The Ascent Programme

The Ascent Programme is a mid-range financial planning programme to help you to improve your financial organisation and formulate and achieve your life and financial goals.

The service includes the following:

 

Financial plan

We will provide you with a highly personal, written financial plan at the outset. This is revised annually thereafter. The plan includes statements of net assets, income, expenditure and lifetime cash flow. It will incorporate a financial assessment, a risk profile and investment protection, pension and tax plans.

Annual and interim review

The annual review is essential for achieving your goals. You provide us with an update of your affairs and this forms the foundation for your revised plan and recommendations for the next 12 months. We will carry out a less formal, review at the half year stage to help you keep on track of your goals.

Implementation

With your authority (but subject to any regulatory restrictions) we will implement our financial recommendations or your requests. The first three hours of implementation time each year is included. Any additional implementation time will be charged at the lowest rate applicable and our systems ensure that most tasks are completed quickly.

Investment planning

We will create an investment plan to achieve your goals and manage your portfolios by selecting appropriate risk adjusted, asset allocation funds with a tactical overlay to provide access to cash, fixed interest, equities and property.

Pension planning

We will help you plan core pension accumulation strategies, where appropriate. From an early stage we will help you start to make retirement plans by guiding you through the often complex and time consuming pension regulation and options available at retirement.

Tax planning

We will incorporate comprehensive strategies into your plans to reduce your current and future liabilities to income and capital gains taxes. we will provide advice about taking up your tax allowances at the start and end of the tax year. We will also incorporate basic inheritance tax and estate planning.

Investment administration

Your investments are held in our third party investment administration service (additional custody and dealing fees apply), to which you have unfettered access (subject to any regulations relating to restricted products).

Cash can be withdrawn or deposited electronically (allow three working days to complete) and you can sell or transfer your investments at any time.

You have full access through a single internet point of contact to your portfolio, allowing you to monitor current value, buy and sell transactions, interest and dividends received, fees deducted, and capital gains and losses.

Portfolio monitoring and measurement

We will continuously monitor the asset allocation of your portfolio, and the investments in it, and rebalance the portfolio when necessary. At your annual review we will use graphs to show you its performance against designated benchmarks.

Access to your planner

You have unlimited, free access to us at any time during business hours by phone or email. One free meeting each half-year is included in the service. Additional meetings are charged at normal rates.

Remove the hassle service

You are welcome at any time to ask us to deal with life's financial hassles that originate in financial institutions and government departments.

Investment and taxation opportunity service

We may contact you from time to time to advise you of investment and taxation opportunities if we think they may be to your advantage. We will provide you with all the information you require to make a decision as to whether to invest in these opportunities and the decision, as usual, is entirely up to you.

Self-assessment

Shortly after the end of the financial year you will receive a consolidated tax certificate for all taxable investments held through us. You can use these to complete your self-assessment form or pass them to your accountant.

Update service

Regular (bi-monthly) newsletters or occasional e-mails are delivered to advise you of important legislative or technical changes or other information that may be to your benefit.

Is the Ascent Programme right for me?

The Ascent Programme will be appropriate for you if you already have some control of your life and money and now want to ensure that you:

• are financially well organised
• have a plan to achieve your life goals
• can maintain the longer term momentum to achieve those goals

You will probably have some surplus income, and will own a modest investment or pension portfolio through an assortment of unrelated financial products.

How much does it cost?

Ascent provides the services set out in this document including generous access to us so that you can be sure of rapid professional help. Clients pay £205 per month, (from 1 Jan 2011, including VAT at 20%).

This fee is fixed for one year and reviewed at the end of this period, although this does not stop you from terminating our agreement at any time by providing one month's notice in writing. Our fee rates for providing additional services are published on our website.

Fees can be deducted from your current account or your portfolio and we would be pleased to discuss the most suitable way for you.

Client agreement

Clients are asked to sign the Ascent Service Client Agreement, which you should read carefully. You can also download the Ascent service standard.