We have two main payment options for our advice: fees and commission. The difference between these two options is that commission is paid to an adviser via a third party (e.g. a product provider) and fees are paid directly by the person receiving financial advice (you). If you require investment or pension advice you will pay a fee rather than paying commission, but commission is still a payment option for mortgage advice and insurance advice. Please note that our advisers do not keep any fees or commissions. Instead all fees and commissions are paid to our company then our advisers are employed and paid a salary. This helps to ensure that our advice is impartial and in your best interests. You can read more about our fees here: Fees
We provide independent advice on packaged retail investment and insurance products (these include but are not limited to pensions, investment bonds, units, annuities, ISAs and savings plans) and structured investment products only. Our recommendations will be based on an assessment of a sufficient range of relevant products that are sufficiently diversified in terms of type and provider to ensure your investment objectives can be suitably met.
Residential mortgages (including equity release) – we offer a comprehensive range of all regulated mortgages from across the market, but not details that you can obtain by going direct to the lender
Insurances (life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection) – we will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs, based on a comprehensive and fair analysis of the market. We have access to the widest possible range of products and companies.
You will be asked to bring various documents with you to provide your adviser with as much information as possible (such as wage slips for mortgage advice or copies of existing policies for investment advice). You adviser will discuss our “Terms and Conditions of Business” and our “Service Propositions” or “Key Facts About Our Services” documents with you. Your adviser will then complete a “fact find questionnaire,” which records a snapshot of your current circumstances and asks some questions about your plans and goals for the future. Your adviser will then give you a brief outline about how we can help you. At this point you have three options:
Throughout this process you will be encouraged to ask as many questions as possible about our services and the products we may recommend.
We are Chartered Financial Planners, which sets us apart from other non-Chartered companies. We have stood the test of time, having been originally established in 1985. We have won or been shortlisted for numerous industry awards in recent years. We also feel our customer service sets us apart from other companies. We have never had to rely on advertising or marketing gimmicks to attract new clients to our company because over the years we have had so many recommendations and referrals from satisfied customers.
The Annual Allowance (AA) is set each year. It aims to limit the amount you can save into a pension while still receiving income tax relief. There are now 3 types of Annual Allowance: the Annual Allowance, the Money Purchase Annual Allowance and the Tapered Annual Allowance. Read more about this on our Annual Allowance page
The Lifetime Allowance was introduced in 2006 to limit the amount an individual can save into a pension while still receiving tax relief. It has changed substantially ever since. Read more about this on our Lifetime Allowance page
ISA stands for Individual Savings Account. There are two versions available: Stocks & Shares ISAs and Cash ISAs. Technically, you can hold a mixture of both stocks and shares and cash in a single ISA account, but in reality some providers will not allow this. The benefit of a ISA is that any interest earned on a Cash ISA is not taxable and any profit made on a Stocks and Shares ISA is not taxable. You can invest up to a total of £20,000 in a ISA in the 2020-21 tax year. This can be in any combination of stocks and shares and cash. You can transfer money between ISAs without using up any more of your ISA allowance for the year.
An investment bond is another type of tax wrapper in which you can hold investments. Other examples of tax wrappers are ISAs and Pensions. An investment bond normally allows you to invest a lump sum or a regular investment amount into various types of investment choices. You can then normally take a tax-deferred income of 5% of the original investment amount each year (for a maximum of 20 years). The bond should hopefully grow in value while it is invested, but this is dependent on investment returns and you could get back less than you invested. Different providers offer different features with their bonds, such as early encashment penalties, different fund choices and guarantee options (where you will not get back less than you invested). There are many pros and cons of using an investment bond over another type of tax wrapper and this should always be discussed with an adviser.
Possibly, as long as your pensionable income can support the mortgage. Be aware that most lenders expect the mortgage to be repaid by the age of 75.
Yes, typically at least 5-10% of the purchase price is required.
Mortgages can be set up between five and 35-year terms. Be aware that the longer the mortgage term, the more interest payable.
This varies significantly between lenders and it is dependent on a number of factors such as your property value, property type, income and credit history. One of our advisers will recommend a suitable lender for you and then assess how much you can afford to borrow from this lender.
Possibly, it really depends on the level of debt and when and why the problems occurred. You can discuss this with one of our advisers.
The equity in a property is the value of the property less any mortgages outstanding. So a £75,000 mortgage on a £100,000 house gives equity of £25,000.
LTV is the amount borrowed in relation to the value of your home (eg a £75,000 mortgage on a £100,000 house gives a LTV of 75%.) The best mortgage deals available on the market are at lower LTVs, which reflects the lower risk to the lender due to the greater equity in the property.
Lenders assess whether you can afford the mortgage both now and in the foreseeable future and the impact of future interest rates increases. There are also other costs to consider in owning your own home which you would not pay in rented accommodation.
This is essentially a tax on profits made on an investment. For example, if you purchased shares for £100,000 and then sold them for £200,000 you may be liable to pay Capital Gains Tax on some the profit. The rules regarding Capital Gains Tax are very complex. One of our advisers can help you find out if you have a liability to Capital Gains tax and can refer you to a specialist if this is required.
Inheritance Tax is levied on the value of a person’s estate after they have passed away. There are various allowances and reliefs available and the rules can be very complex. Generally you will not be liable to pay Inheritance Tax as long as your estate on death is less than £325,000 (possibly up to £500,000 if you own a home worth £175,000 or more and you leave this to your children or grandchildren). If it exceeds this amount, you may be liable to pay tax of up to 40% on the remainder. One of our advisers can discuss Inheritance Tax planning with you and can refer you on to a specialist if your tax planning requirements are very complex.
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. Our FCA register number is 439777. We are authorised to provide advice on pensions (including pension transfers) and retirement planning, investments, mortgages and insurance. You can check this by visiting the financial services register at www.fca.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768 or at 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN
We only offer independent advice. This means we will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs, based on a comprehensive and fair analysis of the market, with access to the widest possible range of products and companies.
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