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How does it all work?
You can contact Rose & North by phone or email initially to discuss your requirements. Initial consultations are then typically by phone and are at our cost. During the initial discussion, the process and charges will be fully explained to you. Once you are ready to work with us, we will start to gather key information, ready for our first, detailed meeting. We will send you a client pack (either by email or post) to complete and return to us. At this stage we will also need to identify you, so we will typically need to take a copy of your passport and driving licence. We will supply a list of suitable documents. Once we have obtained all the information we need - which can take several weeks if we are obtaining information from providers about your existing pensions, investments and insurance plans - we then compile this into a report for you and arrange our first financial review meeting. Client meetings are arranged during business hours (our standard hours are 10-5pm, Monday to Friday) and most are by video call. Most of our clients live in London but some live further afield. If it makes sense for us to work together, distance is never an issue for us. If you have special requirements for meetings, let us know and we can try arrange this for you. Please don't be offended if we ask if you would like to have someone with you in the meeting, we just want to make sure you feel looked after. Once we have reviewed your information with you and discussed this all in detail, we then make formal recommendations or in some cases we arrange a second meeting before we do so. We always ensure you are comfortable that you have what you need before we move on to the next stage. We offer different types of financial reviews depending on what you need help with and the stage you are at. Please ask us to let you know which options are available to you. We charge fair and competitive initial and ongoing fees, which vary depending on the work involved. Rose & North is only able to offer commission options (as an alternative to fees) for mortgage and insurance advice. What will you ask me? On our initial call, your financial planner will ask a series of questions about your personal and financial situation as well as any future plans and aspirations. When you decide to join us, we will send you our client which contains a number of questionnaires (including a budget, attitude to investment risk and mortgage or retirement questionnaire for example) which will help us build a clearer picture of you and your requirements. This is not just because we are nosy; we need to be able to ‘put ourselves in your shoes’ to be able to make the best recommendations for you. This is an important part of the process as small details can often be key. The goal is to gather enough information to ensure we are able to offer the best and most comprehensive advice possible. I haven't seen my old adviser for years. Can you take over looking after plans they advised on?
In most circumstances, yes we can. If, once we have reviewed the plan, we discover that we can't or that it is not in your best interests to keep it, we will explain the options to you. If you are already paying fees to the old adviser and we can transfer them along with the plan, we may be able to offset these against the fees we charge. |
How much will it cost?
For new clients our minimum fee is £2,250 for an initial financial review. We have a range of other fees detailed in our client agreement which is available on request. We will also discuss and agree all fees with you prior to doing any work, your fee might be higher than this if you are at retirement, know exactly what you wish to do (such as invest a lump sum) or have a complex situation, we will discuss all of this with you in our initial meeting/call which is at our cost and before we start work. Our fees are dynamic and reflect the amount of work involved, the level of expertise required and the nature of the work. We also charge ongoing fees for any investments or pensions we set up for you (a common practice for financial planners) which covers the cost of ongoing reviews of your investments and regular financial planning updates. The highest ongoing fee you will pay is 1% per annum (so £1,000 per annum on an investment of £100,000 for example which is paid monthly from your investment) . The percentage charge decreases for larger portfolios and as your portfolio grows over time and we offer discounts if more than one member of your close family work with us. For portfolios under £100,000, we also charge a monthly fee of £20 which can be paid directly from your investments if you wish. This ensures our fees are fair for all and helps to cover the cost of reviewing your investments on an ongoing basis. Will I have to pay a fee up-front?
We find it helpful for both parties to sign a letter of engagement when we start work and in all cases we ask you to sign our Client Agreement & Data Protection Notice, which protects both parties. We typically charge 50% of the agreed fee when you return your completed client pack to us. The remaining 50% is due after our first full review meeting. So for the minimum charge of £2,250, £1,125 is due at the start and £1,125 once we have had our first financial review meeting. In many cases, fees can be taken from pensions and investments if we move to the implementation stage after review. In these cases, we then refund any fees paid directly to us. Do you invest ethically?
We have always offered access to ethical portfolios for those clients who prefer this. There are an increasing number of funds available which are, in general, performing as well as traditional 'non-ethical' funds. We are more limited in the funds we can select, however, as the universe is smaller and there are not ethical funds in every asset class. If ethical investment is important to you, let us know. I already have a lot of plans/investments. Can you help me with these?
We certainly can. We will want to review all of these for you before we start work to ensure we can advise you properly. We will typically draft letters for you to send to these providers so we can obtain all the relevant information we need in order to be able to advise you. All we need from you are policy numbers and provider names. I'm new to this, do you expect me to know a lot before we start?
Not at all. We understand that the process can be daunting one but the hardest part is getting started, and you've already done that! We adapt to your pace, knowledge, experience and preferences. Every client is different. |
Who will I meet with?
You will be advised by one of our financial planners and they will be your main point of contact, co-ordinating the rest of our team to deliver what you need. However, we work as a close-knit team so anyone on the team will be able to help you at any time and in the first few weeks, you are more likely to have contact with our dedicated Client Support Team. Do you advise on Pension Transfers?
Rose & North is able to advise on pension transfers but we no longer advise on defined benefit/final salary pension transfers. Auto-Enrolment for my staff? Can you help me with this?
We are not currently advising on Auto-Enrolment. Do you advise on mortgages?
Yes, we offer whole of market mortgage advice. We can advise on residential mortgages, first-time buyers, re-mortgages, buy to lets, equity release and bespoke development projects. As our existing clients will testify, we work hard to source the best deal available to us – which are not always the same as those on the high street – for your particular situation, we help you with the application, submit it on your behalf and chase up the progress regularly to get things sorted out as quickly as possible for you. We can even recommend a conveyancer for you too. We aim to take the pain out of the mortgage process for you and if you need us to, we guide you a little in the house-buying process too. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. For mortgages, a non-refundable administration fee of £645 is payable at the outset and we receive commission from the lender in addition to this. If, however, you prefer to pay by fees only, in addition to the £645 administration fee, a fee of 1% of the mortgage amount (so £1,000 for a mortgage of £100,000 for example) is payable when you apply for the mortgage. We will then refund any commission we receive from the lender. Buy to Let mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Do you advise on insurance?
Rose & North is able to advise on all types of regulated insurance products such as life insurance, critical and serious illness insurance, income protection insurance and so on. We work to find the most suitable product for your circumstances. We can access providers from the whole of the market. What about wills and inheritance planning? Rose & North is able to provide advice around inheritance tax planning and we work with probate solicitors who can advise on wills. We work with a number of specialist professionals in this area and can recommend the right person for you in all cases when specialist assistance is required. Will writing is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Are you LGBTQ friendly?
Absolutely! Everyone is welcome at Rose & North. Do you deal with vulnerable clients?
Yes we do, just let us know what you need from us. We encourage you to bring another trusted person to any meeting you have with us. 
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