Fees
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We are committed to transparency and plain talking when it comes to paying for our service and products. Once explained, fees are not an issue for our clients.
You need to know up front whether or not our service is appropriate for you. Here is a summary of the scope of our advice and typically what it costs. We will always confirm in writing before beginning work what we intend to charge including where VAT is applicable. We also explain the ways in which fees can be covered. You may ask us for an estimate of the total cost or ask us not to exceed a given amount without checking with you first.
Our current charges excluding VAT are:
|
Initial meeting |
Provided at our expense, in our offices |
|
Personal Financial Planning Review |
£1,500 minimum but subject to complexity and the number of financial planning areas and issues we are to consider. This fee will be waived if we move to create or manage an investment or pension portfolio of at least £150,000. |
|
Wealth Management Implementation |
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Portfolios up to |
£500,000 |
2% with a maximum of £5,000 |
|
Portfolios from |
£500,001 to £1,000,000 |
1% with a maximum of £10,000 |
|
Portfolios above |
£1,000,000 |
£10,000 maximum |
|
Ongoing Wealth Management and Financial Planning Service |
1% pa of the Portfolio, minimum £1,500pa. Alternatively a minimum £125 pm plus VAT payable by means of a standing order or a combination of the two payment methods.
*There will be no initial fee charged in respect of future changes to a portfolio once the initial lump sum fee is paid. |
|
Project Work |
Generally we feel a full review is appropriate. However we may undertake one-off pieces of work such as considering options from a scheme at retirement or arranging life cover. A specific fee will be agreed based on our hourly rates, which are available on request. |
Having digested that, can we ask you to open your mind and change your perception of professional financial planning?
Traditionally most folk have gone into their bank or perhaps to a local IFA firm and bought a life policy, a pension or maybe an investment bond after seeing the ‘financial adviser’. This is very much the old model – the financial adviser has sold a product for commission. The service appeared to be free and therefore it was painless. However commission levels can be very high and out of context with the actual work done. Whilst all advisers need to ‘know their customer’, financial advice is likely to have been limited to the sale of the product rather than considering how this action links with what you already have, within the bigger picture. There will generally be no ongoing reviews built in. You need to understand that this is a one-off sales process. The adviser has to be qualified to “A-level” standard (we don’t feel that is high enough).
Conversely, Financial Planning is not a one-off sales process, it is an ongoing advisory process. The cost is for expertise, strategies and the solutions from individuals qualified at honours degree level. Very often a product is not involved at all, but if they are they come at the end of a thorough investigative process that looks into the future and takes into account your aims and objectives as well as what is already in place. The jigsaw is firmly put together in an orderly way.
We are delighted that our service is highly valued - see our 2010 client survey outcome under “news and events”