Business sale - high 7 figure investable - where do I turn?

peaksandvalleys

Hi all,

In fear of counting my chickens before they've hatched, it looks as though I will be exiting my business before the end of this year.  Doing so will leave me with just shy of 8 figures (albeit with a tax bill of 20% less BADR on the first million due Jan 2025).  I'm 35, and beyond building up about £100k in an ISA (and similar in a SIPP), both of which are in simple ETFs, I've never had money before (and nor has my family).  I'm therefore trying to work out where I should turn for advice if the deal closes as anticipated.  I'm not looking to change my property, so aside from taking a couple of hundred out for discretionary spend I will be looking to invest the lot.  I'm hoping that there are people on here who have experience of this kind of (very nice) problem.  I suspect, as I bank with Natwest, that I'll get a call from Coutts offering their wealth management services, but I'm not really clear on what private banks offer over a good IFA other than some kind of feel good factor.  However, I also wouldn't really know how to spot a 'good' IFA!  I think there's probably a bit more to it at this level than 'stick it all in our prepack funds' given the need to diversify and manage tax exposure, possibly by taking advantage of things like EIS and SEIS schemes as part of a portfolio.

tl;dr I'm looking to arm myself with some knowledge of the industry before I (hopefully) have the opportunity to engage.

Thanks!

subjecttocontract

I'm amazed that you have turned to an internet forum for financial advice on that amount of money. In your shoes my first port of call would be professional financial advisers. Good luck.

EthicsGradient

subjecttocontract said:

I'm amazed that you have turned to an internet forum for financial advice on that amount of money. In your shoes my first port of call would be professional financial advisers. Good luck.

I think what they're looking for is advice on how to use and rate professional advisers. I can't offer that myself, but it seems worth asking if anyone can.

Albermarle

I would say if your fund will be 'just short of 8 figures' then that is probably the biggest sum I have come across on this forum.
From some previous comments, it seems a 'normal' IFA will regularly deal with clients with up to 2 or 3 Million in family assets. A more experienced one maybe a bit more, but on your level you will need a more specialised ( and probably expensive) service.
Unfortunately the term Wealth Advisor/Manager is a somewhat misused term as anybody can pretty much call themselves that . So you will have to seek out a genuine one.

Bobajobbob

Without tempting fate congrats on the business. 

I have used both Brewin Dolphin and Rathbones over the years to manage my investments, planning and advice. The cost/benefit of their services depends on your financial knowledge and appetite to manage your own affairs, taxes and investments. I'm sure that the high net worth services at Citibank, Barclays, HSBC, Coutts etc will all provide similar services and the more money you have to invest the more services/opportunities become available. I have just migrated away to self manage after 15 years just because I now have more time and knowledge to do so myself and with that knowledge prefer a simpler approach. Having said that both companies provided a great service.

I've also taken advice from IM LIFESTYLE | Intelligent Money Ltd who are well regarded on another forum.

If it would help please pm me and I'd be happy to share the names of the individuals in both companies above who have looked after me over the years.

One word of warning re IFAs. The "I" is the most important letter of this acronym. Too many financial advisors are not independent and will push you towards their own structured products and providers. I'd stay well well away from St James place personally. 

Linton

I agree with the others that a specialist advisor could well be the best option in your situation.

However one thing you should get clear in your own mind before seeking advice is what do you want the money for: when and why are you going to spend how much.  This doesnt close off you changing your ideas in the future but should help ensure that an advisor focusses on meeting your specific needs.

Chickereeeee

Bobajobbob said:

Without tempting fate congrats on the business. 

I have used both Brewin Dolphin and Rathbones over the years to manage my investments, planning and advice. The cost/benefit of their services depends on your financial knowledge and appetite to manage your own affairs, taxes and investments. I'm sure that the high net worth services at Citibank, Barclays, HSBC, Coutts etc will all provide similar services and the more money you have to invest the more services/opportunities become available. I have just migrated away to self manage after 15 years just because I now have more time and knowledge to do so myself and with that knowledge prefer a simpler approach. Having said that both companies provided a great service.

I've also taken advice from IM LIFESTYLE | Intelligent Money Ltd who are well regarded on another forum.

If it would help please pm me and I'd be happy to share the names of the individuals in both companies above who have looked after me over the years.

One word of warning re IFAs. The "I" is the most important letter of this acronym. Too many financial advisors are not independent and will push you towards their own structured products and providers. I'd stay well well away from St James place personally. 

I often wonder what an IFA of any sort offers individuals with that sort of sum that is not available to mere low-seven figure, or even six figure, people.  My guess is access to riskier investments?

Alternatively, it could be access to lower-risk products, having 'won the game'?

I would love to know (in general terms, of course).

El_Torro

As mentioned it might be a challenge finding someone who can suitably handle this amount of money. If you do find more than one option I would find out as much as you can from them. They will be able to offer you at least one free consultation, so take advantage of that. If you find 3 or so service providers then get a free consultation from all of them. After that it's a case of deciding which one would be most suitable for you.

friolento

For investment advice, I would avoid any bank like the plague, as they are not independent. Google finds you quite a number of independent financial advisors for businesses. It's a matter of having an initial chat with two or three of them, to help you decide who to engage with. For the size of your investment, you'd probably want a firm of advisors who you can have face-to-face contact with.

I have recently attended an online information session with The Private Office, albeit for personal purposes. They are IFAs, have some Chartered Financial Advisors, also give advice to businesses, and I was quite impressed with their professionalsim.I am not a client of theirs but think they'd be on my shortlist if I was looking for advice. Another one I would consider is Penney, Rudder and Winter, about whom I have heard positive things, too.

Futuristic

Congrats! (in advance)

First of all I would not take any recommendations made online to which financial advisor to pick. You will need to do this alone, probably locally using eg. unbiased or pref word of mouth.

Second, you probably need to figure out your goals first before you talk to anyone and what you want the money to do for you.

Third, private banks mostly offer sky high investment funds if you aren't looking for margin loans and huge mortgages etc then it's unlikely they will offer anything different apart from high fee investment products. Eg. you could just use IBKR and invest in VWRP or something. For convenience you may want to just find a low cost private bank at the big names to hold the cash so Coutts would prob be fine.


There's a post (which may be you?) about someone selling business for £8m on FatFireUK reddit, this consist of mostly wealthy business owners so you can look around that sub for some guidance.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fatfireuk
https://www.reddit.com/r/FatFIREUK/comments/16ms6lt/seeking_advice_on_investment_wealth_management_8m/

xylophone

https://www.theprivateoffice.com/specialist-services/high-net-worth-financial-advisers



https://adviserbook.co.uk/  You would tick "confirmed independent" and then Chartered Financial Planner/Wealth Management/face to face/ etc as required.