A recent report by Which? Highlighted the fact that many financial advisers were slightly coy about their fees. The report highlighted that during a phone call to 30 financial planning firms enquiring about the fee for a typical £60,000 investment, only 14 gave a “clear indication” of what their fees would be. In addition only 9 firms published details of their fees on their website.
I do sympathise to a certain extent with the above mentioned firms. Pricing for a financial planning job is certainly not simple, as each set of client circumstances is different and upon further inspection, even 2 seemingly similar jobs can turn out to vary significantly both in their scope and complexity.
I do feel however, that financial planning advice should be clear and transparent and to that end we publish a detailed list of our service packages and indicative prices on our website. Each client who engages our services, does so following the receipt of a personalised “scope of work” letter, setting out the range of work that we have agreed to complete on their behalf, as well as a full breakdown of the initial planning and implementation fee, and the ongoing advice fees required.
We are not coy about our fees, because we feel that they offer exceptional value for money. The value we add often covers our fee several times over.
For some reason the report is also quite critical of “free but lengthy face to face sessions”. Now personally, when I appoint a professional to deal with an element of my personal or business life, I like to meet that person beforehand. A face to face meeting gives both parties the opportunity to get to know each other and to decide if they are a good “fit”. In most cases financial planners offer at least an hour of their time to new clients and will often meet them at home for their convenience. I would suggest that this is far more generous than some other professionals would be before any money has changed hands.
If Which? would rather we charge them for an initial discovery meeting then we would be glad to, but from experience most clients really appreciate the chance to get to know us, and find out about our services, without pressure or obligation.
