Fernleigh Wearden & Company Ltd
Independent Financial Advisers
Four fields. That’s it.
One of our advisers will ring you back by the end of the next working day, at the time you asked for.
In a hurry? Call us on 01772 864314, 9am–5pm Monday to Friday.
For individuals
Most people come to us with a question rather than a product in mind. Find the one that sounds most like you.
Overview
Nobody wakes up wanting a financial product. They want to know whether they can stop working, whether the children will be alright, or what to do with money that has just landed.
Our job is to work backwards from that question to whatever needs doing — which is sometimes nothing at all. We are whole of market and owned by nobody, so we have no shortlist to work through and nothing of our own to sell you.
Whichever of the areas below applies, the process is the same: a free first conversation, then a written plan in plain English, then only what you actually agree to.
How can we help?
Each leads to a fuller explanation of how we’d approach it. Most people find more than one applies.
The most common question we hear. We model your income, outgoings and pots, then give you a date rather than a feeling.
Retirement planningOld workplace schemes, a personal pension, something from the nineties nobody can find. We trace them and tell you honestly whether moving is worth it.
Pension reviewAn inheritance, a sale, a bonus. The first decision matters more than the tenth. We take it slowly and get the tax right first.
Investments & taxInheritance tax rewards planning early and punishes a lack of planning. We show you what your estate looks like today and what can be done.
Estate planningNot a comfortable question, which leads to a lack of planning. Getting the answers you need usually costs far less than people expect.
ProtectionCare fees frighten whole families. There are rules, allowances and options most people never hear about. We walk through them with you.
Later life & careWorking with us
Nothing is committed until step five and the first two cost you nothing but time.
A chat, at our office, your home or over video. We listen, you ask questions. There is no charge and no obligation and if we can't help we'll say so.
What you have, what you owe, what you want and how you feel about risk. This is the part most people find surprisingly useful in itself.
We review your existing plans, charges and funds against the whole of the market. Being independent means nothing is off the table.
A written report in plain English setting out what we suggest, what it costs and why. You take it away and think about it.
Only once you're happy. We handle the paperwork, the providers and the chasing, which is usually the tedious bit.
If you'd like us to, we'll review everything at least once a year and tell you honestly if nothing needs changing.
Who you’d be dealing with
We will always endeavour to keep you with the adviser you first speak to. No call centre and no case reference number — and where somebody is away, whoever helps you will already know your file.
In their words
We have been a client of Paul’s since the late 1970’s and have been very satisfied with the excellent service provided over the years.
Fernleigh Wearden & Co have been helping me to make decisions about my finances for many years now. What I like is that they are a friendly, approachable, family business. The advice I receive is prompt, timely, individual to me and is flexible as my circumstances change. Paul and Mark are very knowledgeable, yet explain things to me in simple, clear and practical terms to enable me to make my own choices and decisions. No pressure, nothing complicated, no worries.
Paul has always explained financial advice in the simplest ways so that I can understand and therefore can make a financial decision with confidence. Fernleigh Wearden & Company also advised me on my parent’s affairs after my mum died and lately my dad, which was done with the least fuss. Even the solicitor wanted to speak to him she was so impressed with their work.
Often relevant alongside this
Company pensions, protection and your own plan as an owner.
Read more Try itSee your whole financial life on one chart, tested against good years and bad.
Read more Worth readingFree introductory call, then everything set out plainly.
Read moreCommon questions
No, but our charges carry a minimum advice fee of £795, so for very small sums advice may not represent fair value. We will tell you at the first meeting if we think that’s the case. Our full charges are on the costs page.
Mostly listening. What you have, what you want and what worries you. No charge, no obligation and if we can’t help we’ll say so.
Yes. Our office is in Goosnargh, but we’re happy to meet at your home or over video, whichever suits.
Banks and restricted advisers can only recommend from a defined range. We can recommend from the whole market. Both are regulated, but the difference usually shows up in what you pay — there’s more in our guide to adviser titles.
Very possibly. Ring and ask. If it’s outside what we do we’ll tell you and, where we can, point you to someone who does.
Who we work with
Our clients are not one type. They are, though, mostly people who would rather someone qualified looked at this properly than have another go at it themselves.
Dentists, GPs, doctors, consultants and pharmacists. The NHS pension is generous and complicated in equal measure and the annual allowance catches a great many people out.
Another scheme with real value in it and another where topping up and annual allowance questions come round regularly.
Builders, electricians, plumbers. Often no workplace scheme at all and a business that has taken every spare hour for twenty years.
We advise farming families across the Preston area and the recent changes to inheritance tax on agricultural property have made that planning considerably more urgent.
We work alongside solicitors and professional trustees to put investment strategies in place for the trusts they oversee.
A good number of our clients came to us at retirement, when the decision about what to do with the pension could no longer be put off.
Being straight with you
Most advisers will not tell you this. We would rather you knew before you spent an afternoon with us.
Our minimum investment is £50,000 and our minimum advice fee is £795. Below that, paid advice is unlikely to represent fair value for you. We will say so rather than take the fee.
We advise clients with personal wealth up to around £5m. Above that you are usually better served by a specialist, particularly where cross-border strategy is involved.
We do not take on new investment clients above the age of 80. And if you have never invested before, starting late may simply not be the right thing to do.
Our services
Advice areas overlap. Part of our job is spotting which ones actually apply to you.
Tell us roughly what’s on your mind and an adviser will ring you back by the end of the next working day.
