If you’ve recently sold your business, there’s a high chance you are now in the privileged position of having a certain level of wealth.
Although this on its own is a good place to be, it is only through proper management that your newfound wealth will reap its full benefits. If you’re inexperienced with wealth management, the process can be difficult.
That’s why wealth management professionals exist. However, choosing the right one can be difficult. A particular problem with wealth management companies is that they charge fairly hefty initial fees. So, before you even start the process of protecting and growing your wealth, you’ll potentially see a good chunk of that wealth being eaten into.
It doesn’t have to be like this. There’s a new breed of wealth management companies who believe in challenging the idea that clients must hand over large initial fees in return for simply beginning their wealth management journey. One of them is King Street Wealth Management based in Manchester.
Matthew Singleton is chief investment officer at King Street Wealth Management. He explains why his firm is so intent on forcing change from within the wealth management industry:
“Initial fees are unnecessary and are precisely the sort of arbitrary, opaque charge that gives our industry a bad name. This is something we’re determined to challenge, as part of our commitment to improving the industry and fostering long term thinking among our peers.”
The industry is taking notice too. Group Compliance Director of SimplyBiz Group, Gary Kershaw, believes the approach King Street Wealth Management are taking is rare but welcome:
“We look after over 3700 FCA regulated firms and typical we see initial charges around the 2% mark. It is quite refreshing to come across firms like King Street Wealth Management who don’t charge any initial advice fees.”
Unlike other wealth management companies, King Street Wealth Management aims to make wealth management ‘less opaque’ by not charging customers entry or exit fees. Instead, smaller and more reasonable fees are requested, including a 0.75% financial planning fee per year, 0.35% for VAT for investment management and a platform fee of 0.15%.
Mark Parello, managing director at King Street Wealth Management, reflects a similar sentiment as his colleague Matthew. Mark explains his biggest frustration with the industry.
“It’s deliberately opaque and people are selling the product without the plan. It’s high-charging and it doesn’t have to be. We believe we challenge the status quo, with better results, better service and less cost.”
Mark then goes on to talk about just some of the misconceptions from customers surrounding wealth management:
“People assume wealth management has to be complex. They also believe they have to have a lot of money to get started. That’s the biggest barrier.”
The overall advice from Matthew and Mark? If you’ve recently come into wealth, speak to a wealth manager today. The process is simple for clients, and you probably don’t need to put down as much as you expect.
