COSTS & cHARGES
What will you have to pay us for our services?
You will pay for our services on the basis of an adviser charge. This charge is normally based on a percentage of the amount you invest. We will discuss your payment options with you and answer any questions you have. We will not charge you until we have agreed with you how we are to be paid.
Our Process:
Initial meeting
We provide you with an initial consultation free of charge. This helps us to understand your financial objectives and will confirm how we can support you in working towards these. We will also discuss the cost, and levels, of our services both initially and throughout our relationship with you.
Financial Review and Recommendation
This can be a continuation from the initial discussion, where agreed, or a further appointment. This process covers:
- understanding your situation by gathering information about your existing financial arrangements and full personal circumstances;
- understanding of your investment knowledge and attitude and tolerance towards investment risk and capacity for loss;
- recommendation of an asset allocation model that matches your investment risk profile and the subsequent assessment and suitability of any existing investments;
- analysis and design of your investment strategy;
- presentation of our recommendation;
Our charge for this service is a fixed fee of £500 payable on provision of the suitability report containing our recommendations to you. This fee will be waived wholly or in part should you decide to implement any of our recommendations.
Arranging and Setting up your Investment – Lump Sum Investments or Transfers
Should you instruct us to proceed with any of our recommendations we will act for you in the following ways:
- Facilitate and deal with all fund and contract administration on your behalf;
- Communicate regularly – keeping you informed of progress;
- Provide you with all documentation;
- Provide you with confirmation of the actions taken on your behalf, in writing.
Your Payment Options – Implementation Fee
Our charge for this service is based on the amount you invest and/or transfer. These charges are applied as follows but are subject to a minimum of £500
- Up to 6% of the value of the lump sum investment or transfer amount (subject to a minimum of £500) depending on the volume and complexity of the work involved.
This payment can either be taken from your investment upon receipt by the provider or paid directly by you. Where we receive such a payment we will waive our ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee by the same amount.
This payment can either be taken from your investment upon receipt by the provider or paid directly by you. Where we receive such a payment we will waive our ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee by the same amount.
Example 2; if we arrange an investment of your behalf totalling £100,000 our implementation fee would be £3,000. As this exceed the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee, no other implementation charge would be applied.
Arranging and Setting up your Investment – Regular Premium Investments
Our minimum charge for setting up a regular premium investment plan is up to 50% of the first year’s premium. You can pay this under either of the two options listed below:
Your Payment Options - Regular Premium Investments
Option 1:
You can pay this directly on commencement of the plan. On receipt of this payment, we will waive our ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee by the same amount with any balance falling due at the same time.
Example 1; if your monthly contribution is £20, our setting up fee would be £120. As this is less than the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee of £500, we would charge you £380 as the balance. Example 2;
if your monthly contribution is £200, our fee would be up to £1200. As this exceeds the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee no other initial charge would be applied.
Option 2:
You can pay the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee through your plan. The payment will be deducted proportionally from each monthly contribution during the first year. Where we receive such payments, we will waive the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee by the same amount and any balance due at the end of the first year will be payable by the same monthly instalments until settled in full.
Example 1; if your monthly contribution is £20 our ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee will be collected by deducting £10 from each monthly contribution for the first 12 months. The total fee paid during this time will be £120. As this is less than the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee of £500, at the end of the first year the balance of £380 will be collected by the same monthly deductions until settled in full.
Example 2; if your monthly contribution is £200, our fee would be £1200. This will be collected by deducting £100 from each monthly contribution for the first 12 months. As this exceeds the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee no other initial charge would be applied.
Should you decide to pay this charge through your policy and payments to the plan subsequently cease, we will calculate the total payments received to date and charge you the balance against the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee.
For example, if you invest £100pm, our fee would be £600. We will deduct £50 from each payment monthly contribution until paid in full. Should payments cease after month 6 (and £300 has been paid) the difference between this and the ‘financial review and recommendation’ fee of £600 would be charged i.e. £300
Ongoing Service and Reviews
We will discuss the full range of our on-going valued service proposition during our initial consultation. These services may include, but are not limited to, providing you with:
- structured reviews;
- an assessment of your circumstances and any changes to your plans that are needed;
- updates and information regarding your investments;
- ongoing support with correspondence and administration issues
- access to your own financial adviser
- ensuring your investment continues to meet your objectives
Your Payment Options
We will agree separately the level of on-going services at the time of, or prior to, making our recommendation(s) to you.
Typically, our costs range from 0.75% to 1% per annum and are based on the value of your investment(s) and are typically paid monthly/quarterly/annually from the commencement of the plan. Therefore, if the value of your investment totalled £50,000, our annualised fees would range from £375 to £500.
The amount you pay will fluctuate with the value of your investment; if your investment increases in value, the amount you pay us will also increase and if your investment falls in value, the amount you pay us will reduce. Any change to the level of services throughout this agreement will result in a pro-rata charge being applied.
The charges listed above can be deducted from your investments or paid directly by you. You should note that when paid through the investments it may reduce your personal tax threshold and/or exemption levels. Where this happens, we will discuss it with you and confirm it within your suitability report. It should be noted that if you choose our ongoing management service, they are normally subject to a minimum fee per annum of 0.75% of your investments.
Example; if your investments are valued at £50,000 and we have agreed an ongoing fee of 1%pa, the ongoing management charge we would receive would be £500pa. Should you decide to cancel our agreement to provide on-going services you must provide written confirmation of your decision and we will cease your payments for these services within 7 business days and after collection of any due proportion of any period charges.
Fee Calculator
Our fee calculator offers a breakdown of costs, from initial consultations to ongoing management. Remember, the ongoing advice fee is payable per annum, reflecting our commitment to ongoing advice.
Illustrative only. The ongoing fee is based on the value of your investment and will rise or fall with it. We confirm all fees in writing before you commit to anything.