The Financial Advice model in the UK is and has been broken for a long time. The reason being is that financial planning and/or financial advice has only ever been discussed in conjunction with "product sales" and the two have become entwined.

We estimate that over 90% of Financial Advisers based in the UK, regardless of whether they are independent or not, still work this broken and outdated model which will normally result in a proposition for you, the client, to buy a financial product. Why, I hear you ask? Well it is the signing on the dotted line and purchase of this financial product that earns the "Adviser" (or rather the sales person) the commission to pay for his or her advice.

This approach is fundamentally wrong and the main reason why we at The Sound Financial Group changed our advice model to ensure that financial advice and financial planning are totally separate from product sales or brokerage. This means that we can give you objective and impartial advice without you fearing sales pressure.

So how do we do it? We charge our clients a fee to produce with them a comprehensive Financial Plan or to provide a bespoke piece of advice. This will not necessarily be product specific and therefore you can rest assured that we are putting you and your needs first, rather than trying to convince you to buy a product that pays us a commission.

If as a result of our advice we recommend a financial product, or an alternative to one that you already have, we can then arrange this for you and you will be notified of the cost before we conduct the work. This cost will be the same regardless of the type of product or the company we recommend, so there will never be bias due to higher than normal commission rates or incentives that companies offer from time to time. Alternatively you may go and search for the most suitable product yourself within the market place using your own devices, such as the internet or the providers direct.

The choice, as always, is yours.