How much does a financial adviser cost?

Financial advice in the UK typically costs between £500 and £5,000 or more, depending on the adviser and the type of advice¹. There is always a cost for financial advice, and fees vary from adviser to adviser². What changes the bill is not the label on the door but how the adviser chooses to charge: an hourly rate, a set fee, a monthly retainer or a percentage of the money invested³.

The percentage model is the one that produces the largest numbers. Advisers frequently charge a percentage of the assets they advise on, which could be one or two per cent¹. On a £250,000 investment, five years of advice and ongoing support has been estimated at £14,809, made up of £5,036 upfront and £9,773 ongoing⁴. The same exercise has been costed at £15,995 in the North of England and Scotland, £16,250 in the rest of England and £13,375 in Wales⁵.

Some help is free. Free and impartial money advice is available from MoneyHelper, and free debt advice services exist across the UK⁶. What follows sets out what advice costs, what drives the price, what you must be told before you agree, and where the protection stops.

Financial advice costs: £500 to £5,000 or more

The headline range is wide because advice is not one product. A single question about whether to transfer an old pension is a different piece of work from a full financial plan covering investments, retirement and estate planning, and it is priced accordingly. Professional financial advice costs vary significantly, ranging from hundreds to several thousands of pounds⁹.

At the lower end, some investment platforms offer one-off advice sessions for a fixed fee from around £500 to £1,000⁴. At the upper end, the fee is usually a slice of the money involved. Advisers frequently charge a percentage of the assets they advise on, which could be one or two per cent¹, and an initial fee usually ranges between 1% and 4% of the pot⁷.

Equity release, where a homeowner aged 55 or over releases money tied up in their property, has its own price pattern. Most equity release companies charge between £500 and £2,000 for advice¹⁰. One provider body puts the adviser fee at between £700 and £1,900, with some advisers receiving commission from lenders instead of charging customers¹¹. A separate source gives an arrangement fee in the region of £1,000, again noting that some advisers take commission from lenders rather than charging the customer¹².

Two allowances can offset the cost. Companies can pay for financial advice for their employees without income tax being due, up to £500 per employee⁴. Separately, the Pension Advice Allowance lets you take up to £500 from your pension fund to help pay for financial advice about your pension options, once a year and up to three times⁸.

What sets the price: the adviser and the type of advice

Advice can be charged as an hourly rate, a set fee according to the work involved, a monthly retainer, or a percentage of the money invested³. The average hourly rate is £150⁷. A percentage charge scales with your pot, so two people receiving similar advice can pay very different amounts.

The type of advice matters too. An independent financial adviser gives unbiased advice about the whole range of financial products from all the different companies available³. A restricted adviser covers only part of the market and must explain how their advice is restricted³. Both must agree up front how much you will be charged for their services, when you will be charged and how payments will be made to them⁴.

Where the money sits also affects the mechanics. An adviser charge may be paid by you directly, or taken from the plan itself¹³. If it is taken from the plan, the money leaves your investment rather than your bank account, which changes the cash cost but not the total.

Some advisers charge a fee; others receive commission from the pension provider¹⁴. Commission is not free money: it is paid out of the product, and it can influence which products are recommended. The rules on how advisers must disclose and agree charges exist precisely so that you can see which model you are being offered before you commit.

Is a one-off piece of financial advice cheaper than ongoing advice?

Usually, yes, and the difference is structural rather than a matter of shopping around. Ongoing financial advice services typically involve regular reviews and financial guidance provided to a customer by a financial adviser¹⁵. You are buying a continuing relationship, not a single answer.

The Financial Conduct Authority puts the average ongoing advice fee at 0.8% a year, rising to 1.9% a year once underlying product and portfolio charges are factored in⁴. On a £250,000 investment, five years of ongoing advice has been costed at £14,809, split into £5,036 upfront and £9,773 ongoing⁴. A smaller plan involving £100,000 of investments with ongoing advice for five years has been costed at £6,300, made up of £2,326 upfront and £3,975 ongoing¹⁶.

A one-off session avoids the annual charge but also ends the relationship. If your circumstances change, or markets move and you want the plan reviewed, you pay again. The comparison is not simply cheap against expensive: it is one answer against a standing arrangement to keep answering.

What does independent financial advice mean?

An independent financial adviser, usually shortened to IFA, gives unbiased advice about the whole range of financial products from all the different companies available³. That breadth is the defining feature. A restricted adviser can recommend only certain products or certain providers, and must tell you how the advice is restricted³.

You usually pay for an IFA's services¹⁷. An independent financial or pensions adviser can help you decide which personal pension is suitable for you, and they usually charge for giving advice¹⁸. The same applies to regulated financial advice generally: it is given by an independent financial adviser and it is paid for¹⁷.

The distinction matters to a consumer because it determines what you are being offered. An independent adviser can look across the market; a restricted one cannot. Both must tell you which they are before you agree to anything, along with the level of advice you will receive and how much you will have to pay for it³. If you are comparing the two, independent vs restricted financial advisers sets out how each works.

Free and independent advice organisations also exist, such as Advice NI, alongside financial advisers who charge a fee¹⁹. Free help tends to cover debt and money problems rather than investment planning, but it is genuinely free where it is offered.

Where AI investment advice may not protect you

AI tools are increasingly used for investment questions, and the protection gap is real. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme does not protect qualifying cryptoassets because they are not a specified investment under the UK regulatory regime²⁰. More broadly, if you put your money into unregulated investments, you will not be covered by the FSCS unless the investment was the result of negligent advice from an independent financial adviser²¹.

The FSCS does protect pension advice, so it can pay compensation if an adviser gives bad pension advice and then fails²². That protection attaches to regulated advice from a firm that has since gone bust, not to information generated by a tool. You will not be compensated for investments falling in value, or for a company in which you hold shares going bust, unless poor performance resulted from bad advice by a regulated independent financial adviser that has since gone bust²¹.

There is a second limit worth knowing. You cannot complain to a financial adviser if your investment does not make as much money as you had hoped³. Poor performance alone is not a complaint; bad advice is. If you are checking what cover exists, does FSCS protect financial advice? and does FSCS cover poor investment performance? go through the boundaries.

Should I ask for a fee quote before agreeing to advice?

You do not have to ask, because the adviser must tell you. Both independent financial advisers and restricted financial advisers must agree up front how much you will be charged for their services, when you will be charged and how payments will be made to them⁴. Before that, they must tell you whether the advice is independent or restricted, the level of advice you will receive, and how much you will have to pay³.

In practice, a fee quote should let you answer four things: what the total cost is, whether it is a one-off or ongoing charge, whether it comes out of your pot or your bank account, and what happens to the fee if you decide not to proceed. An adviser charge may be paid by you or taken from the plan¹³, and the two feel very different even when the number is the same.

Financial advisers do charge for their services but may offer an initial meeting free of charge²³. Advisers will normally charge for their advice²⁴, and there is always a cost for financial advice². An initial meeting is the point at which to establish which model applies to you.

If something goes wrong with the advice itself, the Financial Ombudsman Service is a free service²⁵. Free and impartial money advice is also available from MoneyHelper⁶, and free debt advice services can help where the problem is debt rather than investment²⁶. Free, independent expert advice is available from charities including the Money Advice Trust²⁷.