Financial Planners: directory of firms

One-off advice answers a question you have already framed: where should this lump sum go, should I consolidate these pensions. Planning asks whether the question is the right one. It usually begins with objectives and a cash flow model, then tests the plan against shocks such as early retirement, long-term care, a death or a business failing.

That makes the engagement longer and the first invoice larger. It is worth it where the decisions are interlocking, for example a business sale, a divorce settlement, or retirement with several pensions and a rental property. For a single ISA transfer it is not.

The ISA subscription limit is 20,000 pounds in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, spread across cash, stocks and shares, innovative finance and Lifetime ISAs as you choose. You must generally be 18 to open one, and under 40 to open a Lifetime ISA.

Pension contributions attract tax relief up to 100 per cent of your earnings in a year, subject to an annual allowance of 60,000 pounds. The lifetime allowance was abolished on 6 April 2024 and replaced by lump sum allowances: usually up to 25 per cent of a pension can be taken tax free, capped at 268,275 pounds, with a separate lump sum and death benefit allowance of 1,073,100 pounds in defined circumstances.

These are limits, not targets. A plan's job is to decide which of them to use in which order, and to notice when an allowance is about to be lost because the tax year is ending.

You can normally take a personal pension from age 55. The normal minimum pension age rises to 57 from 6 April 2028, to line up with the state pension age reaching 67. Members who had a protected right before 4 November 2021 to take benefits earlier keep it, and the firefighters, police and armed forces schemes are not affected.

That two-year shift matters to anyone planning to stop work in their mid-fifties. A plan that assumed access at 55 for someone reaching that age after the change has a funding gap in it, and bridging the gap with ISAs or cash usually has to start years earlier.

Planners charge in three broad ways: a fixed fee for the plan, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the assets they advise on. Each has a bias. Percentage charging earns more from recommending you invest and less from recommending you pay down a mortgage. Fixed fees are neutral on that point but can under-reward complex work.

Whatever the basis, the firm must disclose the charging structure in writing before advising, and for any charge payable over time it must give the amount in cash terms, the frequency and period, the service provided and your right to cancel without penalty.

The FCA's Consumer Duty sets high standards of consumer protection and requires firms to put customers' needs first. It applied to open products and services from 31 July 2023 and to closed products and services from 31 July 2024.

For a planning client, the practical effect is that a firm has to be able to show the service delivers good outcomes: that the plan is understood, that the price is reasonable for what is delivered, that communications are clear rather than merely compliant, and that customers in vulnerable circumstances get the support they need. It is reasonable to ask a firm how it evidences that for clients like you.