Which Level of Service is Right for you?
The choice is of course ultimately yours, however, from our experience and feedback received from our existing clients, this is what we suggest you consider, which we hope might help in arriving at your decision.
PLATINUM SERVICE LEVEL
A proactive level of service suitable for professional, middle-aged, semi-retired/retired, just divorced or just widowed clients who have combined investments, pension funds and cash in excess of £100,000. You will be seeking a proactive personal level of service, some of the objectives of which will be to try and predict, where possible, changes in markets, so as to provide the opportunity for growth in the good times and protection of your investments, pension funds and savings when times become difficult. An example of just how this level of service worked for an existing client is where they had investments held directly in stocks and shares prior to the credit crunch caused by the banking crisis. We advised our clients to switch into safer forms of tax efficient investments, particularly as they were approaching retirement and we recommended financial products such as fixed interest rate deposit accounts, tax efficiently held in a ‘bond wrapper’. Three months after we concluded these arrangements, the value of the stocks and shares that they had previously held dropped by approximately 25%, thus saving our clients over £125,000! So here we offered a level of service that provided the clients with peace of mind that their lifetime savings were protected which proved invaluable in very uncertain times.
PREMIER SERVICE LEVEL
A semi-proactive level of service for clients similar to those choosing our platinum level of service, but with combined investments, pension funds and cash in excess of £50,000. You will be seeking a semi-proactive and personal level of service, some of the objectives of which will be to try and increase returns on your investments, pension funds and savings and to save you money on your outgoings. An example of how this level of service worked for an existing client was where our client was within five years of approaching retirement and we advised that exposure of his pension fund to a managed fund environment should gradually be switched, over a five year period, into a cash fund, thus preventing unnecessary risk of his fund decreasing in value, prior to retirement. This offered peace of mind to our client that his pension fund would not be subject to a loss in value in an uncertain market in uncertain times.
STANDARD SERVICE LEVEL
A reactive level of service for clients who are seeking financial advice on a budget and who perhaps initially have limited financial goals but who may later wish to progress to our premier plus or platinum level of service. You will be seeking a specific financial product without any ongoing proactive level of service. An example of how this level of service worked for an existing client was where our clients were seeking to move home and required mortgage advice together with a budget planner to confirm ongoing affordability of the mortgage commitment. We compared the whole of the mortgage market place to find our clients the most appropriate mortgage product. An invaluable Independent level of service which ensured our clients could compare mortgage products from the whole market and thus choose the most appropriate mortgage product.
FEE ONLY SERVICE LEVEL
This is a reactive level of service suitable for specific clients. Independent Financial Advice is provided and paid for on a fee basis, any commissions that may be earned are sacrificed/reimbursed back into the plan/policy to either enhance the investment or reduce monthly premium costs.
You will be seeking a specific financial objective, without the requirement for ongoing proactive financial advice or reviews.
An example of how this level of service has worked for an existing client is where our client required an ‘income protection plan’ in order to provide protection for himself and his family in the event of being unable to work due to accident, sickness or illness at competitive terms. We researched the insurance market place to find the most suitable financial product and provider so that this invaluable protection benefit could be put in place, thus providing ‘peace of mind’ for both the client and his family for the future.