Financial Planning Advice Process

Our Advice Process is designed around our clients.

At Bigmore Financial Planning our financial planners follow a detailed and structured advice process for all our clients.

We begin by getting to know you, as this is what sits at the heart of our financial planning advice. Though a person’s needs and wants might be similar to another, they will never be entirely the same. Nor will their financial circumstance. Therefore, each plan we make is bespoke. Unique to the person we are working with, and designed to get them where they want to go by taking into account who they are and what they truly want to achieve.

Meet with Bigmores to Make the Best Plan for You

How Our Advice Process Works

Stage 1

Free Initial Meeting & Introduction

One of our Financial Planners will arrange to meet with you either face to face or remotely.

At the initial meeting we aim to get under the skin of your finances and help you to identify your personal and financial goals, needs and objectives. We will look at your current financial position, including your existing investments, assets and liabilities and income and expenditure needs. We will also discuss your personal appetite and tolerance for risk as well as your appetite for loss.

We will advise if we can add value to you through the services that we offer and obtain your agreement to move to the Initial Planning Report stage. If at this stage, we do not think that we can add value to you then we will openly tell you so.

This initial meeting is at our expense.

Stage 2

Initial Planning Report

We will use the information gathered at our initial meeting to produce your Initial Planning Report. This will outline what we can do for you and the associated costs and charges for our services.

Your Financial Planner will meet with you either face to face or remotely to discuss our initial proposal. If you agree with our proposed strategy, we will move to the next stage of providing you with a tailored full financial planning report.

There is a charge applicable for the Initial Planning Report, however, this is offset against the full advice and implementation fees that we charge.

Stage 3

Full Financial Planning Report

Once you have formally agreed our proposal, we will move to the next stage of producing a Full Financial Planning Report and plan tailored specifically to you. At this stage we will verify your identity and request information directly from the providers of your current plans.

Your tailored financial planning report will set out your current personal and financial circumstances, confirm your attitude to risk and capacity for loss, and fully detail our recommendations to you. Where appropriate, the report may contain specific cashflow planning scenarios. The report will also highlight any risks, disadvantages, and taxation as well as a full summary of the costs and charges involved with your recommendation.

Your detailed report will be presented to you in an easy-to-read format including a summary recommendations page. It will be provided with any supporting documentation for recommended products, detailing the cancellation period and the Financial Services and Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection.

Your Financial Planner will arrange to meet with you to discuss the report and recommendations in detail and answer any questions that you may have. We will also prepare any application documents for you including trust documents and transfer forms.

Stage 4

Implementation

Once you are completely happy with our recommendations and have agreed to proceed, we will ask you to sign any application and/or transfer forms. We will set up your plan and request the transfers from your existing provider(s).

The provider can usually facilitate our fees, however if we have agreed payment with you, we will send you an invoice for payment.

Once your plan is setup and your transfers have been completed, we will confirm this to you. You will also be provided with online access to your portfolio through our Personal Finance Portal. At this stage we will also ask you to provide a review of our services and recommend us to any friends or family you think will benefit from working with us.

Stage 5

Ongoing Service & Review

In most cases, we recommend an ongoing service with our clients. This allows us to keep your personal and financial circumstances under review and ensure that your pensions and investments continue to meet your objectives.

We have four levels of service which are based on the total funds under our management. These start with a light touch service for those with a simple investment portfolio. Our most comprehensive service level caters for higher net worth family groups, where they may have more complex needs such as tax planning, income drawdown, specialist investments and trusts.

Ongoing service charges range from 0.65% to 0.85% per annum depending on the service level we have agreed with you.

Our Service Levels

We offer a range of on going service levels to suit the individual needs of our clients. You can find more details about these service levels and what they include below:

Premier Wealth Clients

£1m+ Assets Under Management

Ongoing Service Fee 0.65% per annum (subject to £8000 minimum charge pa)

Our Bigmore Premier Wealth proposition, is focused on proactive financial planning for the present and the future, for you and the next generation and provides you with:

An annual review meeting (office, remote or external) plus additional review meetings if needed.
A full financial planning review and periodic suitability assessment at least once a year
An annual review of your pension drawdown plan
Cashflow planning
Quarterly valuations
Access to our Personal Finance Portal (PFP)
Priority access to advisory and admin team
Locum adviser cover during adviser’s annual leave
Ad-hoc advice and implementation for contributions and withdrawals to and from your investments
Family support and intergenerational planning
Smart Money publication link 3 times annually
Free mortgage and protection review for you and your immediate family
Quarterly investment updates on our core investment proposition
Free mirror wills and discounted Lasting Powers of Attorney through our in-house Will Writing Service
Professional introduction to accountant, solicitor, or business coach (bespoke)
Discounted initial fees for specialist services
Discounted initial fees for top ups to your existing plans and any new plans
Enhanced Cashflow planning to ensure that your investments are on track to meet your objectives
A review of any existing plans, including a switching/consolidation assessment (not including final salary/defined benefit pensions)
Access to our core investment proposition
Access to specialist investment services

Wealth Clients

£500k - £1m Assets Under Management

Ongoing Service Fee 0.65% per annum (subject to £4000 minimum charge pa)

Our Bigmore Wealth proposition, is focused on proactive financial planning for the present and the future, for you and the next generation and provides you with:

A full financial planning review and periodic suitability assessment at least once a year
An annual review of your pension drawdown plan
Cashflow planning
Six monthly valuations
Access to our Personal Finance Portal (PFP)
Ad hoc access to advisory and admin team
Family support and intergenerational planning
Smart Money publication link 3 times annually
Free mortgage and protection review for you and your immediate family
Introduction to our in-house Will Writing Service
Professional introduction to accountant, solicitor, or business coach on our panel
Discounted initial fees for top ups to your existing plans and any new plans
Access to our core investment proposition
Access to specialist investment services

Lifetime Clients

£0 to £500k (decumulation) and £250k-£500k (accumulation) Assets Under Management

Ongoing Service Fee 0.75% per annum (subject to £1500 minimum charge pa)

As part of our Lifetime ongoing service level, we will provide you with:

An annual face to face meeting, at our offices or remotely
A full annual financial planning review and suitability assessment
An annual review of your pension drawdown plan
An annual valuation of your plan
Cashflow planning for drawdown clients at annual review (where appropriate)
Access to our core investment proposition
Telephone and email support from our Client Servicing Team during our usual working hours
A Mortgage and protection review
Access to our Personal Finance Portal
A digital link to our three times yearly publication ‘Smart Money’
Introduction to our Will Writing service
Introduction to other professional services, including Accountants and Solicitors on our panel

Primary (Light Touch Service)

Under £250k Assets Under Management (accumulation clients only)

Ongoing Service Fee 0.85% per annum (no minimum charge)

Our Primary service proposition is for clients in accumulation only and is a Light Touch service which will provide you with:

A remote annual review of your plans, including an annual written suitability assessment
Access to our Personal Finance Portal (PFP) with real time access to values on your plans.
Investment in our core proposition on one of our core platforms
Telephone access to the client servicing team
A mortgage and protection review by telephone with one of our advisers
Introduction to our Will Writing service
Professional introduction to accountant, solicitor, or business coach on our panel.

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