Expert Investment Advice in Tunbridge Wells.

Step 1: Free initial consultation.

At the first meeting, you will meet with one of experienced Financial Advisors (IFA) where we will establish your advice needs, describe our services and explain our fees and payment options. The consultation can be done face-to-face at our office in Tunbridge Wells, via video call or over the telephone.

There is no obligation to proceed at this stage, and you will have incurred no costs. Should you decide to proceed we will ask you to sign our Service Charter.

Just click the button below to get started.

Step 2: Investment review, research & planning.

Once we have an accurate idea of how we can help, your IFA will work with you to understand and gather relevant detailed financial information, determine your investment risk profile and establish your specific financial objectives. This may be done in a further face-to-face meeting, by video call, over the telephone or by email - or by a combination of some or all of these.

Following this, our expert team will undertake a detailed review of your existing investments, gain up to date valuations and review their past performance. With your goals in mind, we then prepare an investment strategy to align your portfolio with your investment objectives and risk profile.

Step 3: We present our investment recommendations.

With the investment review complete, we will then present our findings to you and take the time to clearly explain our recommendations. With so many investment types out there, you must understand the varying degrees of risk, performance, tax implications and lock-in periods that may apply to a given solution.

Step 4: Ongoing investment portfolio reviews.

Should you decide to choose us to advise on your investment portfolio on an ongoing basis, we will regularly review your investments against the agreed objectives, present any changes we recommend and meet with you annually to ensure you are achieving your financial goals. And depending on the service you sign up to, we may also provide you with an annual inheritance tax (IHT) overview and calculation.

We also offer a range of online portfolio tools to help you stay up to date and we will provide regular updates throughout the year on relevant topics, including investment market conditions, the availability of in-house workshops or seminars, and any service enhancements we are developing or launching.

Useful Financial Advice Links

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - Financial Services Register.

• The FCA offers guidance on what to ask your Financial Advisor.

• Money Helper - a guide to financial adviser fees.

• Paul Lewis (financial journalist and presenter of Money Box on BBC Radio 4) offers some useful tips on how to find good financial advice.

• The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) - for free financial guidance and debt advice.

What does IFA stand for?

An IFA is an Independent Financial Advisor. In the UK, an IFA is also referred to as a Financial Adviser or Financial Planner. To be an IFA in the UK, the IFA must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or be authorised by a company which itself is regulated by the FCA. To be authorised, the IFA must have achieved a minimum qualification level which is recognised by the FCA. It can take many years and a lot of hard work to become an IFA.

You can find authorised IFAs and authorised companies on the FCA’s Financial Services Register.

Why use an IFA and what does a Financial Advisor do?

IFAs help people achieve their financial goals. The main reason people seek financial advice is that they do not know how to do this themselves. Sometimes, even experienced investors will seek help from Financial Advisors, because they simply do not have the time to make the necessary decisions and act upon them themselves.

An IFA will turn thought into action: “Action is the foundational key to all success” - Pablo Picasso.

Is a Financial Advisor the same as a Financial Planner?

Yes - the terms IFA, Financial Advisor and Financial Planner are all interchangeable. To complicate things further, sometimes, you will see Adviser spelt with an ‘er’ and sometimes with an ‘or’!

Which Financial Advisor is right for you?

The right Financial Advisor for you will be the one who can give you the advice you need - whether this is investment advice, pension or retirement planning, inheritance tax advice or mortgage advice to name a few. Not all IFAs can offer advice on every area of your finances so you will want to make sure the one you choose can help you with all your financial needs.

Ultimately, you will want to work with a Financial Advisor who you can trust and who will work with you to achieve your goals.

How many IFAs are there in the UK?

There are around 22,000 qualified Financial Advisors in the UK. Many of these work for financial institutions where they can only recommend investments and solutions offered by that particular company - these are known as ‘Restricted’ Financial Advisors.

Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) can provide completely unbiased advice on any investment or solution available in the market. This is what gives them the title of ‘Independent’.

Chartered status can apply to both Independent and Restricted Financial Advisors and these advisers are also known as Chartered Financial Planners.

Over 5,000 Financial Advisers, representing the highest qualified practitioners of the profession, have achieved Chartered Financial Planner status.

How much does an IFA charge and how much does a Financial Advisor cost?

A Financial Advisor’s fees vary depending on the advice you need and the complexity of your circumstances.

IFAs can charge their fees in different ways - the two main types are shown below, but you may find some IFAs offer a choice or combination of the two:

• Fees based on a percentage of the value of your assets or investments. This can often range from 0.5% to 3%. So, if your investments are worth £300,000 and your IFA charges you 1.5%, this would equate to a fee of £4,500.

• Fees based on a fixed amount, often linked to an hourly rate. For example, an IFA may charge £250 per hour. If the advice you need takes 15 hours to complete, this would equate to a fee of £3,750.

At AV Trinity, we charge only fixed fees based on a cost per hour. We will always let you know what our fees are at outset and, if we provide you with ongoing advice, we will confirm our ongoing fees every year.

Our fees are for our advice, not for implementing or selling products. We charge in this way to ensure there is no bias and thus we feel this protects our clients from receiving poor advice.