you'll pay $250. Both companies waive the fee for clients who bring $100,000 or more to the company or already have invested at least $500,000 (with T. Rowe) or $250,000 (with Vanguard). Fidelity's services are entirely free. (For more details, see the table below.)

How the services work: Investors provide detailed information on their financial situation online or by mail. A financial advisor at the fund company reviews it and puts together a retirement plan. Once the investor receives the plan, he or she gets a call from the advisor to talk about it and make changes, if necessary. (At Fidelity, the plan is created automatically by a set of interactive tools. For live help, investors can call a toll-free number to speak with an investment advisor.)

Once the plan is ready, the advisor can execute the parts that involve the company's own products. He or she can adjust your asset allocation by selling or buying mutual funds for you, for example, as long as they're the company's own funds.

But are these services as good as the impartial advice of an independent financial planner? The answer depends on whom you ask. The fund families say their planners are qualified: Vanguard's advisors all have a CFP designation, while T. Rowe's work under the supervision of CFPs.

But financial planners, who compete with these services directly, are critical of the services in many respects, including the fact that they're selling their own products.

"They have an embedded conflict of interest because they'll make recommendations based on their own funds," says Houlihan, a fee-only financial planner. He questions their objectivity. "It's like going to a Ford dealership and asking 'What's the best car for me,'" he says. "They won't say it's a BMW."

That's not to say, of course, that the fund families' products are bad or don't belong in your portfolio. All three companies offer low-cost mutual funds that regularly show up in SmartMoney.com's fund screens as leaders in their fund classifications. But finding the best funds for you, according to New York-based CFP Gary Schatsky, is only the beginning of a sound retirement plan. "I'm a huge, huge Vanguard fan," he says. "But retirement planning goes beyond selecting Vanguard funds."

Schatsky's main argument against using a fund company's advisory services is they aren't as comprehensive as most investors need. "The advisors aren't digging through your tax returns to see what additional changes might be taking place if you make moves like Roth conversions," he says. "They're a fine place to start, but they don't cover all the bases."

T. Rowe spokeswoman Judy Ward agrees with the point. "I don't know if it would be a substitute for a comprehensive financial plan, but it can definitely help someone with their retirement goals," she says. "Usually, with a comprehensive financial plan you're looking at other things: life insurance, estate planning." For that, you would still have to work with a CPA and estate attorney, she says.

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Another potential drawback: These services leave it up to the investor to put in their current financial information and make important predictions like their expected retirement spending, says Christopher Van Slyke, a fee-only CFP in La Jolla, Calif. There's a chance they may misunderstand the questions or give the wrong information, he says. "Without experience, it's likely they'll make mistakes."

An individual investor may easily underestimate his or her retirement income needs, for example, by not factoring in things like medical expenses. (If you don't make your own retirement income suggestion, Fidelity's tool will calculate one as 85% of your current income, adjusting for future inflation. T. Rowe Price advisors will suggest 50% of your current income.)

"I've seen a couple of the plans [Vanguard] put together. They're kind of boiler-plate," says Dan Wiener, editor of the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors. Still, he adds, for many investors the plans are a sufficient starting point, provided they are willing to spend the cash. "If someone has not done any financial planning and has not looked at all their stuff, this might be as good as anything else," he says.

If you vote in favor of these services, be sure to follow up. "You can pay a lot of money for a one-time plan or you can get it for free," says Wiener. "But if there's no follow-up and if you think you're going to get panacea in a box, you're probably mistaken."

Both T. Rowe Price and Vanguard offer annual checkups. Fidelity's online Income Management Account also free of charge will track your withdrawals in retirement and will send alerts if your asset allocation is off what was recommended by your plan.

For more details on the services, see the table below.