Services and Fees

We like to offer our clients a personal service in today’s ever more impersonal, online world, We do, though, use the best, leading edge technology to provide you with a personal website, giving you access to both us and your investments, anytime, anywhere.

Communication is key to our business

Straightforward advice on which you can rely

We’ll listen and take the time to understand your personal circumstances, concerns and needs so our recommendations are right for your circumstances. We’ll give clear, straightforward advice you can rely on. We make sure our recommendations are simple and straightforward, so you have a full understanding of our advice and why it’s the best possible solution for you. And we’ll stay in regular touch to make sure you know what’s happening, and that our advice is still right for you, as life moves and changes.

If you’re a new client, an initial consultation is free of charge. We’ll let you know how and if we can help. We may need to meet again to gather further information before presenting our initial recommendations. If you go ahead, our implementation and review charges will be a straightforward percentage of your investment, paid from your investment. We don’t have a complicated menu of fees or work on an hourly rate. Our initial fee is 2% of any funds we arrange to invest or 1% of funds we transfer, with a minimum initial fee of £2,000 for new clients. Our annual fee is 0.8% of funds we look after for you.

What we do for you

We are Independent Financial Advisers, directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

  • How much you want to keep as a ‘cash reserve’ for immediate access. We will make sure that you’re getting the best rate from your bank or building society deposit accounts
  • How much you want to invest without risk. We usually advise that some funds go into guaranteed investments, such as Premium Bonds or Fixed Rate Accounts
  • Whether you need an income from your investments and if not, whether you’re likely to in the future, and how far away that future is
  • Your tax position now, and whether this may change. We’ll aim to make sure that any investments we recommend or that you ask us to look after, are as tax-efficient as possible for you

Our Services

Philip James Financial Services Ltd is able to act on your behalf in advising you on investments and non-investment insurance contracts.

  • Investments – we offer an Independent advice service. We will recommend investments based on a comprehensive and fair analysis of the market.  We will place no restrictions on the Investment Markets we will consider before providing investment recommendations unless you instruct us otherwise.  We will however, only make a recommendation when we know it is suitable for you. Investments include products such as unit trusts, open-ended investment companies (OEICs) and personal pensions. We do not advise on non-regulated investment products. 
  • Non-investment, Protection and General Insurance – we offer non-investment protection products e.g. term assurance, income protection and critical illness, from the whole of the market. 
  • Mortgages – We are not limited in the range of both first charge legal mortgages and second charge regulated mortgage products that we will consider for you. We offer a comprehensive range of mortgages from across the market

We treat all our clients as “retail Clients” unless you request otherwise or unless we are advising you as a trustee, corporate entity or employer. This means you are provided with the highest level of protection under the regulatory system and should have the right to take any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Our Advice Process – How we go about advising you

Initial Consultation – Financial Review

  • At our initial meeting (which we may carry out online or by ‘phone) we will discuss your financial objectives and gather information about your existing financial arrangements and full personal circumstances to give us an understanding your situation. 
  • At the end of the meeting we will confirm how and if we think we can help you.
  • We will tell you about services the service you can expect from us, our Client Website and what we think makes us different.
  • We will explain the costs involved, and how you will pay for services both initially and throughout our relationship with you. 

Analysis and Recommendations

  • Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you will only be given after we have completed the ‘fact finding’ process which will start at our initial consultation.
  • We will need to have an understanding of your investment knowledge, attitude to investment risk and tax position
  • We will take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider.
  • We will complete an analysis and, if we decide we are able to help, will prepare recommendations which we will present and discuss in detail with you. This will include details of any special risks associated with the plans and products recommended.

Implementing our Recommendations

If you ask us to arrange and set up the plans we have recommended, you can expect us to:

  • Act as your intermediary with product providers to handle fund and policy or wrapper administration on your behalf.
  • Provide regular updates to keep you informed of progress and ensure all necessary documents are provided.
  • Confirm all actions taken on your behalf and a provide written confirmation of the suitability of our advice.

Continuing Service and Reviews

  • You will be able to see your portfolio and policy information via your Client Website, which you can access via an app on mobile devices and which includes a secure messaging service.
  • All documents relating to any of your investments, plans and policies which we have arranged, or which you have asked us to monitor for you, will also be available to view via your Client Website.
  • Your financial and personal objectives are likely to change over time and so it is essential to ensure that our recommendations continue to meet your objectives and be appropriate for your circumstances. We will contact you each year to offer an online, telephone or face-to face review.
  • This will include a discussion of your objectives, risk profile and any tax changes affecting you; and of the suitability of investments, plans and policies which we have arranged or which you have asked us to look after for you.
  • We will provide valuations of your investments, confirmation of the fees and charges you have paid and handle all necessary intermediation with product providers.

What will you have to pay us for our services?

  • An Initial Consultation is free of charge. We will then, if we decide we are able to help you, present our initial recommendations.
  • Assuming you then ask us to act as intermediaries and implement our recommendations you will pay for our services on the basis of an adviser charge. This is a percentage of the amount you invest and is usually collected and paid to us by the product provider. The amount will always be confirmed in monetary terms before you confirm that you are happy to go ahead with our recommendations. 

Arranging and Setting up your Investment, Pension or Retirement Benefits

Our charge for arranging investments is 2% of the amount invested. For transfers from another investment provider to a new, recommended investment our charge is 1% of the amount transferred. For regular contributions, it’s 2% of each payment, for arranging an annuity, it’s 3%. The recommended provider pays this to us from your investment.

Our minimum initial fee for new clients is £2,000, our maximum is £10,000.

Continuing Service and Reviews

Our annual charge is 0.8% of the value of funds on which we provide continuing intermediation (act as intermediaries with financial product providers) and is paid to us on your behalf by the product provider, usually on a monthly basis. This covers the cost of reviews and continuing administration. Our minimum annual fee is £1,000, our maximum is £10,000.

So, if you make a new investment or transfer existing investments of £200,000, our initial charge would be £4,000 and our continuing annual adviser charge would be £1,600.

Pure Protection and General Insurance Policies

We will not charge a fee for arranging pure protection and general insurance policies but will usually receive commission from the product provider. You will receive a quotation, which will tell you how much commission we will receive, both initially and in future years.

Mortgages

If, following an initial consultation, we research, source and provide details of a mortgage product or products which may be suitable for you, we will charge a non-refundable fee of £300. When we arrange and apply for a mortgage on your behalf, we will receive a procuration fee or commission from the recommended lender, the amount of which will be detailed in their key facts document and illustration.

Under current legislation our services are not subject to VAT but should this change in future we will notify you. These fees apply to advice given to individual, retail clients. Advice provided to businesses, trustees and corporate bodies may be charged for and invoiced separately.

What else do you need to know?

Other benefits we may receive

We advise on a range of products from a variety of firms; we may receive certain non-monetary benefits from these firms, which are used to enhance the quality of service we provide to you. Benefits we may receive include access to technical services, information technology support or the supply of product literature. For example, for placing any business on the True Potential Wealth Platform we are able to use the operational back office system of their sister company True Potential LLP (a non-regulated firm) free of charge. This additional benefit has no influence nor does bearing on any advice we provide but we believe that use of the system enhances the quality of the service provided.

Conflicts of Interest

We will act honestly, fairly and in your best interests. Occasionally situations may arise where we have or one of our clients has some form of interest in business transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interest, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.

Client Money

Philip James Financial Services Ltd. is not permitted to handle client money or handle cash and we cannot accept a cheque made out to us, unless it is in respect of an item for which we have sent you an invoice, such as an initial fee for advice. 

Discretionary Fund Management 

We do not manage investments on a discretionary basis and will not make any changes to your investments, plans or policies without your written instructions. We may recommend a Discretionary Fund Manager (DFM). Depending upon the provider, you will either be treated as a client of the DFM or we will act as the client on your behalf (‘Agent as Client’.) We will confirm the basis at point of application and this will be further confirmed if appropriate in the DFM’s terms and conditions and agreement.

Cancellation rights

In most cases you can exercise a right to cancel by withdrawing from the contract. You will normally have a 30 day cancellation period for a life, pure protection, income protection or pension contracts and a 14 day cancellation period for all other contracts. Instructions for exercising the right to cancel, if applicable, will be contained in the relevant product disclosure information which will be issued to you. If you cancel a single premium contract, you may be required to pay for any loss you might reasonably incur in cancelling it which is caused by market movements. This means that, in certain circumstances, you might not get back the full amount you invested if you cancel the policy.

You may also arrange to cancel our annual charge should you no longer wish to receive continuing service and reviews by notifying us and the product provider(s) in writing. You should note that a number of providers only offer services via advisers and will not deal directly with retail clients.

Complaints

 If you wish to register a complaint, please write to Philip James Financial Services Ltd, Lark Rise, Beech Grove, Fulbrook, Burford, Oxon, OX18 4DE or telephone 01993 824680. A summary of our internal complaints handling procedures for the reasonable and prompt handling of complaints is available on request and if you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service at financial-ombudsman.org.uk or by contacting them on 0800 0234567.

Anti-Money Laundering

We are required by the anti-money laundering regulations to verify the identity of our clients, to obtain information as to the purpose and nature of the business which we conduct on their behalf, and to ensure that the information we hold is up-to-date. For this purpose we may use electronic identity verification systems and we may conduct these checks from time to time throughout our relationship, not just at the beginning.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Most types of investment and house purchase finance business are covered up to a maximum limit of £85,000 whereas non-compulsory insurance business is covered for 90% of the claim, without any upper limit. Long-term insurance is 100% protected with no limit. Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

Declaration and Consent

Our Client Agreement is governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving seven days’ notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. Any transactions effected before termination and a due proportion of any period charges for services shall be settled to that date.