And, the former CEO of Ashcourt Rowan Financial Planning, has put that theory into practice with the launch of Wealth Horizon, an online investment advice service.
“Every client, one way or the other these days is starting his or her advice journey online, whether it is a service like ours or googling potential financial advisers. The difference between us and others is that they can finish their journey on our platform,” he says.
Speaking to Portfolio Adviser on Tuesday, Williams explained that the new service was developed to plug the advice gap that has emerged as a result of the Retail Distribution Review.
Wealth Horizon offers “fully regulated” advice to anyone with a minimum investment of £1,000 and charges an annual management fee of 0.75%. According to Williams, clients will be able to build a portfolio largely of passive instruments without speaking to an adviser that is tailored to their individual risk profile. But, he says, should clients want or need more advice they will have access to a bank of regulated investment advisers.
And, he adds, should it be the best option, clients would also be directed to an external adviser, but he is careful to point out, the group has no commercial arrangements in this regard.
According to the press release issued on the launch of the product, clients can initially seek an anonymous portfolio recommendation for no charge, based upon their individual circumstances. Should they then wish to go ahead with the investment the can do so for the 0.7%% fee, plus all the underlying investment costs, which works out at around 1%.
