Services & Charges
Who Are We?
Established in 1994, Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd is a team of Independent Financial Advisers based
in the Thames Valley.
Core Philosophy
Independent advice – We aren’t tied to any investment, insurance or pension companies, allowing
truly personalised financial planning.
Our Clients
We provide tailored financial advice for:
- Individuals – covering retirement, investments, protection, and mortgage planning in addition to
more specialised and bespoke advice areas such as Inheritance Tax Planning - Businesses – focusing on employee benefits and wider corporate financial planning
Why choose us
Orchard House prides itself on:
- Putting our clients first
- Truly independent, advice-driven service
- Qualified advisers with considerable experience
- A bespoke approach – no “one box fits all” solutions
- Robust regulatory protection via the Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Ombudsman
Service
If you're exploring financial planning – whether retirement, investments, business packages, or
bespoke solutions, Orchard House offers seasoned independent advice grounded in integrity and
personal attention.
Our Advice Process
Stage 1 – An Exploratory Conversation
It’s vital that you feel we are the right fit for your financial planning needs.
We therefore start with an initial conversation to explain how we work and answer any questions
you have.
Stage 2 – Taking you through the Regulatory Process (New Clients Only)
As we are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), we must complete certain
compliance procedures before any formal advice process begins.
Stage 3 – Research and Advice
Before starting any work recommendations, we will provide a written fee estimate and will not
exceed this amount without your agreement in writing.
When we provide advice, this will always include a written Suitability Report containing
recommendations for specific actions. This is chargeable at an hourly rate (details below).
Optional Research and Advice
You may, however, also require a broader planning service. To meet this need, where appropriate,
we can provide bespoke reports such as:
- Current Status Report
In some cases, it may prove beneficial to take a general look at your entire arrangements from a
wide angle first. We have experienced many clients who tell us, “I just want to know where I am
before doing anything else”. This is the function of the Current Status Report, which lists all of your
financial arrangements and makes generic comments and suggestions as to a route forward.
- Cashflow Modelling
This “paints a financial picture” of your future. All current arrangements are entered, producing
projections of possible financial outcomes over your lifetime.
- At Retirement Planning
Starting to take money from pensions and investments to provide income in retirement can be
complicated. We can guide you through your options, along with a detailed report setting out our
recommendations to generate income, based on your circumstances.
Stage 4 – Implementation of Advice
Advice falls into one of two areas:
- Standard Advice
- Bespoke Advice
| Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) | Specialist Investments (EIS, VCT, BR*) |
| Pensions | Inheritance Tax Planning |
| General Investment Accounts (GIAs) | At Retirement Planning |
| Investment Bonds | Care Fees Planning |
| Mortgages | Equity Release and Later Life Mortgages |
| Life Insurance / Critical Illness / Income Protection / Private Medical Insurance | Key Person and Other Corporate Insurances |
*Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Venture Capital Trusts (VCT), and Business Relief (BR).
Whilst our hourly charges do not differ according to which of the two advice categories your
planning falls into, the overall charges are likely to be higher for bespoke advice, due to the likely
increase in time needed to advise on what are considered more technical and complex needs. Due
to this added complexity, our Implementation and Ongoing adviser costs will differ from those of the
Standard Advice process.
Once you have accepted our advice, we will work with you to implement the recommendations. This
may involve:
- Talking to pre-existing and/or new providers
- Preparing paperwork for you
- Following up on applications made
Stage 5 – Ongoing Review Service
Once our advice has been implemented, clients will normally enter into our Ongoing Review
Service.
Your current circumstances and financial objectives are always changing, and our Ongoing Review
Service provides you with:
- Ongoing access to your financial adviser for any questions you may have
- The offer of an Annual Review meeting and review of your objectives, circumstances and
risk profile - Disclosure of past annual charges paid and a prediction of future charges due
- Many other benefits, which are shown later in this document
Where Bespoke Advice leads to our Ongoing Review Service, the Ongoing Adviser Charge will be
dependent on the investment vehicle that we recommend, and will always be disclosed to you in
detail prior to any recommendation being made.
Our Charges
| Stage 1 | An Exploratory Conversation | At Our Expense |
|
Stage 2 (New Clients Only) |
Taking you through the Regulatory Process | £200 |
| Stage 3 | Research and Advice | £225 per hour |
| Stage 4 | Implementation of Advice | Standard – 1.75% |
| Bespoke – 2.00% | ||
| Regular Contribution – 90% | ||
| Stage 5 | Ongoing Review Service | Standard – 0.79% per annum |
| Bespoke – 1.00% per annum (unless restricted by the provider) |
Total Charges for Stages 3 and 4 are subject to a cap of £12,000, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
Regular Contributions are charged at 90% of the initial or additional contribution, with a fee cap of £2,500 (where the regular contribution is £2,777.78 per month, or above).
Ongoing Adviser Charges can be capped for exceptional circumstances, subject to confirmation in writing.
Ongoing Services Offered
We understand that clients have different objectives depending on their life stage, and we endeavour to make recommendations tailored to meet your specific personal needs.
We offer two service levels to our clients: Ongoing Review Service and Advice When Required Service.
Option 1. Ongoing Review Service
Your financial journey doesn’t need to end after your initial consultation with your financial adviser. Ongoing servicing reviews are a vital part of achieving and maintaining your financial goals. Here’s how regular reviews can benefit you:
- Keeping Your Goals on Track - Life evolves, and so do your financial needs and ambitions. Regular reviews allow your adviser to monitor your progress and adjust strategies to ensure you stay on course to help meet your goals.
- Responding to Life Changes - Whether it’s a new job, a growing family, or unexpected challenges, life events can significantly impact your financial priorities.
- Adapting to Market Conditions - Financial markets are constantly changing. Through regular reviews, your adviser can provide insights into market trends and make necessary adjustments to your portfolio.
- Maximising Financial Opportunities - Your adviser keeps an eye on tax allowances, regulatory changes, and investment opportunities that could benefit you. A proactive approach ensures you make the most of what’s available.
- Building Confidence and Peace of Mind - Frequent check-ins offer you the reassurance of knowing a professional is continuously looking after your financial well-being.
Our Ongoing Review Service provides you with:
- Ongoing access to your financial adviser for any questions you may have
- Schedule of investments, including valuations and charges
- Annual Review meeting and review of your objectives, circumstances and risk profile
- Report assessing the ongoing suitability of your investments and recommending changes where necessary
- Fund switches, if appropriate, at no charge
- Provider switches, if appropriate, at no charge, where we have recommended the ceding provider
- Exemption from Advice and Implementation Fees for transfers from GIA to ISA
- Exemption from Advice Fees for increases in investment contributions to plans arranged through Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd
- Liaison with your accountant/solicitor, if required
Charges for Ongoing Review Service
| Standard Advice | 0.79% per annum |
| Bespoke Advice | 1.00% per annum (unless restricted by the provider) |
Cancelling Our Ongoing Review Service
As a client, you have the right to cancel our Ongoing Review Service at any time. Should you wish to cancel this service, we would appreciate written confirmation. We also have the right to cancel this service, and we will confirm this to you in writing.
As part of our Ongoing Review Service, we will arrange a review with you at least once a year, with the expectation that you will engage and participate. It is important that we are allowed to deliver the service that you are paying for. If it is not possible to arrange a meeting for two consecutive Annual Reviews, we will cancel this Ongoing Review Service, and no further fees will be applied. Our arrangements with you will be moved to our ‘Advice When Required’ service.
Option 2. Advice When Required Service
For clients who do not wish to benefit from the ongoing monitoring and review of their investment arrangements and objectives, the Advice When Required Service may be suitable. This service involves no regular contact from us, but allows you to contact us at any stage should you feel that you need any financial advice.
You should be aware, however, that there may be some drawbacks to this approach. By way of an example, your funds may drift into a higher or lower investment risk category. This is referred to as “Portfolio Drift”.
Please note that we will not deal with clients on an Advice When Required basis where the main focus of their planning needs is spending (decumulating) wealth, such as taking a regular income. This is due to the complexity of this type of advice and the FCA guidance indicating that such advice should be regularly reviewed by a professional.
We regard returning Advice When Required clients as New Clients for charging purposes.
Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd will not accept responsibility for any changes that you, your provider or your investment manager make to your plan after the implementation of our advice.
Exceptions to our Standard Charges
Orchard House will try to use this Charges Structure in all cases. Occasions can arise, however, when we may deviate from it. Below is a list of examples. The list, however, is not exhaustive:
- Clients with long-standing relationships with Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd
- A large family group of clients
- Highly complex bespoke work
- Clients brought on board by Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd under existing agreements
- Substantially large investments
- Other situations on a case-by-case basis
- In certain cases, providers will restrict the levels of ongoing advice charges
Bonds
To cover the complexity of the taxation within Single Premium Investment Bonds, our Ongoing Advice Charge is levied as a percentage of the original amount invested, unless agreed otherwise.
Cash
Where a Cash investment is recommended, we may adjust our implementation fee, depending on the circumstances and your objectives with this cash. We will lower our Ongoing Review Service charge to 0.50% per annum on large cash holdings.
Leaving Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd
You or we may terminate our advice service at any time.
Should you wish to terminate your dealings with Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd or move to another adviser, we would appreciate confirmation in writing. Some product providers will require you to find an alternative adviser.
Examples of our fees
The following examples are estimations of our fees on certain cases. The exact fees quoted to you would be subject to your circumstances and your objectives with the investments.
Example 1
A married couple, existing clients of Orchard House (IFAs) Ltd, wish to invest £40,000. The advice process ends in recommendations on new arrangements for this couple. We would estimate our charges to be circa:
| Take-On Fee | £0 | Existing Client |
| Research and Advice | £337.50 | Suitability Report Charge – 1.5 hours. |
| Implementation | £700 | £40,000 at 1.75% |
The total Initial Adviser Charges applicable to this couple would be £1,037.50.
Should these clients wish to benefit from our Ongoing Review Service, the plans would be subject to an Ongoing Adviser Charge of 0.79% per annum. This would be circa £316 per annum.
Example 2
A new client has 2 pensions requiring analysis, totalling £68,500. The advice process ends in a recommendation to transfer both arrangements to a new pension plan. We would estimate our charges to be circa:
| Take-On Fee | £200 | Taking you through the Regulatory Process |
| Research and Advice | £562.50 | Research of existing arrangements and Suitability Report Charge – 2.5 hours. |
| Implementation | £1,198.75 | £68,500 at 1.75% |
The total Initial Adviser Charges applicable to this client would be £1,961.25.
If the client does not, for the moment, require our Ongoing Review Service, and instead selects our Advice When Required Service, an Ongoing Advice Charge would not apply.
Example 3
A new client has 3 existing investment portfolios requiring analysis, totalling £800,000, and has an additional £500,000 available for investment for the medium term. The advice process ends in a recommendation to transfer all 3 existing arrangements to a new plan. We would estimate our charges to be circa:
| Take-On Fee | £200 | Taking you through the Regulatory Process |
| Research and Advice | £1,575 | Research of existing arrangements and Suitability Report Charge – 7 hours. |
| Implementation | £10,425 (capped) | £1,300,000 at 1.75% (capped) |
The total Initial Adviser Charges applicable to this client would be £12,200.
Because we cap our initial advice and implementation fees at £12,000, the implementation fee was capped at £10,425 after allowing for the research and advice fee of £1,575 to be paid.
Should this client want to benefit from our Ongoing Review Service, an Ongoing Adviser Charge of 0.79% will apply to the value of their funds, equating to circa £10,270 per annum.
Example 4
A new client has £100,000 they would like to invest towards Inheritance Tax planning.
The advice process ends in a recommendation to invest all £100,000 in a Business Relief investment. We would estimate our charges to be circa:
| Take-On Fee | £200 | Taking you through the Regulatory Process |
| Research and Advice | £675 | Research of existing arrangements and Suitability Report Charge – 3 hours. |
| Implementation | £2,000 | £100,000 at 2.00% |
The total Initial Adviser Charges applicable to this client would be £2,875.
Should this client want to benefit from our Ongoing Review Service, an Ongoing Adviser Charge of 1.00% will apply to the value of their funds, equating to circa £1,000 per annum. This would be subject to the adviser charging structures that the recommended providers allow.
"I've just had my first meeting with my new IFA, Helen Fraser. Just wanted to let you know how impressed I am with her, both as a Financial Adviser and as a person! She fits right into the Orchard ethos - approachable and empathetic as well as financially skilled - and I can see why she's working with you - well done for finding her. Keep her, I like her! :)"
"Excellent investment advice for my client, very easy to do business with."
"Your (Steve Hedges) knowledge of the financial market is exemplary and savings that you helped us make way offset the charges incurred. We both felt at ease and were confident that your advice would be beneficial to us."
"I'd really like to recommend Stuart Logan of Orchard House IFAs, who has
just come to give us some financial advice. This is the third time we have used Stuart. As usual, he has offered some really interesting and useful advice, and we have been really impressed every time we have used him."
“Damian was incredibly helpful in re-phrasing in simple terms to allow me to better understand the questions being asked. He was absolutely incredible and made, what I expected to be a difficult process, incredibly easy. I have great trust and faith in Damian. Thank you” ~ Kelly Hobbs
"Helen is wonderful and she does her best with someone who really struggles with figures and financial concepts" ~ Elisabeth Skinner on 07/03/2019
"I find Stuart to be curious, helpful and massively professional, thank you!" ~ Nikki Watkins on 19/06/2019
"I like the personal touch, it wasn't just about my finances. A connection really helps in having trust and confidence in what you are being told. Elaine gave me that" ~ Chris Hancox on 24/09/2018
"Tricia and I would like to thank you for all the advice and help that you have given us over the past couple of years. Your knowledge of the financial market is exemplary and the savings that you helped us make way offset the charges incurred. We both felt at ease and were confident that your advice would be beneficial to us. On another note, the investments made for a close friend helped to make her final few years comfortable in the knowledge that her financial affairs were in such good hands and that her capital will still intact on her passing. I have and will continue to recommend you at every opportunity" ~ James and Tricia Rice on 15/11/2017
Not sure what you need?
Call us on 01491 412 513
Financial planning and advice for people and businesses across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Surrey & beyond.