Our Fees
We believe in fairness and transparency and how we charge for our services is no exception.
Our fees are based on the complexity of the service required rather than simply as a percentage of your investment as we believe this is a much fairer way to charge our clients. If an accountant or solicitor proposed to charge you based on the value of your investments alarm bells would start ringing and we believe it shouldn’t be any different for financial planners. That’s why we charge fixed monthly fees for our services based on the complexity of your financial affairs and our ability to add value over the long-term.
Our Service Tiers
Our fees are charged as a monthly subscription with an additional one-off fee at the start of our relationship to cover the additional work involved with taking on a new client. Our subscription services are based on the level of complexity as shown below:
Tier 1 – Clients with minimal complexity – £200 per month with an initial fee of £1,500
Tier 2 – Clients with moderate complexity – £300 per month with an initial fee of £2,000
Tier 3 – Clients with significant complexity – £400 per month with an initial fee of £2,500
Tier 4 – Client with high levels of complexity – To be agreed on an individual basis.
Examples of areas of additional complexity are Tax Planning, Pension Drawdown Strategies, Inheritance Tax & Estate Planning, large numbers of policies/holdings, Non-Standard Investments, Business Financial Planning and High Value Investment Portfolios.
Protection Product Recommendation Service
Clients in need of life assurance, critical illness cover or income protection would generally receive a product recommendation based around their protection requirements and any established shortfall in circumstances such as death and illness. We would then arrange the recommended financial products on our clients’ behalf should they accept our recommendation.
Our minimum fee for providing protection advice is £1,500. However, in relation to protection policies, we will usually be paid a commission by the product provider upon implementation of the contract which would generally be in excess of this minimum amount. Please refer the section entitled ‘Protection Business’ for further information.
Annuity & Secure Retirement Income Recommendation Service
Clients looking to convert their pension holdings into a secure lifetime income would generally receive a product recommendation based around their retirement income requirements and attitude to investment risk. We would then arrange the recommended financial products on our clients’ behalves should they accept our recommendation.
For this service we would charge a minimum fee of £1,500 but the charge could be higher depending on the level of work involved.
Annual Fee Comparisons
We believe our fees are extremely competitive compared to other Chartered Financial Planners offering comparative services. We have therefore provided the Annual Fee Comparisons below based on a number of different scenarios.
Hopefully this will provide not only a good comparison of our fees against other advisory firms but also an indication of the fees we might charge clients in your individual circumstances.
The comparisons below are based on the figures quoted in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in their FCA Data Bulletin June 2018 (Issue 13). This report stated that that advisers generally charge a percentage initial fee of between 1% and 3% of the amount invested followed by an annual percentage fee of between 0.5% and 1% pa of the amount invested. This equates to between 1.5% and 4% in Year 1 followed by between 0.5% and 1% per annum from Year 2 onwards.
Tier 1 – Minimal Complexity
Clients with £250,000 held in their pensions saving towards their retirement in 10 years’ time.
Our Fees: £3,900 in Year 1 followed by £2,400 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Comparative Fees: £3,750 to £10,000 in Year 1 followed by £1,250 to £2,500 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Tier 2 – Moderate Complexity
Retired clients currently drawing down on their pensions which are currently valued at £250,000.
Our Fees: £5,600 in Year 1 followed by £3,600 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Comparative Fees: £3,750 to £10,000 in Year 1 followed by £1,250 to £2,500 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Tier 2 – Moderate Complexity
Clients with £500,000 held in their pensions and making large pension contributions around the Annual Allowance each year.
Our Fees: £5,600 in Year 1 followed by £3,600 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Comparative Fees: £7,500 to £20,000 in Year 1 followed by £2,500 to £5,000 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Tier 3 – Significant Complexity
Semi-retired clients with £500,000 in Pensions & ISAs, currently drawing down on their pensions which include a commercial property within a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP).
Our Fees: £7,300 in Year 1 followed by £4,800 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Comparative Fees: £7,500 to £20,000 in Year 1 followed by £2,500 to £5,000 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Tier 3 – Significant Complexity
Semi-retired clients with £1,000,000 in Pensions, ISAs & Taxable Accounts currently drawing down on their pensions.
Our Fees: £7,300 in Year 1 followed by £4,800 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Comparative Fees: £15,000 to £40,000 in Year 1 followed by £5,000 to £10,000 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Tier 4 – High levels of Complexity
Retired clients with £1,000,000 in Pensions, ISAs & Taxable Accounts currently drawing down on their pensions whist actively mitigating potential inheritance tax liabilities on their estates.
Our Fees: £9,000 in Year 1 followed by £6,000 per annum from Year 2 onwards
Comparative Fees: £15,000 to £40,000 in Year 1 followed by £5,000 to £10,000 per annum from Year 2 onwards
What our customers say about us.
Services Included:
Our Monthly Subscription Service includes the following services:
- Access to your Financial Planner, Customer Relationship Manager and Support Team as a Financial Sounding Board throughout the year.
- Annual Forward Planning Meeting to discuss:
- Actions outstanding from the last 12 months
- Changes to your circumstances
- Changes to your short-term objectives
- Changes to your long-term objectives
- Changes that need to made to your Financial Plan
- Action to be taken during the next 12 months
- Followed by:
- Annual 12-Month Action Plan
- One –Page Financial Plan
- Annual Update to your Lifetime Cash Flow Forecast
- Annual Review of your Pensions & Investments
- Annual Schedule of your Pension, Investment and Protection Policies
- Implementation of our recommendations
- Annual Meetings to discuss areas of additional complexity such as:
- Tax Planning
- Pension Drawdown Strategies
- Inheritance Tax & Estate Planning
- Large Numbers of Policies / Holdings
- Non-Standard Investments
- Business Financial Planning
- High Value Investment Portfolios
- Followed by:
- Annual Review of area of additional complexity
- Implementation of our recommendations
- General Administration, Electronic Date Storage & Record Keeping.
- Quarterly Financial Focus Newsletter.
- Liaison with other professional connections such as solicitors and accountants.
- Liaison with product providers on your behalf throughout the year.
Please note that if convenient, areas of additional complexity can be reviewed at the same time as
your Annual Forward Planning Meeting and the subsequent Annual Review.
