How we are paid
When we receive your enquiry, we will arrange to meet you, either at your home or place of work or at our offices, for an exploratory conversation.
First meeting
The purpose of this meeting is for you to tell us more about your personal financial circumstances and objectives, and for us to establish whether we are able to assist you.
The conversation will include a broad discussion of our fee structure. There is no charge or obligation on your part in this meeting, at which we will discuss and agree the way forward.
Our fees
In order to provide a service that is both impartial and objective, we charge fees for our financial planning services and for advising on and/or arranging investments. We believe that this is the best approach as it is both clear and transparent.
If our recommendations are accepted and involve our arrangement of products like unit or investment trusts, OEICs, investment bonds, or pensions, which ordinarily pay commission, then the amount received will be offset against the fees due to us. As a consequence, it should not be necessary for you to make any additional payment. Please note that any such commissions due to our company are payable out of, and not in addition to, providers’ own charges.
Where we are entitled to receive a greater initial commission than that covered by our fee, then this “excess” commission will be reinvested on your behalf.
In order to help cover our costs for annual review meetings, we will receive renewal commissions for investments arranged, at a rate of 0.75% of the value of the funds. Again, all such commissions are payable out of and not in addition to the fund managers’ own charges.
Alternatively, and depending on the structure of the financial planning required, it may be the case that there will be no, or insufficient, commission available with which to offset our fees. In these cases, we will agree with you a suitable fee for the work involved before commencement.
The agreement process
Following the first meeting, and if agreeable to both parties, we will meet you again for a more detailed exploration of circumstances and objectives. We will then send you our terms of engagement which confirms the scope of our instructions and what we will do for you, and sets out our fees.
If you would like to go ahead, you sign and return our terms of engagement, which instructs us to proceed with research and preparation of our detailed report. We will then send this to you and meet again to discuss it and take any questions or amendments, before implementing any action required.