Former Hargreaves Lansdown director Alex Davies and investment manager Ben Yearsley have launched a new high net-worth investor service called Wealth Club with three other former Hargreaves colleagues.
The new service specialises in offering tax-efficient enterprise investment schemes, seed enterprise investment schemes, venture capital trusts and inheritance tax products alongside what Wealth Club claims are other investment ideas that investors are unlikely to find through a mainstream broker or platform.
Wealth Club will offer guides such as ‘tax efficient investing for high earners’ and will feature independent and impartial comment on markets and other investments.
Mr Davies said the origins of the idea came from his desire to invest in tax efficient ways in addition to his instant savings account and self invested personal pension.
He said: “I was really disappointed. Good-quality services to help high net worth investors with non-standard and tax-efficient investments were thin on the ground. It was really hard to get sound, unbiased information. This led to the idea of Wealth Club.”
Mr Yearsley said: “High net worth investors are being attacked every step of the way and for more sophisticated investors there is a lack of quality impartial information.
“Wealth Club will fill that void - and there are some simple reasons why we believe its time has come.
“Recently the increase in dividend tax, restrictions on pension contributions and buy-to-let mean people - particularly the better off - are getting hammered from all directions. Where can they turn?”
Mr Davies said: “There are actually some very intelligent alternatives, which we have been researching for some months. These products provide some respite from this assault.
“Moreover, the interest in such products is already growing - even though the market is not served as well as we believe it could be. People are simply not being told what is available to them in clear, simple language.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
