We believe that if you require impartial advice you should only seek advice from a fee-based professional. All our services are fee-based and we will not work on a commission-only basis. We feel this is the only way to:

• Ensure we always recommend the most suitable course of action to clients, as we charge fees for our strategic advice, even if this does not require a product transaction.
  
  
• Demonstrate our independence from product providers.
  
  
• Ensure clients can differentiate between our costs and product costs.
  
  
• Ensure that we always recommend the most suitable products to clients, rather than be swayed by commission levels.
  
  
• Access institutional investment funds and products, which have significantly lower costs than retail offerings, as they do not pay commission.

We have given much thought to the structure of our fee charging, and it is clear that there is no perfect solution. Our fee structure is designed to be as clear, fair and competitive as possible, with the overriding tenet that our services should provide value for money at all times.

Wherever possible, we charge fees on a project-cost basis for initial financial planning advice and any product transactions that we implement. Ongoing financial planning advice is included within our annual investment management fee, which is based upon a percentage of the value of assets under management. Future, isolated advisory or implementation work will attract separate project costs.

We feel this system provides the following advantages:

• The strategic advisory costs are separated from the transactional execution costs.
  
  
• Clients benefit from knowing the costs at outset or as early as possible within the planning process.
  
  
• Fees can be compared to the value added, before agreement to proceed is given.
  
  
• Clients have the security of knowledge that fees will not escalate out of hand, as they can with hourly time-costed work.
  
  
• Project fees encourage Collins Ward to develop efficient systems to automate time-consuming yet low-skilled procedural tasks.
  
  
• Ongoing investment management, reporting and updating of your financial plan are all included within the annual management fee.

Our fees take into account the complexity of your situation, the range of affairs we are required to advise upon, the time necessary to complete the work, the value of the work and our potential liabilities and regulatory obligations.

Our fee structure is intended to be fully transparent at all times, and we guarantee that there are no hidden costs, fees or earnings which we will not disclose to you. Where we do utilise commission paying contracts (sometimes this is unavoidable), we will discuss the impact of the commission with you and agree how this will be utilised to reduce your fees, improve the product terms or even be rebated to you.

Lastly, we feel that our fees are highly competitive within the high-net worth marketplace, and you may be very surprised at the savings that you can make when compared to commission-based advisers, traditional stockbrokers or other investment managers.