What is included in Wealth Management?

A lot of the services offered by a Financial Adviser overlap with wealth management, but some of the main services specifically geared towards wealth management involve estate planning and inheritance tax planning, the use of trusts and asset protection. There may also be specialist lending and specialist portfolio management services. It will vary from practice to practice, but they may also have access to accounting and taxation services and legal advice.

Those services that are included under more general financial services are things like cash flow planning, tax efficient planning, savings and investment advice, and retirement or pension planning. So the idea is that all of these would be included. It really does come down to the individual client’s specific needs and long term financial goals.

What is the difference between a Wealth Manager and a Financial Adviser?

There’s a huge amount of overlap between the two roles, but the most recognisable difference is the clientele. Typically wealth managers focus on the High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth client groups, whereas financial advisers tend to advise those in the mass affluence category, which is usually assets of between £50,000, up to a million.

Wealth managers tend to require certain infrastructure within their firms and access to solutions that aren’t readily available on the high street. You would typically come across wealth managers in larger institutions, such as big investment banks. These tend to have a wealth management arm to service these clients.

What are the costs involved with Wealth Management?

As with any professional service, there will be costs involved and wealth management is no different. However, typically there are not any costs associated with initial consultations. Once a client has worked out whether the wealth manager is best positioned to assist them, there will be costs associated with those services and with the advice, potentially on both an initial and ongoing basis.

The costs involved reflect the level of assets invested and the complexity of the advice. The fees are quoted as a percentage of assets invested, which will decrease as a proportion of the funds that are invested.

All these charges will be made clear by the adviser undertaking the advice, which means that the client will be informed before they make a decision as to whether they wish to proceed with that advice or not.

How can First Thought Financial Services help?

First Thought Financial Services is part of the Quilter Financial Planning network, which itself is a part of Quilter Plc, a FTSE250 company. Through Quilter, we have the capacity to cater to all client segments and provide access to all the financial solutions wealth management clients could require. We can actually separate parts of their business to focus on both financial advice and also private client wealth management.

At First Thought Financial Services Limited, we are able to offer a number of solutions, from protection and insurance, to mortgage and wider lending advice and a whole suite of wealth solutions. We are based off of Rickmansworth High Street, just outside of North West London, and our ambition is to help as many people as we can to feel like they’re finances are under control and also to manage their finances in such a way that will help them achieve their objectives.

As far as wealth management is concerned, one of the biggest challenges the industry faces is a reluctance from potential clients to get in touch, perhaps because they might not believe that they are the right sort of client. For us, there is no typical client, everyone has different needs and personal circumstances, and we’re in a position to help many people.