Fees
The Fensham Howes approach to investment advice and strategic financial planning represents a major departure from the traditional UK model that has historically been based upon commission based financial advice. The traditional model relies primarily upon the financial adviser selling insurance and investment products to investors, many of which contain high (and often hidden) internal fees and charges.
Put bluntly, the traditional UK proposition has seldom served the best interests of clients because it has grown up around the interests of the investment and insurance product providers. There is also a material conflict of interest for the financial adviser, who is compensated not by the client but by the sales commission being paid by the product provider. In this environment, the interests of the client have far too often been left out of the equation.
At Fensham Howes, we take the traditional model and turn it on its head.
- We believe that it is you, the client, who always comes first in every situation. Our sole objective should be your well-being.
- We believe all charges should be clear and transparent, not hidden.
- We believe that we should remain your impartial ally, compensated by transparent fees rather than sales commission paid by product providers. In our philosophy, there is no room for conflicts of interest.
- And critically, we believe that an investment strategy should be developed only after first understanding your comprehensive long term needs - both financially and emotionally.
We protect the impartiality and integrity of our advice by charging fees for the services we provide. We do not accept commissions from product providers for selling investment products.
The fees that we charge fall into two categories:
- Fees for strategic financial planning
- Fees for investment ongoing investment advice and monitoring
Strategic Financial Planning
We normally begin our relationship with you by conducting a detailed financial planning exercise. This enables us to clearly define your short, medium and long term financial strategies.
We aim to quote a fixed fee for producing the financial plan and strategy. In our experience, the initial planning fee can vary significantly depending on the complexity of your affairs. Once we have conducted the "no-obligation" initial meeting with you we are normally able to provide a firm estimate of the fee required to produce a comprehensive financial plan.
Investment Advisory and Monitoring Fees
Our fees for providing an ongoing investment advisory service are levied as a percentage of the overall value of the assets upon which we provide advice. The fee is levied on a declining percentage basis, reducing as the size of your investment portfolio increases.