About us
Edison Ford Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) has been helping people like you achieve their financial goals since 1992.
Independence is something we are particularly proud of. Unlike your bank or a 'tied agent', we make sure you have access to the entire range of products and services available in the financial services market rather than chosen from one particular company or small selection of companies. However, it is for our help and advice that most of our clients think of us, rather than any product we may recommend.
Since early 2005, firms may only use the word 'Independent' if they offer clients the choice of paying by fee or commission. Edison Ford has been operating in this way for many years. For an explanation of how this could work for you, please see the section, 'How do we get paid?'
Our philosophy has always been to give client focused advice, only recommending products which we would be happy to purchase ourselves. In many cases, no products are recommended, but much time spent on understanding a client's situation and giving practical, logical and understandable advice. The majority of our business comes from personal recommendation - elsewhere on this site you will find testimonials from some of our many satisfied clients. On two occasions we have won the 'Mystery Shopper' competitions in the Financial Adviser magazine, the first in March 2007 by John Moon and the second in September 2008 by Jackie Crockett.
History
The original Edison Associates company was formed by John Moon in 1992, though clients had been dealing with him for many years whilst he was gaining valuable experience as a commercial and personal lender and underwriter for Nat West and TSB and his time as manager of a small independent finance company.
In 2000, Edison Associates joined forces with Ford and Company Independent Financial Planning (founded in 1990 by Mike Ford), their relationship dating back to the early days of Edison Associates, when the two firms cooperated on specialist matters, such as general insurance.
John has deliberately chosen to limit the size of the business as he did not wish to lose the personal touch, so often missing when dealing with large institutions. Nevertheless, Edison Ford has a specialist for every area of financial advice and administrators providing valuable back office support.
The ‘Edison Ford’ brand has also expanded to encompass Edison Ford Investment Property and Estate Agents and Property Management.
The company operates from two main offices in the West Country and has clients in every area of the UK (and some outside too), happy to deal by post, phone and e-mail or to meet face to face either at the offices or in a client's home or work environment.
Our core principles
We believe once you understand the basic philosophy of how we work and do business, you will want to entrust your financial affairs to us. This is probably far more important than the products we are involved with or our technical knowledge. We believe these principles are fundamental to our relationship with you;
* To act in your best interests
* To think long term
* To care passionately about what we do
* To add value
* To do what we say we will do
* To ensure you fully understand what you are doing and why
What do we expect from you?
Any business relationship should be seen as a partnership. Just as we are prepared to make certain commitments to you, we feel it’s important for us to outline how we would like you to deal with us. We feel you will benefit most from our relationship by bearing in mind the following:
*To keep us updated about your personal situation
*To be open with us about your circumstances
*To tell us if we fall short of your expectations
*To appreciate how we get paid
*To recommend us to others if you value what we do
How do we get paid?
There is a common misunderstanding financial advice is free. Whilst we are happy to impart valuable advice to our clients without making a specific charge, adding value wherever possible, we believe it is important for us to be well remunerated for our efforts, especially as we are often able to make or save our clients substantial sums of money.
Some advisers make much of the fact they do not charge to arrange mortgages or spend time with you. We are proud we make a charge as this allows us to be fully independent and to focus on finding you the very best deals in the market place. Some lenders or providers do not pay fees to introducers and yet have attractive deals. Is it likely the ‘fee free’ financial adviser will recommend one of those products to you? Not unless they are a non profit making charity! There is a saying ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. We would ask you to bear this in mind when selecting the kind of adviser you wish to do business with.
For some time, we have offered clients the opportunity to choose how we should be remunerated. Which suits you depends on your circumstances and the work involved.
Not all firms charge for advice in the same way. We will discuss your payment options with you and answer any questions you have. We will not charge you anything until you have agreed how we are to be paid.
You have the option to pay us a fee, or for us to receive a fee from you combined with commission received from the provider or for us just to be paid from the commission generated from the sale of the particular product.
Our typical charges are:
Hourly rate:
| Principal/Director/Partner | £150-200 per hour |
| Financial adviser | £100-150 per hour |
| Administration | £25 per hour |
Set rates:
Advising on and arranging a Mortgage:
Administration fee, non refundable = £200 minimum.
Arrangement fee = £165 minimum, payable upon receipt of mortgage offer.
The fee could be much higher in the event of difficult cases or those involving a significant amount of expertise or work.
Other work:
| Full financial review: | £500 |
| Reviewing your endowment policy: | £500 |
| Arranging an annuity: | £500 |
| Reviewing your life cover arrangements: | £350 |
| Reviewing your investment portfolio: | £350 |
You may ask us for an estimate of how much in total we might charge. You may also ask us not to exceed a given amount without checking with you first. Please ask for our ‘key facts’ documentation and ‘client agreement’ for further details.
Our relationships and sponsorships
We believe in supporting our local community and worthwhile causes. Our current favoured charity is the M’Lop Tapang school for homeless street kids in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which John Moon has personally visited. Please see their website www.mloptapang.org for more details. Please support them in any way you can as the work done by the school is fantastic, in very difficult circumstances.
Edison Ford also sponsors motor racing and dressage teams, www.teamedison.co.uk and www.teamedisonfriesians.co.uk . Have a look at their websites to see what they are up to!
Finally
We have built our business on forming close relationships with our clients and giving highly personalised advice over a long period of time. However, we are happy to deal with you in whichever way suits you best, whether that be by appointment at our offices, personal visit at your home or office, by post, fax or e-mail. Please contact us using whichever medium you prefer.
For relevant business, we are regulated by the Financial Services Authority. If you want to check our authorisation, go to http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register, our registration number is 401890.
Edison Ford Independent Financial Advisers is a trading name of Edison Associates Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
The advice and/or guidance contained within this website is subject to the UK regulatory regime and is therefore restricted to consumers based in the UK. Written quotations available on request.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE.
The information contained in this web site is for general information only.
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