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If you are looking to invest, buy a financial product or plan for the longer term, whether or not you need financial advice will depend on a number of factors, such as what product you are looking for, how complicated your finances and personal circumstances are and your short and long-term goals.
There is also a risk that you might buy a product that is not suitable for you because you don’t understand it.
So, can you afford to lose any money, have the time to do the research, have much experience or knowledge, if things go wrong, are you comfortable taking responsibility for any bad decisions? If the answer to any of these is ‘No’ then seeking financial advice might be your best option. When trying to decide, also bear in mind the cost of fees against the financial and emotional cost of getting it wrong if you buy without advice.
We are a directly authorised firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
We are independent advisers and can look at the whole of the market.
Typically for pension and investment work we operate a tiered charging structure. On the first £50,000 we would charge 3%, on the next £100,000 it would be 2% and 1% thereafter. The fee could be deducted from the invested amount or by way of a direct fee. Where we might provide an ongoing advice service an annual charge may apply to the invested amount of between 0.5% and 0.7% a year.
Protection work may result in commission being provided by the provider used or a direct fee.
All fees will be discussed at the earliest stages of the process so that this is clear and agreed. Any fees are subject to the complexity of each individual case and can be different to the above. We typically have a minimum fee of £800 for any work undertaken.
We will provide our disclosure document with our fees at any initial meeting.
In recent years we have steered away from traditional providers and sought the services and propositions provided by online investment platforms. The use of these are due to their independence of investment propositions, investment opportunities, cost effective charges, online or technological capabilities to adapt and high levels of service. Their service levels can be high as they are usually dependant on these to attract and retain investors.
The investment landscape has changed significantly in recent years. As a result of this, we have seen a larger number of options made available to us for our clients to help achieve their investment objectives. One of the options we find works well for many client situations, is the engagement of an investment management service. This provides specific discretionary managed portfolios to the firm, for various levels of risk sought by investors. This allows for changes to be made proactively, in light of prevailing market conditions rather than in hindsight. This can result in an additional cost to any investment, but needs to be considered in light of the value it can add by any increases in returns or reducing risk. As mentioned, this is just one option and we must consider what is suitable based on personal circumstances.