Wealth Management FAQ Edinburgh

A wealth manager coordinates the financial pieces of a household: pensions, investments, ISAs, tax planning, and what happens to the estate on death. In practice that means understanding what you already hold, where the fees are, what the tax position looks like across a financial year, and how the parts fit together. A good wealth manager spends as much time on the planning conversation as on the investment selection itself, because most households lose more money to disorganisation, unused allowances and poor sequencing than to the choice of fund. Information on this site is general in nature and does not constitute regulated financial advice.

A stockbroker historically meant share dealing on commission and is now largely a platform service for self-directed investors. An independent financial adviser (IFA) is FCA-authorised to give regulated advice across the whole market on investments, pensions and protection. Wealth management is the broader umbrella that combines investment advice with tax, estate and intergenerational planning, usually for households with multiple moving parts. In practice the labels overlap; what matters is the firm's FCA permissions, the breadth of the planning conversation, and the total cost in fees.

Three layers of cost. Platform charges of 0.15% to 0.45% per year on the balance held. Fund ongoing charges typically 0.05% to 0.15% on index funds and 0.5% to 1.0% on actively managed funds. Adviser charges, where a regulated adviser is involved, typically a 1% to 3% initial fee on transfers and new investments, plus 0.5% to 1.0% per year for ongoing advice. Many advisers also work on a fixed-fee basis for specific work like retirement planning or IHT structuring. The market average all-in cost for advised investment in the UK sits between 1.5% and 2.5% per year. Always ask for the total annual cost in pounds and pence on a worked example of your portfolio.

Fees are usually disclosed but not always easy to find. The key documents are the platform fee schedule, the fund Key Investor Information Document (KIID) showing the ongoing charges figure (OCF), and any adviser disclosure document showing initial and ongoing fees. Look out for transaction costs inside funds (often 0.05% to 0.3% per year on top of the OCF), bid-offer spreads on niche funds, switching fees on legacy pension contracts (some pre-2010 schemes still charge them), and exit penalties on older with-profits or insurance bonds. If your provider cannot tell you the total annual cost in pounds and pence inside 24 hours, that is itself a useful signal.

It depends on the situation. For straightforward ISA and SIPP saving on a low-cost passive platform, many households self-direct and do well. For households with multiple legacy pensions, defined-benefit entitlements, business interests, IHT exposure or a specific retirement-income decision in the next few years, the cost of regulated advice is usually small relative to the cost of getting the decision wrong. The Financial Conduct Authority's own work on the advice gap consistently shows that households who take advice on big-ticket decisions retain more value than those who do not, even net of advice fees. The question is not advice yes or no; it is advice on what, when, and at what cost.

The Financial Conduct Authority is the UK regulator for financial advice and product distribution. Any firm giving regulated investment, pension or mortgage advice in the UK must be FCA-authorised. Authorisation brings consumer protections: complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service, compensation through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000 per person per institution on bad advice, and ongoing supervision of the firm's conduct. Always check a firm and its individual advisers on the FCA Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk before instructing them. An unauthorised firm cannot give regulated advice.

No. This site provides general wealth management information for Edinburgh and Lothian households. We do not give regulated financial advice and we do not sell financial products. Where a question goes beyond information, for example a pension transfer recommendation or a specific investment recommendation, we refer households to FCA-authorised advisers. Information on this site is general in nature and does not constitute regulated financial advice.

It changes the income-side picture meaningfully without changing the underlying products. Pension tax relief is given at your marginal Scottish rate, so a Higher-rate Scottish taxpayer at 42%, an Advanced-rate Scottish taxpayer at 45% or a Top-rate Scottish taxpayer at 48% receives more pension tax relief than an rUK equivalent. Salary sacrifice is correspondingly more valuable for Scottish higher earners. Savings interest and dividend tax remain UK-wide and follow the rUK three-band structure. Capital gains tax, inheritance tax, ISA allowances, and pensions tax relief rules are all reserved (UK-wide), but they interact with Scottish marginal rates. Identifying as a Scottish taxpayer is automatic for households with their main residence in Scotland; HMRC adds an S prefix to the tax code.

Start with a written list of what you already hold. For each pot: provider, balance, monthly contribution if any, current fund choice, and the total annual fee in percent. Cover pensions (workplace and personal), ISAs, general investment accounts, cash savings, premium bonds, and any insurance policies with a savings element. Add the mortgage balance and property value. Most households are surprised by what the exercise reveals, particularly on legacy workplace pensions where the fund choice was set decades ago. The list itself is half the work; once it is in front of you, the next steps usually become obvious.

A discovery call is usually 30 to 45 minutes, free, and covers: what you already hold, what you are trying to achieve over the next 5 to 10 years, what tax wrappers you are using, whether you have dependants, your expected retirement age, and any specific question driving the enquiry (consolidating pensions, planning for retirement, IHT on an estate, sale of a business). It is not a sales call and you should not be asked to commit to a product on the call. After the call you should receive a short written summary and a clear next step, which may be more information, a specific question for a regulated adviser, or no further action where the situation is already well-organised.

Defined-benefit pension transfers above £30,000 require regulated advice by law. Most regulated advisers will only recommend a DB transfer where there is a clear case for it (typically poor health, or a specific need not met by the scheme), because the guaranteed income from a DB scheme is usually worth more than the transfer value suggests. Defined-contribution transfers between workplace and personal pensions are simpler but still worth taking advice on where the old scheme might carry valuable guarantees, protected tax-free cash above 25%, or guaranteed annuity rates. Pension consolidation can reduce fees and simplify administration, but check for safeguarded benefits before transferring anything.

The standard annual allowance for 2026/27 is £60,000 across all pensions combined, or 100% of relevant UK earnings if lower. The allowance tapers down for very high earners with adjusted income above £260,000, reducing to a minimum of £10,000. Unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years can be carried forward where you were a member of a registered pension scheme in those years. Once you have started drawing taxable income from a defined-contribution pension, the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) of £10,000 typically applies to further contributions, which is an important consideration for anyone using flexi-access drawdown.

Cash ISAs hold cash savings tax-free, with the rate set by the provider; useful for emergency funds and short-term goals (under 5 years), but the cash rate usually trails inflation over longer periods. Stocks & Shares ISAs hold investments (funds, shares, ETFs, bonds) inside the same tax wrapper, with returns tax-free for capital gains and dividends. Over periods of 10 years or more, a diversified Stocks & Shares ISA has historically outperformed a Cash ISA on average, with the trade-off of volatility year by year. The standard guidance is to use a Cash ISA for money you need within 5 years and a Stocks & Shares ISA for longer-term goals. Both share the same £20,000 annual allowance.

A Lifetime ISA (LISA) is for adults aged 18 to 39, with a £4,000 annual contribution limit inside the overall £20,000 ISA allowance. The government adds a 25% bonus on contributions, up to £1,000 per year, paid monthly. The funds can be used penalty-free to buy a first home up to £450,000, or accessed from age 60 for any purpose. Withdrawals outside those uses carry a 25% government penalty, which works out as a loss of the bonus plus a small additional charge on the original contribution. Most useful for first-time buyers expecting to buy below £450,000 within the next few years, and as a supplementary retirement pot for under-40s who have already maxed out pension contributions.

When the estate is heading above £325,000 per person (£500,000 where a main home passes to direct descendants, taking the residence nil-rate band into account). Married couples and civil partners can transfer unused allowances, giving a combined potential allowance of £1,000,000. Above that, 40% IHT applies on the excess. Most households first encounter IHT seriously when a parent dies and the family discovers the family home, plus pensions and investments, has pushed the estate above the threshold. Planning options include lifetime gifting (potentially exempt transfers, with full exemption after 7 years), trusts (with their own tax treatment), gifts out of normal income, and pension structuring. IHT planning above the threshold is firmly regulated-advice territory.

Gifts made more than 7 years before death are usually free of IHT. Gifts within the 7 years before death are added back into the estate for IHT calculation, with taper relief reducing the IHT rate on gifts made 3 to 7 years before death (the relief reduces the IHT charge, not the value of the gift itself). The annual gift exemption is £3,000 per year per person (carry-forward of one year is allowed). Small gifts up to £250 per recipient per year are exempt. Gifts in consideration of marriage are exempt up to varying limits. Regular gifts out of surplus income, with the right evidence trail, are immediately exempt. This is the most-asked area we see in IHT conversations and it rewards record-keeping and timing.

Three checks. First, look the firm up on the FCA Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk; confirm the firm's permissions cover the advice you need and check the individual adviser's status. Second, ask whether the firm is independent (whole of market) or restricted (limited to certain providers); both are legitimate but the answer affects the advice you get. Third, ask for the total annual cost in writing in pounds and pence on a worked example, including platform, fund, initial advice and ongoing advice charges. A reputable firm will provide all three without resistance. Be sceptical of any firm that resists clear fee disclosure, claims guaranteed returns, or pressures you to commit on the first meeting.

Independent advisers can recommend products from the whole market and must consider all available options. Restricted advisers are limited to a specific provider or a defined panel; the most well-known example is St. James's Place, which only recommends its own SJP-branded funds. Restricted advice is not inherently worse, but the cost structure and product range can be narrower than the household realises. Independent advice has a clearer fiduciary case where the household has complex needs or holds multiple legacy products. Always ask which category your adviser falls into; the FCA Register lists this explicitly, and the firm's disclosure document must state it.

Local versus national matters less than fit, but the Scottish tax overlay tilts the question. A local Edinburgh adviser will know the regional context (Scottish Income Tax bands and the planning traps they create, NHS Scotland Pension Scheme membership, share-scheme structures at Baillie Gifford, abrdn, Standard Life, NatWest Group, Scottish Widows, Aegon and the wider financial-sector employer base) and is easier to meet face to face. The competition is strong: Rathbones (George Street), Tweed Wealth Management, Cormack Wealth, Scotia, Seven Hills, RBK, Reddington, Gilson Gray, Grange Wealth and South Charlotte sit alongside the global names (UBS, LGT, Canaccord, Evelyn Partners, RBC Brewin Dolphin, St. James's Place). A national firm typically has deeper specialist resources but may treat the Scottish tax position as an afterthought. For straightforward retirement and ISA planning, a good Edinburgh adviser is often the better answer; for complex multi-jurisdictional cases, international pensions or very large IHT planning, national or specialist firms may have the depth. The FCA Register lists all authorised advisers searchable by location.