We take no commission from anybody
A flat annual fee, agreed before we start, and no product in this office pays us anything for recommending it.
How we work
Four things, in the order they happen. The first is free and about a third of people stop there.
01A first meeting, at no charge
Ninety minutes, everything you hold on the table, and no recommendation at the end of it. About a third of the families who sit through this one are told they do not need us, which is an odd thing to build a practice on and is the reason the other two thirds stay.
02A written plan
What you have, what it costs you a year in fees you cannot see, what it is likely to do, and what to change. It is a document rather than a presentation, it names the products it is telling you to leave, and it is yours whether or not you engage us afterwards.
03The changes, made slowly
Usually over two or three quarters rather than in a week. Exit loads, tax years and a family getting comfortable all argue for slow, and there is no commission here that argues for fast.
04A review twice a year, and one phone number
Two scheduled meetings and a person who answers between them. Most of the actual value in a year is one conversation in a bad month that stops somebody selling everything, and it is not something a quarterly report can do.
The practice, in numbers that are not returns
Visibly more expensive on day one
Almost every conversation about money in this country happens with somebody who is paid more if you buy one thing than another, and the fee is usually invisible because it comes out of the product rather than out of your pocket. We charge a flat annual amount agreed at the start and take nothing from any manufacturer, which makes us visibly more expensive on day one and is the only arrangement in which our advice can be worth what it costs.
The meeting where nothing was recommended
The first meeting ended with them telling us that two of the three things we were worried about did not matter and the third was a policy we had been sold in 2009 that was costing us more than we had ever worked out. Nobody tried to sell us anything that afternoon or since, and the invoice at the end of the year was the number we had been told in the first ten minutes.
The first year
Four stages. Almost nothing is bought or sold in the first three months.
The free meeting
Ninety minutes with everything on the table. No recommendation, no document, and no follow-up call unless you ask for one. About a third of families are told here that they are already fine.
The written plan
Four to six weeks later. What you hold, what it costs you a year in fees nobody has shown you, and what we would change. Yours to keep whether or not you go further.
Changes, over two or three quarters
Sequenced around exit loads and tax years rather than around our calendar. This is the stage where a commission-paid adviser would be moving fastest and we are usually moving slowest.
Two reviews a year, and a phone number
From here it is a rhythm rather than a project. The most valuable thing we do in most years is one conversation in a bad month.
The first meeting costs nothing and ends with no recommendation
Bring what you hold. A third of the families who sit through it are told they do not need us, and we would rather that happened in the first ninety minutes than in the third year.