Our Clients

Fees

Many people have shied away from seeking financial advice having had historical bad experiences with advisers whose objective was to sell as much as they could, take as much commission as possible and promise regular reviews that either never materialise or turn into another high pressure attempt to sell more products and earn more commission. This lack of trust or fear of being taken advantage of has led to many not taking action at all.

Historically advisers were remunerated by commission following the sale of financial products. There has been concern that commissions may influence the advice given by advisers. For this reason our customers prefer to pay a fee for our services. As independent professionals, we also prefer the transparency that this offers. There is therefore no bias to recommend solutions that will generate commissions. Our client’s best interest takes priority in everything we do.

Zone Financial Planning operates a simple and transparent fee system that ensures there is a complete separation between fees paid to Zone Financial Planning and arrangements made for our clients. This ensures complete impartiality and allows our clients to trust our judgement completely.

If we receive commission following the implementation of our recommendation, we can offset that commission against our fees to extinguish them in part or in full. Where appropriate any excess commission will be reinvested back into your product to reduce charges or back to our client.

Our Guarantee

We work very hard to deliver the highest levels of technical planning advice and service. If our clients do not think that we have delivered value in the planning that we have prepared for them, we guarantee to waive our planning fee.

Our fees are charged for three separate activities:

1. Advice / Planning

Having spent sufficient time understanding your objectives and aspirations we acquire and analyse all relevant data. We will then prepare a written report focused on what we feel if the most suitable advice for you.

Our advice fees are determined by the complexity of the work involved and will be quoted in our Engagement letter to you. A typical starting fee would be £245.

On completion of our advice to you we will either invoice you or, where applicable, offset a commission for the agreed amount following implementation. If we do not implement on your behalf, this is the only fee you will pay.

2. Implementation

The range of financial products available is vast. Our fees are determined by the complexity of planning and product being implemented. However a minimum charge of £295 exists.

We will never proceed until we clarify and agree fees with our clients.

Where available, our fee can be paid through an agreed offset of commission when we implement a financial product on your behalf. Some financial products pay very large commissions to advisers. Our promise is that any remaining commission will be rebated back into your planning or back to you where possible.

3. Review

We offer a review service that includes at least one formal annual review report and a meeting to discuss any changes you might need to make to your financial planning. This review meeting is an opportunity to monitor progress towards your financial objectives, reassess your attitude towards investment risk and rebalance the asset allocation of your investments.

For this service we charge a fee of between 0.5% and 1.0% of the value of assets under influence. A minimum charge of £600 per annum applies. The Review fee can be paid by standing order, in response to annual invoice or by direct deduction from your investment portfolio.