Why is the cost of advice so high?

Albermarle

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

I just really baulk at the cost though. Someone I just spoke to wants £4k - £5k for a review and advice on where to put my money.

Horses for courses. Quoting high fees is a quick and easy of ending a conversation. 

Except they didn't, and I've had the usual fact finding questionnaire sent to me.
So I can only think that they consider 4-5k to be reasonable.

Then it could be that the  combined size of the different pots is quite large . £5K is only 1 % of Half a Million quid .

LV_426

Is it a percentage do you think? He claimed it was a flat fee, but then I had disclosed the full amount of my pension assets.

You see this kind of thing makes me suspicious..

BritishInvestor

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

I just really baulk at the cost though. Someone I just spoke to wants £4k - £5k for a review and advice on where to put my money.

Horses for courses. Quoting high fees is a quick and easy of ending a conversation. 

Except they didn't, and I've had the usual fact finding questionnaire sent to me.
So I can only think that they consider 4-5k to be reasonable.

Really depends what they are doing for the money.

A well respected financial planner like Pete Matthew looks to charge around that amount (for a genuine financial planning service) and I'm assuming many consider it good value as he mentions a waiting list.

https://meaningfulmoney.tv/work-with-pete/?sfw=pass1638810320

If you're just looking for a pension consolidation service then it's unlikely you'd want to work with someone like Pete (who offers a far more comprehensive service), and I've no doubt you could access this at a fraction of the cost as it will take a fraction of time.

BritishInvestor

Alexland said:

ajfielden said:

So I can only think that they consider 4-5k to be reasonable.

Price is based on supply and demand not reasonableness.

If they find enough people are happy to pay high enough charges then they can build a business on it.

If you find there are enough offering a similar product then shop around and get a good price.

Try entering your postcode at https://adviserbook.co.uk/ and filter the results on the left hand side by clicking "confirmed independent".

The range of offerings are huge - it's tricky to compare on price alone.

LV_426

BritishInvestor said:

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

I just really baulk at the cost though. Someone I just spoke to wants £4k - £5k for a review and advice on where to put my money.

Horses for courses. Quoting high fees is a quick and easy of ending a conversation. 

Except they didn't, and I've had the usual fact finding questionnaire sent to me.
So I can only think that they consider 4-5k to be reasonable.

Really depends what they are doing for the money.

A well respected financial planner like Pete Matthew looks to charge around that amount (for a genuine financial planning service) and I'm assuming many consider it good value as he mentions a waiting list.

https://meaningfulmoney.tv/work-with-pete/?sfw=pass1638810320

If you're just looking for a pension consolidation service then it's unlikely you'd want to work with someone like Pete (who offers a far more comprehensive service), and I've no doubt you could access this at a fraction of the cost as it will take a fraction of time.

yeah I did approach Pete after viewing his excellent podcasts. However as you say, he's more inclined to offer a full planning service, rather than specific pieces of work. And he has a waiting list, which I think indicates he can afford to charge a premium for his advice.

wjr4

BritishInvestor said:

ajfielden said:

BritishInvestor said:

ajfielden said:

I've been on the Unbiased website, and their whole method of finding an advisor now seems to have changed. Previously you could pick from a list of presented advisors. Now you just go through a multi click process and they spit out someone they chose for you. I've done it twice now, and it came back with the same people both times.

Does this work?

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/advisers/financial-adviser?

Unbiased regularly change their logic for how people get steered towards a solution - arguably not always for the better.

Yeah thanks, that's what I was looking for - a list I can review and select from.

Great.

FYI - Unbiased have recently hiked their prices 

https://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/unbiased-raises-cost-of-most-enquiries-with-tiered-pricing-structure/a1559257

which might mean that if you contact an adviser via the Unbiased they might not accept your enquiry as they now pay up to £130+VAT per lead (as well as for a listing).

You may therefore get a better response if you contact the advisers directly. 

This is the exact reason I’m not keen on unbiased anymore. Their fees are too high and I just hope that people contact me directly from there! They’ve also introduced a new feature where it says ‘new adviser’ if you change companies or open a new account with them (like myself). I’d try contacting those advisers as they are more likely to take on new clients than advisers who have too many clients already. 3% of money invested tends to be the standard charge but it is negotiable. 

LV_426

wjr4 said:

This is the exact reason I’m not keen on unbiased anymore. Their fees are too high and I just hope that people contact me directly from there! They’ve also introduced a new feature where it says ‘new adviser’ if you change companies or open a new account with them (like myself). I’d try contacting those advisers as they are more likely to take on new clients than advisers who have too many clients already. 3% of money invested tends to be the standard charge but it is negotiable. 

Ah right, I now see exactly why they direct people through the search process. It's so you don't see any available advisers, and it stops people from doing exactly this - contacting them directly.

LV_426

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Thrugelmir

ajfielden said:

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Better things to do with their time. 

BritishInvestor

wjr4 said:

BritishInvestor said:

ajfielden said:

BritishInvestor said:

ajfielden said:

I've been on the Unbiased website, and their whole method of finding an advisor now seems to have changed. Previously you could pick from a list of presented advisors. Now you just go through a multi click process and they spit out someone they chose for you. I've done it twice now, and it came back with the same people both times.

Does this work?

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/advisers/financial-adviser?

Unbiased regularly change their logic for how people get steered towards a solution - arguably not always for the better.

Yeah thanks, that's what I was looking for - a list I can review and select from.

Great.

FYI - Unbiased have recently hiked their prices 

https://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/unbiased-raises-cost-of-most-enquiries-with-tiered-pricing-structure/a1559257

which might mean that if you contact an adviser via the Unbiased they might not accept your enquiry as they now pay up to £130+VAT per lead (as well as for a listing).

You may therefore get a better response if you contact the advisers directly. 

This is the exact reason I’m not keen on unbiased anymore. Their fees are too high and I just hope that people contact me directly from there! They’ve also introduced a new feature where it says ‘new adviser’ if you change companies or open a new account with them (like myself). I’d try contacting those advisers as they are more likely to take on new clients than advisers who have too many clients already. 3% of money invested tends to be the standard charge but it is negotiable. 

While Unbiased is not ideal, the typical adviser profile on there is pretty average, tending to talk about:

1. Themselves (zzzz)
2. Investments (zzzz)

How on earth can you differentiate based on these profiles?

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/advisers/financial-adviser?searchId=19041135

If they instead focused on exactly the type of people they help (e.g those planning to retire in the next 5 years), I reckon they'd get a lot more traction and people getting in touch directly.