FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Blackmount Private Wealth is a firm of independent financial advisers. Our job is to work with clients to understand what they want to achieve in life and recommend financial products, services, and solutions that help them do just that. 

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The advice we offer works best when done holistically. Rather than focussing on a specific area in isolation – like “I want to invest some money in the AIM market to reduce my inheritance tax bill” – our clients get better outcomes if we review their entire financial situation. Taking a holistic approach allows us to identify a wider range of potential issues and tailor the recommendations we make to each client’s personal needs and objectives.

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Visit the "What we do" pages for more information about the types of products and services we generally advise on. 

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As independent financial advisers, we can recommend products and services from the whole of the UK marketplace. We don’t advise on mortgages or defined benefit pension transfers, but we can introduce clients to trusted professionals who operate in those fields.

Whether you need financial advice is a personal decision, but Blackmount Private Wealth would not exist if people didn’t need advice.

 

The UK has one of the most developed financial services systems in the world, but financial literacy is ranked below the OECD average. Surveys have also shown that most people scored poorly on planning ahead for life events.

 

Engaging with a professional financial adviser can help you navigate the complex financial system and ensure that you have a robust plan in place to deal with money throughout life. There can be great peace of mind knowing your decisions are made with the support of a qualified and experienced financial adviser.

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Visit the "Who we help" page for more information.

The cost of advice varies depending on things like how complex your needs are.

 

Blackmount Private Wealth charges an “initial advice fee” to review your existing financial arrangements and recommend suitable products, services, and solutions that will help to achieve your objectives. In most circumstances, this fee will be 1.5% of the assets we advise on.

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For example:

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You approach us with:

• £450,000 invested across three pension plans,

• £100,000 in a stocks & shares ISA,

• £50,000 Premium Bonds,

• £60,000 cash.

 

The typical fee to provide advice will be £9,900 (1.5% of your investable assets).

 

All our initial advice fees are capped at £10,000 so you will never pay more than that. We also apply a “fair value” assessment to every case to make sure clients receive value for money. Your adviser will be happy to share this with you.

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In some situations, this approach doesn’t make sense. If that’s the case, we’ll calculate and agree a fixed “project fee” before starting any work.

 

If neither of these options work, we can charge you based on time spent at an hourly rate. This option isn’t commonly used.

 

Regardless of the charging method used, the fee you pay will be presented to you in writing and agreed before we do any work. It can be paid directly by you, or we can often deduct it from the products that are recommended.

 

Most clients also take “ongoing advice” services from us. This allows unfettered access to your financial adviser, continual monitoring of investments, and formal assessments of whether everything remains suitable for your needs each year.

 

The cost of ongoing advice is up to 0.79% per annum of the wealth we look after. Your adviser will discuss the option of ongoing services during the initial advice process.

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Go to "What we do" for more information about our services.

Blackmount Private Wealth is a firm of independent financial advisers. We’re authorised to recommend products and services from across the whole of the UK marketplace.

 

Being independent means we aren’t committed to any product provider(s), so the advice we give is only based on what’s best for our clients. That removes potential conflicts of interest.

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See "What we do" for more information about our services.

Blackmount Private Wealth Limited is an Appointed Representative of Vision Independent Financial Planning Ltd. which is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

 

Our firm reference number on the Financial Services Register is 976093.

 

As an ‘Appointed Representative’, we can carry out regulated business on behalf of our principal firm. The principal (Vision IFP) is responsible for the work we do. Vision IFP’s firm reference number is 487395.

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Our regulatory status can be verified using the Financial Services Register here.

Our clients are placed at the heart of everything we do. As professional advisers, we believe there is a fiduciary responsibility to our clients.

 

As our clients pay professional fees to receive our advice, we aren’t incentivised to recommend products or investments that aren’t suitable. Some insurance products, like life assurance do still pay a commission. If this is the case, you’ll be informed in writing before you decide whether you want that policy.

To provide regulated financial advice, an adviser needs to hold “appropriate qualifications” which are defined by the Financial Conduct Authority. All our advisers hold at least the minimum necessary qualifications as well as related degrees and/or additional professional qualifications.

 

Our advisers must also hold a current “statement of professional standing” issued annually by an accredited professional body. This evidences that your adviser continues to meet adequate standards, ethics, and competence.

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See the "Who we are" pages for information about our advisers.

This depends on the level of service you engage us for.

 

If you opt to take initial advice but no “ongoing” services, any advice you need in the future would be provided on an ad hoc basis and charged accordingly.

 

Clients who take ongoing advice will receive an annual assessment of whether your investment managers, product providers, and platforms remain suitable. This assessment includes:

 

• An update of your personal and financial circumstances.

• A review of your needs and objectives.

• A review of your attitude to investment risk and your capacity for loss.

• A refresh of any cashflow analysis that underpins your financial plan.

• A report confirming ongoing suitability or outlining our recommendations if changes need to be made.

• Implementation of any recommendations.

 

We can also plan additional meetings between suitability assessments to provide regular progress updates about your financial plans. Your adviser will be available to answer any questions by email, telephone, or video conference throughout the year.

We are not stockbrokers.

 

Blackmount Private Wealth adds value to our clients by giving financial planning advice. We believe that investments are an important component to everyone’s long-term financial plan and will recommend a suitable option for your needs and objectives.

 

Where appropriate to do so, our advisers will often harness the skills of other experts to build investment portfolios for clients.

 

Our philosophy is simple. Each client will need investments to do something specific. It’s our job to recommend a suitable solution based on research of the UK marketplace. We don’t pretend to be stockbrokers or pick funds by giving the illusion of owning a crystal ball.

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See the "What we do" pages for more. 

We recognise that everyone can benefit from impartial, expert financial advice. It’s likely that we have clients who are in a similar position as you. If not, our advisers will be familiar with the type of issues you need help with.

 

The type of people we work with are generally professionals, senior managers, or self-employed (entrepreneurial) types. We also have many clients who have led their careers and need help planning for the next stages in life.

 

When you first contact Blackmount Private Wealth, an adviser will speak with you to determine whether it makes sense to work together. We all need to be on the same page for the adviser – client relationship to work.  

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Yes. Your personal adviser is always your dedicated point of contact.

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See the "Who we are" page to learn about our advisers.

Blackmount Private Wealth Limited is a private company owned by the company directors, Alex Shairp and Qasim Younis. No other parties have a stake in the business.

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See the "Who we are" page for more about Alex and Qasim.

Blackmount Private Wealth will attempt to complete the advice process as quickly as we can.

 

Precise timescales are driven by several factors. These include our ability to collate information from you and third parties, and the length of time it takes for product providers to implement the new strategy.

 

You will be kept informed about progress throughout.

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To find out more about the next steps, contact us 

Our office is located at 4 Newton Place, Glasgow, G3 7PR.

 

We can advise anyone based in the UK and have happy clients throughout the country.

Blackmount Private Wealth Limited operates as an Appointed Representative of Vision Independent Financial Planning Ltd.

 

That means we have a contract with Vision IFP allowing us to provide financial advice, which is a regulated activity. In this contract, Vision IFP is known as our “principal firm” and has direct authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority. Vision IFP is therefore responsible for the regulated advice that we give.

 

For more information, please visit the Financial Services Register