Fees

When seeking financial advice, the fees involved are important in choosing the right firm for you. With this in mind, we want to be open and honest about how we charge, so we have decided to disclose our fees here on our website.

Our charges fall into two categories: initial fees and ongoing charges. Below, you can better understand the costs involved and the service you will receive in return.

The value of a financial plan

A 2017 report by Royal London and the International Longevity Centre showed that, on average, people who work with a financial adviser boost their assets by up to £43,245

First meeting

No cost

Financial planning is all about you and what you are looking to achieve. The main purpose of our first meeting is to find out about your financial circumstances and objectives. It is also an opportunity for you to get to know us so that you understand what we do and how we can assist you. This meeting will be held at our expense, and it can take place via video, telephone or face to face.

What to bring:

  • Up-to-date bank statements or details of account balances
  • Recent pension and investment statements
  • Policy details / statements for any other plans you may hold, including life policies
  • State Pension forecast – obtained online here
  • Details of all income sources, including amounts received and frequency
  • Details of your current expenditure and how much income you would like in retirement, if relevant
  • Copy of your Will and details of any Power of Attorney in place
  • Passport and driving licence (for identity verification purposes).

Following our initial meeting, we then write to you to summarise how we can assist you in meeting your objectives and confirm the fees involved in moving forward. The work we agree to undertake depends on your circumstances and could involve any of the following:

  • Reviewing your current plans, investments, and assets
  • Prepare a report on the planning opportunities available to you
  • Undertaking research to identify appropriate plans and solutions
  • Lifestyle planning, which can include preparing a cashflow forecast.

Initial fees

These are the upfront costs of our services, relating to new work such as a review of existing arrangements, new investments (including top-ups to existing investments) and one-off reviews. This can be an initial fixed fee, taken on implementation of our recommendations, or a combination of both. Our actual fees will be agreed with you before we do any work, and we will explain your payment options too.

We will take you through a holistic financial review. This is achieved by having a complete understanding of your current financial position, your objectives and identified needs. This enables us to provide the most suitable solutions for you and assist you in meeting your financial goals.

The initial fee will cover our financial planning service, which includes:

  • Agreeing your financial goals and objectives
  • Providing you with a fee proposal confirming our charges
  • Establishing your attitude towards, and understanding of, risks
  • Reviewing your current plans, investments and assets (if applicable)
  • Undertaking research to identify appropriate plans and solutions (if applicable)
  • Providing a personalised report and recommendations
  • A meeting to discuss our recommendations
  • Implementation of agreed recommendations (a separate implementation fee may apply – see below)
  • Lifestyle planning, which can include preparing a cashflow forecast.

Initial fees

Initial fixed fee

£1,000 for a review of one plan, £250 for each additional plan

Where we undertake a review of your existing arrangements and circumstances, we will charge an initial fixed fee in addition to an implementation fee. Where we are simply providing advice on a new investment or arrangement, no initial fixed fee will likely be taken; however, an implementation fee will apply.

As an example...

  • If we were to review three plans, our charge would be £1,500
  • If we were to review five plans, our charge would be £2,000

Other services and their fees…

Funds invested

Fixed fee

Estate planning review

£2,500

Lifestyle planning in addition to any of the above

£750

Property purchase in a SIPP

2.5% of the property value, subject to a minimum fee of £2,500. For example:

If the property was valued at £50,000, our fee would be our minimum fee of £2,500

If the property was valued at £200,000, our fee would be £5,000

Additional points to note:

  • Where we provide a combination of the services noted above, you may not be charged for each piece of work individually. We will review the combined services to be provided and may adjust our fee accordingly, in consideration of the services to be provided.
  • Minimum fee: Should we agree to provide any of the above services and you change your mind before we have been able to provide our complete recommendations, we reserve the right to charge 50% of the agreed fee for any work completed prior to cancellation.
  • Once our full recommendations have been provided, should you decide not to proceed with any of the recommendations given, please note that the agreed initial fee will still be payable.
  • We will tell you if VAT is payable in addition to any of the fees noted above.

Implementation fee

Once we have presented our recommendations to you and you have signed off on your plan, we’ll put it into practice. At this point, you don’t need to worry about anything; we will take it from here and implement our recommendations on your behalf.

Where we are reviewing your existing arrangements and circumstances, an implementation fee will usually be taken in addition to an initial fixed fee. Our implementation fee is tiered and based on the amount of any funds invested or transferred, subject to a minimum fee of £1,000.

If you are an existing client looking for new arrangements or a top-up to an existing plan, the minimum of £1,000 won’t always apply.

Funds invested

Our fee

£0 – £250,000

2%

£250,000 – £500,000

1%

£500,000 – £1 million

0.5%

Above £1 million

0.3%

Here are some examples of how our fees could apply…

If you are an existing client wishing to invest £20,000 in an existing plan, our fee would be 2% of £20,000
Implementation fee: £400
If you invested £100,000, our fee would be 2% of £100,000
Implementation fee: £2,000
If you invested £300,000, our fee would be 2% of £250,000, plus 1% of £50,000
Implementation fee: £5,500
If you invested £400,000, our fee would be 2% of £250,000, plus 1% of £150,000
Implementation fee: £6,500

Protection planning

Our charge is dependent on the type and complexity of the protection required, subject to a minimum fee of £1,000. For example, we would deem protection planning in relation to Inheritance Tax more complex than one protection policy to be put in place to protect your family, if the worst were to happen.

Where we are paid commission, we will tell you the amount before we carry out any business for you. Any commission we receive from the product provider can be used to offset this fee, examples of which are shown below:

  • If the commission payable from a policy arranged by us was £300, our additional fee to you would be £700
  • If the commission payable from a policy arranged by us was £1,200, there would be no additional fee to you.

Additional points to note:

  • The implementation fee applies to each individual product recommended, not the cumulative total.
  • Minimum fee: Should we agree to provide any of the above services and you change your mind before we have been able to provide our complete recommendations, we reserve the right to charge 50% of the agreed fee, for any work completed prior to cancellation.
  • Once our full recommendations have been provided, should you decide not to proceed with any of the recommendations given, please note that the agreed initial fee will still be payable.
  • VAT does not apply to our implementation fees.

Ongoing service

Once your financial plan is in place, it is important to keep it under review so it can be adapted as necessary as your circumstances change. The ongoing service is the part our clients tell us they value the most, as they know we are there to monitor and review what they have, alongside their objectives and circumstances, which can change and evolve.

We currently offer four levels of ongoing service. The Partner service has been shown to benefit most clients in the long term and is designed to be our most proactive service. It offers you a far more rewarding financial relationship, allowing us to work together as financial partners and make the most of your current and future financial planning aspirations.

Our Partner clients benefit from all our services. While other service levels do not include all our services, these can be added at any time for an additional pre-agreed fee, as laid out in our ongoing service table, which you can find here.

Partner

0.75% per annum of funds under management, subject to a minimum fee of £6,000 per annum. For example:

If you invested £500,000, you would be charged our minimum fee of £6,000

If you invested £1,000,000, you would be charged £7,500

Engaged

0.75% per annum of funds under management, subject to a minimum fee of £3,500 per annum. For example:

If you invested £200,000, you would be charged our minimum fee of £3,500

If you invested £500,000, you would be charged £3,750

Valued plus

1% per annum of funds under management, subject to a minimum fee of £1,500 per annum. For example:

If you invested £100,000, you would be charged our minimum fee of £1,500

If you invested £200,000, you would be charged £2,000

Valued

1% per annum of funds under management, subject to a minimum fee of £750 per annum. For example:

If you invested £50,000, you would be charged our minimum fee of £750

If you invested £100,000, you would be charged £1,000

Where our charges are based on a % of your investments, the amount of our ongoing charges may increase as the size of your fund grows. Please note that our ongoing charges may be tailored from the standard levels noted above where this is appropriate to a client’s specific circumstances and requirements.

We understand that your circumstances are ever-changing and we maintain our relationship with you through our ongoing service. Click the button below to better understand the services we will provide you with.

Read more

What our clients say

I would like to thank EBS and their staff for providing an excellent service, making the minefield of my various pensions seem like an easy task and for keeping me updated on the progress. I would not hesitate in recommending them to anyone looking for pension advice.

Trust and expertise were my key needs for re-establishing my financial portfolio following a divorce. The replacement life cover and complete evaluation of my pension goals were perfectly designed and implemented to suit my changed circumstances. Well done EBS!

Honest and comprehensive financial advice given with no pressure to buy any products. Reasonable fees for advice and ongoing costs. Very happy with the services given.

Many thanks for taking so much time to meet and discuss our retirement funding plans with us yesterday. The detail of the analysis was very impressive, and you and your staff are to be congratulated on a very professional job.

Our grateful acknowledgements are due for the advice and support proffered by the EBS team and everyone we met at entry, all very courteous, personable and a pleasure to meet.

The ‘Portfolio Report’ that EBS offers has made understanding and managing the family budget so much simpler. It gives a detailed summary and breakdown of our overall financial position, which is so helpful when cross-referencing it.

Thank you for your very comprehensive letter and schedules.... I must reiterate my thanks for all you have done for me.

Many thanks indeed to you and EBS for doing your very best for me. I know I am in safe hands with you. It really is very much appreciated!

I would also like to thank you all for the work in getting this organised for us. I know it has not been easy but I really appreciate it all.

FR, Lanark

JS, Glasgow

IM, Dunbartonshire

RS, Biggar

BW, Skelmorie

MP, Glasgow

BA, Salisbury

MR, Glasgow

NM, Glasgow

Get in touch

    How would you like to be contacted?

    You voluntarily choose to provide personal details to us via this website. Personal information will be treated as confidential by us and held in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. You agree that such personal information may be used to provide you with details of services and products in writing, by email or by telephone. By submitting this information you have given your agreement to being contacted by us.