Three ways: a fee you agree, commission the provider pays, or a percentage of what is being looked after. Whichever applies, you should be told the amount in pounds before anything happens.
Ask any firm, including the annual cost in pounds on the amount you hold, with the adviser charge, the platform charge and the fund charges shown separately. A percentage hides the size of a charge, and half a per cent a year is not a small difference over twenty years.
A first conversation costs nothing almost everywhere, and at most firms so does the initial look at what you already hold. Before you agree to anything you should have the recommendation and the price in pounds.
Ongoing advice is optional and you can stop it. Ask what is included before you agree: a review meeting, rebalancing, tax-year planning, someone picking up the phone when something changes. The same percentage buys very different amounts of work at different firms.
The first conversation and the health check are free, and you keep the written summary whatever you decide. Beyond that it depends on the work: some advice is paid for by a fee, some by commission from a provider, and ongoing advice is usually a percentage of the assets we look after.
Whichever applies, you get the amount in pounds and a choice before anything happens. Ask us for the figure at the first conversation and you will have it before you have committed to anything.
It depends on the amount and the work. On a small portfolio a percentage is often cheaper than a fixed fee; on a large one the reverse is frequently true. Compare them in pounds and the answer is usually obvious.
Where there is an agreed fee for the work, yes, because the work was done. Where advice is paid for by commission, no commission arises. Leaving things alone is often the right answer and it should not cost you a product you did not need.
Published figures vary a lot by firm and by portfolio size. Ask us for ours in pounds and you will have a number that applies to you.
Yes, and so is the health check that usually follows. If there is work worth doing afterwards you will be told what it is, what it costs and what it should achieve, and you are free to say no.
The six steps from a first conversation to a plan, and the point at which the price is agreed.
Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.