If the cost of providing the advice and setting up the scheme is £400, then that is what you have to pay for the services agreed. If that is too much, look for a cheaper adviser or reduce the services or expertise you require. The reporter should also have been a bit more objective since the client in question is a prime candidate for the National Employment Savings Trust, probably could not afford the contribution and, even if they could, they might just end up better off in retirement than while working.
Fees are not good for many clients but Which? has repeatedly chosen not to take the impact of fees into account when denigrating the commission-based alternative. Would it prefer a scheme where the employer’s contribution would have been 1.66 per cent of salary in year one, then 5 per cent in year two? It is semantics but the problem is actually who pays the fees and how.
Be careful of what you wish for as you might just get it.
Tony Laverick
Chartered financial planner
Anders Bayley Scott
Surbiton
Surrey
