Value & fees
Clear about cost. Clear about value.
Good advice should pay for itself. Here’s what ours costs, set out plainly. Your initial meeting is free, with no obligation and no hard sell. You’ll never pay a fee until we’ve agreed it with you in writing. What you pay depends on what you need – a one-off piece of advice, a sense-check of where you stand, or an ongoing relationship as your life changes.
It’s all below, with real examples in pounds.
What you’re paying for
When you pay for advice, you’re not paying for a transaction. You’re paying for the thinking, the planning and the steady hand that helps your money do its job over years and decades.
That means understanding what you actually want from your money, not just where it sits. It means looking at the tax, the risks worth protecting against, and the opportunities worth taking. And it means having someone who knows your whole picture when life shifts – a new job, an inheritance, a divorce, retirement, a death in the family.
“You’re not paying for a transaction. You’re paying for the thinking, the planning and the steady hand.”
Daren Wallbank | Chartered Financial Planner, Co-owner, Ginkgo Financial
People who take advice tend to feel the difference.
85%
of advised people said they were moderately or highly confident in the advice they received, and almost two-thirds would happily use the same adviser again. And when Royal London asked what clients actually value, the answer wasn’t only returns – it was reassurance, help reaching their goals, and support in planning for later life. That matches what our own clients tell us.
Sources: FCA Financial Lives 2024 survey · Royal London, Meaning of Value 2025
We can’t promise what markets will do. What we can promise is that we’ll always act in your interests, explain our thinking plainly, and stay alongside you for the long term. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to, and the one you should hold us to.
A clear place to start: the Groundwork report
If you’re not ready to commit to full advice, Groundwork is the place to begin. It’s a one-off piece of work, for a fixed fee, that gives you a complete picture of where you stand. It suits new investors and anyone who simply wants a sense-check of plans they already have.
Your Groundwork report includes:
- A fully documented review of your assets, liabilities and net worth
- Your current and projected income and expenses, including into retirement
- A look at your insurance, pensions and other investments
- An analysis of your existing products and funds, plus an estimate of your inheritance tax position, with general recommendations to meet your goals
£2,000
Groundwork is the first step either way. And if you take full regulated advice within 12 months, the £2,000 is refunded or offset against the cost of that advice.
Getting started: initial advice fees
When you take advice and decide to act on it, we charge an initial fee for the work involved. It’s tiered, so the more you invest, the lower the rate. For standard investments – ISAs, pensions, bonds and general investments – the fee is:
| Amount invested | Fee rate |
|---|---|
| On the first £300,000 | 2% |
| On the next £500,000 | 1% |
| On anything above £800,000 | 0.5% |
Our minimum initial fee is £3,000. In practice:
Invest £200,000
£4,000
that’s 2%
Invest £500,000
£8,000
which works out at 1.6% overall
You can spread the fee across the first 12 months. If you’re investing through regular monthly contributions rather than a lump sum, we work the fee out a little differently, and we’ll explain it clearly before you commit. More complex work – such as alternative investments, offshore bonds or investments held in trust – is priced differently again, and we’ll always set out the figure before any work begins.
A note for families. Once you’ve been an ongoing client for a year, qualifying family members get our initial advice with no minimum fee and a 10% discount on new products. The better we know your family’s wider picture, the smoother passing wealth between generations tends to be.
Ongoing advice and service
Many clients choose to keep their advice going year to year, so their plans stay on track as circumstances, markets and tax rules change. Ongoing advice starts at 1% a year of the investments we look after, with the rate tapering down as those investments grow, and a minimum of £800 a year.
We provide it at three levels, named for the way a tree grows – steady at the root, branching out, then spreading into a full canopy. We’ll recommend the level that fits your circumstances, and as your needs change over time, the right level changes with them. It’s not a menu to pick from – it’s our judgement of where you’re best looked after, and we’ll talk it through with you.
Root
For clients with more straightforward needs, often focused on a single goal like a home or retirement. Built around an annual review of how your plans are performing and whether they still suit you.
1% a year · minimum £800
On £100,000, that’s £1,000 a year
Branch
For clients building a portfolio of pensions, investments and bonds, whose circumstances are growing in complexity. Adds an annual review of your objectives, risk, performance and suitability, together with a cash flow model.
1% on the first £400,000, tapering · minimum £2,000
On £250,000, that’s £2,500 a year; on £600,000, around £5,000
Canopy
For clients with more complex finances – drawing an income in retirement, planning succession, running businesses or managing higher levels of wealth. Our most hands-on relationship, with frequent contact beyond the formal annual review.
1% on the first £700,000, tapering · minimum £3,000
On £500,000, that’s £5,000 a year
If you’re married or in a partnership, we add your investments together when working out the rate, so you pay less. Ongoing advice tends to make sense once you’ve built up a certain amount – broadly from around £80,000 upwards. If you’re not there yet, the Groundwork report or a one-off piece of advice is usually the better place to begin, and we’ll always point you to whatever genuinely helps.
Other services
Mortgages
£599
We advise on residential and buy-to-let mortgages, from a range of lenders representative of the whole market. Our fee is payable once your offer is issued, and we also receive a commission from the lender. If the lender turns your application down, you pay us nothing. For second charge, commercial or bridging loans, we’ll introduce you to a specialist broker.
Protection and insurance
No fee
You won’t pay us a fee for protection advice. We’re paid by commission from the insurer instead. That covers life cover, critical illness, income protection, whole-of-life and private medical insurance, among others.
PLACEHOLDER · Estate administration and our own-right services (wills, lasting powers of attorney, probate). Not yet priced; figures to follow. This block carries the own-right disclaimer line on the live page.
Common questions
No. Your initial meeting is free, with no obligation. We’ll talk through what you’re looking for and whether we’re the right fit, and we’ll set out any costs clearly before you decide anything.
Our minimum fee for regulated advice is £3,000. For smaller or one-off needs, the Groundwork report at £2,000, or a fixed fee for a specific piece of work, is often the better route.
You can pay us directly, or have the fee taken from your investment – whichever suits you. We’ll always confirm the amount and the method in writing before any work starts. We don’t handle cash.
In most cases, no. Financial advice is usually exempt from VAT. In the few situations where it does apply, we’ll tell you in advance.
Yes – a fee of £599 to advise on and arrange your mortgage, payable once your offer is issued, plus commission from the lender. There’s no fee if your application is declined.
No. We’re paid by commission from the insurer, so there’s no fee to you.
Yes. You can cancel ongoing advice at any time, and we’ll stop the fee promptly. You’re always free to come back later.