How much does Financial Advice cost?

I don’t profess to be a mind reader, and I’m sure my wife would agree that it’s not one of my strongest skills!

But given my past experience, I’m fairly confident that ‘how much does financial advice cost’ is probably one of the first questions you’d like to ask, especially after finding out how I can help you, your family and your business.

Building that foundation of trust, openness and honesty is crucial where money is concerned, so here are my cards, face up on the table.

Also, just so it is crystal clear, I offer all new clients a FREE initial meeting, usually up to an hour and a half.

Have a read and let me know what you think or contact me to arrange a review of your financial planning!

So where are there charges?

For any protection or insurance products i.e. income protection, life insurance and critical illness cover (if you’re a business owner, this also applies to business protection products) we are paid commission by the provider, so there’s no upfront cost to you.

There’s no charge if, upon review, we find that your investments/pensions are in the right place for your objections, risk profile, or your ethical and/or environment preferences.

By having this conversation and reviewing the current state of your investment portfolio, we avoid anything being moved that doesn’t directly benefit you, or in other words, just for the sake of it.

Advice regarding new investments and/or reviewing existing investments is however charged at a blended rate: -

You can opt to pay for advice on investments out of the investment, leaving your emergency fund/savings untouched and sometimes it’s beneficial from a tax perspective e.g. paying for pension advice out of the pension/pre-tax income.

This sliding scale applies for new investments too. If, for example, you require me to manage an investment total of £125,000 across all of your ISAs, general investment accounts, pensions, partners investments, junior ISAs, junior pensions etc., then need advice on new investments of £125,000 this will be charged at a blended rate of 2.25%, factoring in your existing investments.

Ongoing advice is charged at 1% per annum, but there are no additional fees for advice on switches i.e. the movement of money from a general investment account into an ISA, or from one fund or portfolio into another.

Fixed fees for bespoke advice

There are certain conversations that do incur a fixed fee. These are:

1. Setting up a new pension with a monthly contribution, without any existing investments (typically for those that are self-employed) £750 minimum fee, which can be paid by a lump sum contribution to the pension, gaining tax relief on the advice fee (no VAT applies currently, as we are not registered for VAT)
2. Thorough financial review, typically starting at £1,500 (no VAT applies), for:- reviewing defined benefit pensions with annual allowance or lifetime allowance queries e.g. NHS pensions, judiciary pensions- advice on your options regarding your inheritance tax position- Lifetime allowance queries

The price of this service does vary, depending on how many “moving parts” there are, and how long it will take me to review each part of your portfolio.

Why should you consider a chargeable service? How do you quantify the value?

Quilter Cheviot have produced research that modelled the potential financial benefits of financial advice as a %, across three separate elements and combining all three elements together

Advice isn’t right for everyone, but this shows certain clients can increase their returns by getting advice up to 9.52%, which would generate a substantial return versus an initial advice fee.

*This is a high level summary only, you can find the full article here: adviser-delta-report-highlights.pdf (quiltercheviot.com)

In short, this fee includes:

✅ Tax savings, income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax

✅ Best in class risk adjusted returns for your specific risk profile, capacity for loss and ethical, environmental, social or governance preferences

✅ Advice on appropriate risk profile and evaluating investment downside as well as upside

✅ Prevent UK Bias and lack of Equity Diversification

✅ Cost effective platforms, where appropriate

✅ Protecting your benefits, guaranteed rights with existing investments (particularly pensions) reviewing costs, performance and consolidating where in your best interests

✅ Sophisticated cashflow modelling, with colourful graphs, so you can clearly see if you’re keeping on track

✅ Advice covered by professional indemnity insurance

Let’s be honest, there is a lot of general advice available for free. Fees aren’t always a true reflection of the service you’ll receive, you can pay a lot for a bad service, AND not very much for a great service!

What’s fundamentally important to me is that I offer both transparency, an experience that is tailored to you and great value advice.

So if you’re interested in understanding just how a conversation with me can provide clarity on your financial future, why not book in a FREE initial consultation?