Clear, transparent fees
Agreed in pounds and pence before any work begins.
We charge for advice, not for product. Every fee is fixed in advance, set out in writing, and applied transparently. We earn nothing from where your money goes, only from the planning and ongoing work we agree with you upfront.
Our fees
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A no-obligation conversation to understand your situation and whether independent advice is the right fit. There is no chargeable work and no obligation on either side.
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A fixed fee of £2,500 + VAT. The report sets out our analysis of your current position, identifies the planning issues that warrant attention, and quantifies the value we believe we can add. If you proceed with our recommendations, the £2,500 is offset against the implementation fee.
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Charged on assets brought under our advice, on a tiered-through basis:
1.0% on the first £1,000,000
0.5% on amounts above £1,000,000
So a £500,000 implementation costs £5,000. A £1,000,000 implementation costs £10,000. A £3,000,000 implementation costs £20,000. Larger engagements always pay more in absolute terms, but at a declining marginal rate.
VAT may be applicable to some elements.
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Charged annually on the value of monitored assets, at the single rate corresponding to the relevant tier (rather than applied through the tiers):
Up to £999,999 — 0.75%
£1,000,000 to £4,999,999 — 0.65%
£5,000,000 to £9,999,999 — 0.55%
£10,000,000 and above — 0.45%
VAT may be applicable to some elements.
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Where third-party costs apply such as investment platform fees, fund charges, custody, transaction costs, these are disclosed in pounds and pence before any work begins.
We do not mark up third-party costs and we receive no rebates, retrocessions, or commissions from any provider.
What you are paying for
Wealth management fees should be measured against the value of the planning, not just the performance of the portfolio. For our clients, the value of the relationship typically shows up across five areas:
1. Tax savings from coordinated planning
The largest single source of value for most of our clients. Pre-sale structuring, BADR planning, EIS reinvestment, pension funding pre-completion, ISA usage, CGT and dividend allowance management, IHT planning, and the timing decisions across all of these. The numbers are often six- or seven-figure across an engagement.
2. Multi-decade financial planning
A coherent plan that holds together across decades, pension funding, drawdown sequencing, ISA layering, the order in which different pots are drawn, and the structural decisions about how wealth passes to the next generation.
3. Behavioural value during volatility
Particularly important for post-exit founders. The data on investor returns versus fund returns is consistent and stark: most underperformance comes from poorly timed decisions, not from poor product selection. A trusted adviser through a market drawdown is often the single most valuable component of the engagement.
4. Coordinated multi-disciplinary working
Most engagements involve us working alongside your accountant, solicitor, and corporate finance team and coordinating the decisions across those advisers so nothing falls between the cracks. That coordination is part of the fee.
5. Net portfolio performance after fees
We expect the portfolio to perform appropriately for its risk profile and time horizon, after all fees. We do not promise alpha, and we are sceptical of advisers who do, but the portfolio sits inside a planning structure rather than being judged in isolation.
What you don’t pay
The independent fee model exists to remove specific costs that exist elsewhere in the market, costs that are often invisible to the client but materially affect the long-term outcome.
You do not pay commission on any product or platform. We do not earn anything from where your money goes, only from the planning and advisory work agreed with you upfront in pounds and pence.
You do not pay a markup on third-party costs. Investment management, platform fees, fund charges, and custody costs are passed through at cost.
You do not pay for proprietary product. We have none. Our recommendation is determined by your situation and the most appropriate solution available across the whole UK market.
You do not pay for distribution. The fee structure is identical regardless of which manager, platform, or product turns out to be the right answer. There is no incentive for us to recommend one solution over another except its fit to your circumstances.
For comparison, restricted advice models, including most private banks and tied advisers, typically embed multiple layers of distribution economics into the price the client pays, which can show up as platform fees, fund charges, manager fees, and structuring fees. Independent advice is generally simpler to read.
Speak with us
A complimentary discovery session is the right starting point. Thirty minutes, no obligation, an honest view of whether independent advice is the right fit for your situation.