I think the question for advisers should be not ‘would your mother pay your fees?’ but ‘would you be happy to charge your mother this much?’ We are, in relative terms, cheap. We charge 0.5% a year, many charge twice as much. We reduced our initial fee to 2% last year, many still charge 3%, St James Place 4.5%. When we’ve asked existing and long-standing clients if they’d prefer us to charge by the hour rather than take our fees from their investments, the answer has been a resounding ‘no’. And we’re taking on as many new clients as we can handle. So that means, I’d say, we’ve got it about right. If not, market forces (and/or you), would soon tell us. Wouldn’t they?
“Advisers fearful of further compliance and regulation”
We know, of course we know, that regulation is, or at least should be a ‘good thing’. If those who need or should seek advice can be confident that they’ll be told the right thing, that someone has looked at those ’too good to be true’ investments before they’re allowed to take your money; or, in the case of a Woodford, while they’re raking it in to make sure it’s going where it’s supposed to.
