Clients want to know whether Barry Fleming & Partners are more, or less, expensive than others for the same services. They will also want to know that our fees are calculated in the same way for everyone.
We deliver affordable services, with no hidden costs or charges. It’s also important to have in mind that we do not charge an exit fee. Other’s do, we do not.
Having assessed your requirements with you, we’ll tell you exactly how we would charge for the services you require to meet your financial planning needs. The calculation is the same for everyone – only the amount of funds under advice will alter anything, and that’s how it should be. We then set it all out in writing for you to consider before making a decision.
So what do you get for your fee?
We’ve summarised below the key stages to our advisory processes that involve whole-of-market assessments and which result in a set of recommendations that are suitable to address your financial planning needs, in this example the setting up of a cost-effective SIPP with flexible and wide investment choices.
We’ve also described our optional on-going annual advice/review service designed to make sure that everything remains on track in the context of changing circumstances.
In the column on the right, we’ve highlighted the key planning services that are available to you at all times, as well as the added-value extras that all our clients enjoy.
Work to be Undertaken – Pension Planning
In our example, let’s assume that you wish to consolidate your pension assets into a Self-Invested Pension Plan to have access to a wider range of investment opportunities. You would like a highly qualified and experience Financial Planner to advise on and arrange the transfer on your behalf and provide on-going management of the Pension by way of an advisory portfolio planning service.
‘Advisory’ means that we put forward recommendations to you for discussion but you are never under any obligation to implement them. Every transaction requires your written authority in order to proceed.
We would provide you with recommendations that establish a well balanced and widely spread portfolio across your pension funds that aim to achieve your income and/or capital objectives at your desired retirement age.
Our advisory planning service covers the following:
Initial Consultation
We offer an initial consultation at our expense, not yours, and without obligation – you are never under any obligation with our firm.
This meeting identifies the needs or concerns you may have and determines the service you are looking for. Following this meeting you will receive our Client Care Letter setting out our services and the fee for those services. If you decide you would like us to proceed to act as your Financial Planners we would propose a second ‘Discovery’ meeting which will allow us to begin the planning and advice process.
Discovery ‘Fact Find’ Meeting
This meeting is the first stage of the planning process and is designed to enable us to collect and collate all the information relevant to your planning needs. It will enable us to explore your existing arrangements in greater detail, to gather any additional information, and to highlight your immediate financial planning priorities.
This meeting and the work that we carry out to collect the information that you need is also at our expense.
Financial Planning Report
Following the Discovery meeting we will have ascertained sufficient information to set out our advice and prepare a comprehensive set of recommendations based on a whole-of-market assessment.
Having completed this work, we will send our advice to you in a written report. All of our advice and our recommendations are completely impartial and based on your individual situation.
The report and supporting recommendations are constructed directly by our highly qualified and very experienced Financial Planners who work as a team – every report and every recommendation is reviewed by at least two planners before it leaves our office. We do not delegate or out-source the planning or construction of our Financial Planning Reports. Each report will be unique, reflecting your particular circumstances and requirements.
Advice and Implementation
The Advice Report will clearly set out our recommendations and our charges for implementing them. The amount of the Advice and Implementation Fee reflects the time taken to prepare the recommendations, the skills required, and the complexity of the planning.
On-going Advice/Review Service
Successful financial planning is a cyclical activity. It is important to review your planning regularly, at least once a year. Each review allows us to look at any changes in circumstances (yours, those in the tax regime and those in the investment markets) and whether they affect your goals, attitudes, assets or liabilities. We will also check the progress of the plan against your previously specified objectives.
It is very important that your savings and investments are reviewed on a regular basis. We provide a comprehensive service that includes:
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Website – Your own secure web site area that provides all the data, information, and monitoring services that you may need in relation to your income, capital, tax and pension planning matters.
- Portfolio Valuations and Income Schedules – available online at any time 24/7 (the value of your holdings are updated on a daily basis).
- Annual Report – a full formal review of your holdings and their performance versus their benchmarks and your financial planning objectives.
- Annual Review Meeting – We invite you to come to our offices in Newbury Berkshire once each year to review your portfolio and discuss any changes that may be necessary.
- Advice – available at any time to answer your questions regarding your tax, estate, and financial planning matters … any question, anytime.
Post-RDR Compliance and Administration
With the advent of the Retail Distribution RDR and the legislation that came into effect in January 2013, a new tranche of administration and compliance requirements has emerged for all advisory businesses. These costs are built into our optional On-going Advice Fee if the client elects for this service.
Additional Services
A list of additional services is available on our web site as well as in our brochure. These services are available to all our clients at any time.
Payment of our Services
Where the Advice Report includes recommendations for a financial product that carries a payment facility for ‘Customer Agreed Remuneration’, then you can instruct us to seek payment for your fees from this facility. The facility may require a cash balance to be held within that financial product in order for the Product Provider to meet the payment required. In our Advice Report we ensure that it is clear to our clients that they are still paying our fees but via the Product Provider.
Alternatively, you may settle your account by way of a cheque or monthly standing order or a combination of the two.
So how does it work in practise?
Example Fee for SIPP Pension Planning
Advice and Implementation Fee
(inclusive of Recommendations Report, Implementation, Administration)
There are two elements to the single, one-off, Advice and Implementation Fee.
First, the SIPP wrapper. Based on 40 years of financial planning experience, we know how much time and effort and expertise it takes us to advise on and implement a SIPP, whether the funds transferred into it are £250,000 or £750,000 or any other amount, our fee for providing this service is £3,000.
We then address the funds to be transferred. We charge the same rate whatever the value – 0.85% of the value of those funds.
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Pension Fund Under Advice – £250,000 |
£3,000 plus 0.85% of £250,000 Total = £5,125 (equates to 2.05%) |
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Pension Fund Under Advice – £500,000 |
£3,000 plus 0.85% of £500,000 Total = £7,250 (equates to 1.45%) |
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Pension Fund Under Advice – £750,000 |
£3,000 plus 0.85% of £750,000 Total = £9,375 (equates to 1.25%) |
So, two clear, unambiguous, consistent, statements of the two elements to our fee. In the above examples, in every case our fee would be calculated in the same way resulting in a very affordable fee that changes only to reflect the amount of funds under advice.
Optional On-going Advice/Review Service Fee
(inclusive of Post-RDR Compliance and Administration Costs)
We offer a comprehensive Annual Advice/Review Service and the fee for that service is at the same rate of 1.00%.
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Pension Fund Under Advice – £250,000 |
On-going Advice/Review Service – 0.65% Post-RDR Administration – 0.35% Total = £2,500 (equates to 1.00%) |
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Pension Fund Under Advice – £500,000 |
On-going Advice/Review Service – 0.65% Post-RDR Administration – 0.35% Total = £5,000 (equates to 1.00%) |
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Pension Fund Under Advice – £750,000 |
On-going Advice/Review Service – 0.65% Post-RDR Administration – 0.35% Total = £7,500 (equates to 1.00%) |
The fee for this service is calculated on a clear and consistent basis reflecting the value of funds under advice.
And In Conclusion
We are a long-established family business with a strong affinity towards our clients. Your best interests are our best interests. All our business over the years has come to us by referral and that underlines that our clients are happy with the wide range of services we offer (tax, trusts, investment, protection, estate, and pension planning are all available to you at any time you need them), and the fee for those services.
And one reason our clients are happy is that we have a consistent approach to our fees. They are affordable and transparent, and the methodology by which we arrive at them is clear and understandable.
Remember …
… we do not levy any additional costs on entry or on exit. Others do. We do not.