Our fees

We offer a free, no obligation, initial meeting. This gives you an opportunity to find out more about our company and to get to know your adviser. After your initial meeting your adviser will set out how we can help you and what fees will be payable for our services. If you choose not to use our services no fees will be payable.

Introduction

We offer lots of different services and we have a very wide range of clients (from those with relatively simple needs to those with very complex needs).

This means we sometimes need to tailor our fees to ensure they are fair for both us and our clients. As a result, it is only possible to confirm the fee you will pay during or after your free initial consultation with one of our advisers.

However, in the interests of transparency, we have set out our standard fees on our website which you can view using the links below.

We do not expect to be either the cheapest or the most expensive financial advice company. However, we do aim to offer offer excellent value for money, particularly given our credentials as award-winning Chartered Financial Planners.

It is important to note that, unlike many financial advice companies, our advisers do not receive bonuses or commission based on the amount of fees or commission they earn for our company. Instead our advisers receive a salary.

Value for money

What you will get for your money

Access to financial advisers with some of the highest qualifications in our industry
Independent financial advice, which is not biased to a particular product provider
Help with using time-sensitive tax allowances (which, once lost, are gone forever)
A named financial adviser
A financial “coach” – our clients regularly ask us questions about other areas of their finances to ensure they are not making mistakes
Advice which covers virtually all areas of financial planning (because we can offer advice on pensions*, investments, mortgages*, insurances and lifetime mortgages)
Access to a team of highly experienced administrators

*Please note we do not offer advice on defined benefits pensions transfers or commercial mortgages.

Book a free initial meeting

Can I do this myself? If you are considering looking after your own finances (rather than paying a professional), ask yourself the following questions:

Do you know how to do this? Our advisers sat numerous exams to gain the knowledge they need to give advice.
Have you done this before and has anything changed in the meantime? Rules and legislation change all the time. Our advisers carry out ongoing training to ensure they do not miss out on these important changes.
Do you have the tools to do this? We pay a great deal of money each month for specialist software and training which is not available to the general public.
What else could you do with your time? Unless you really enjoy looking after your finances, it is likely you can find better uses for your spare time.
Is it worth taking the risk of doing it yourself? It is very easy to get tripped up in the world of personal finance. If you do it yourself, any mistakes will fall on your shoulders.

How do we compare?

You can use the tables below to compare our typical investment and pension fees against that of a market leader (St James Place).

This is our estimate for the following scenario:

transferring £100,000 into a pension from another personal pension
taking a 25% tax-free lump sum
investing the residual amount into a fund with 60% in shares/property and 40% in bonds/cash
choosing the lowest-cost provider/funds (given the investment amount)

UP-FRONT CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Initial advice fee	£2,250	£4,500 [1]	£2,250	50%
Initial product charge	£0	£1,500 [1]	£1,500	100%
Total up-front charges	£2,250	£6,000	£3,750	63%

ONGOING CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Annual advice fee	£563	£375 [1]	(£188)	(50%)
Annual product charge	£338	£750 [2]	£412	55%
Annual fund charges	£0	£375 [3]	£375	100%
Total ongoing charges	£901	£1,500	£599	39%

OTHER FACTORS	Our company	St James Place
Exit/withdrawal penalties	No	Yes [1] 6% in year 1 reducing to 1% in year 6 on a reducing scale [1]
Independent advice	Yes	No (St James Place products only)

This is our estimate for the following scenario:

transferring £100,000 into a pension from another personal pension
taking a 25% tax-free lump sum
investing the residual amount into a fund with 60% in shares/property and 40% in bonds/cash
choosing a typical provider, rather than the lowest-cost provider

UP-FRONT CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Initial advice fee	£2,250	£4,500 [1]	£2,250	50%
Initial product charge	£0	£1,500 [1]	£1,500	100%
Total up-front charges	£2,250	£6,000	£3,750	63%

ONGOING CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Annual advice fee	£563	£375 [1]	(£188)	(50%)
Annual product charge	£278	£750 [2]	£473	63%
Annual fund charges	£495	£375 [3]	£(£120)	(32%)
Total ongoing charges	£1,335	£1,500	£165	11%

OTHER FACTORS	Our company	St James Place
Exit/withdrawal penalties	No	Yes [1] 6% in year 1 reducing to 1% in year 6 on a reducing scale
Independent advice	Yes	No (St James Place products only)

References

[1] www.sjp.co.uk/charges/pensions-charges

[2] Payable from year 6 onwards www.sjp.co.uk/charges/pensions-charges

[3] www.sjp.co.uk/~/media/Files/S/SJP-Corp/document-library/our-charges/SJP11539_Pension_Charges_Summary.pdf

This is our estimate for the following scenario:

investing £100,000 into a fund with 60% in shares/property and 40% in bonds/cash
choosing the lowest-cost provider/funds (given the investment amount)

UP-FRONT CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Initial advice fee	£2,000	£4,500 [1]	£2,500	56%
Initial product charge	£0	£500 [1]	£500	100%
Total up-front charges	£2,000	£5,000	£3,000	60%

ONGOING CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Annual advice fee	£750	£500 [1]	(£250)	(50%)
Annual product charge	£290	£0 [2]	(£290)	(100%)
Annual fund charges	£240	£1,160 [3]	£920	79%
Total ongoing charges	£1,280	£1,660	£380	23%

OTHER FACTORS	Our company	St James Place
Exit/withdrawal penalties	No	Yes [2] For investment bonds: 6% in year 1 reducing to 1% in year 6 on a reducing scale
Independent advice	Yes	No (St James Place products only)

References

[1] www.sjp.co.uk/charges/isa-unit-trust-charges

[2]A 1% annual product charge applies for investments into an investment bond from year 6 onwards www.sjp.co.uk/charges/investment-bond-charges

[3] www.sjp.co.uk/~/media/Files/S/SJP-Corp/document-library/our-charges/SJP11538_Unit_Trust_ISA_Charges_Summary.pdf

This is our estimate for the following scenario:

investing £100,000 into a fund with 60% in shares/property and 40% in bonds/cash
choosing a typical provider, rather than the lowest-cost provider

UP-FRONT CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Initial advice fee	£2,000	£4,500 [1]	£2,500	56%
Initial product charge	£0	£500 [1]	£500	100%
Total up-front charges	£2,000	£5,000	£3,000	60%

ONGOING CHARGES	Our company	St James Place	Saving (£)	Saving (%)
Annual advice fee	£750	£500 [1]	(£250)	(50%)
Annual product charge	£350	£0 [2]	(£350)	(100%)
Annual fund charges	£660	£1,160 [3]	£500	43%
Total ongoing charges	£1,760	£1,660	(£100) [4]	(6%) [4]

OTHER FACTORS	Our company	St James Place
Exit/withdrawal penalties	No	Yes [2] For investment bonds: 6% in year 1 reducing to 1% in year 6 on a reducing scale
Independent advice	Yes	No (St James Place products only)

References

[1] www.sjp.co.uk/charges/isa-unit-trust-charges

[2]A 1% annual product charge applies for investments into an investment bond from year 6 onwards www.sjp.co.uk/charges/investment-bond-charges

[3] www.sjp.co.uk/~/media/Files/S/SJP-Corp/document-library/our-charges/SJP11538_Unit_Trust_ISA_Charges_Summary.pdf

[4] In this scenario, our ongoing fees are greater. However, the difference in up-front charges means it would take around 30 years for this difference in ongoing charges to break-even. During this time, you would receive independent advice from an award-winning firm of Chartered Financial Planners

Fees for each service

We charge different fees for different services, which is briefly explained below. If you would like to know what fees will be payable based on what your specific circumstances please contact us and we will be happy to let you know.

For investments and pensions: view our standard investment and pension advice fees

For mortgages: view our standard mortgage fees (including lifetime mortgages)

For insurances: we will receive a commission from the relevant insurance company, so you will not pay us a fee for our advice.

In all cases: you will be told how much your fee will be before you make a commitment to proceed with our advice.