Welcome to the ‘Self Serve’ area of our website.
Many of our clients have very straightforward requirements or wish to take more responsibility for arranging their own affairs. As part of our commitment to helping solicitors’ clients we designed this service so that the fees associated with face to face regulated investment advice would not become a barrier or prohibitive to us helping solicitors to help their clients.
Over time we intend to build on the services we provide in this area but at the moment we are delighted to be able to help you buy Investment ISAs and General Investment Accounts. For clients looking for Deposit Based accounts such as Cash ISAs or Bank & Building Society Savings Accounts please e-mail us for our guide to the latest rates at info@lsnifa.com or call 028 9023 0696.
For those who are looking for a little more investment risk than a bank or building society savings account please watch this short video about investment risk and take a look at the frequently asked questions section.
We currently have two investment philosophies for you to choose from.
The investment industry debates the merits of active investment management versus passive investment management with an almost religious fervour. Our view is both have their relative pros and cons and the appropriateness of one over the other can change during various investment market cycles.
Conviction simply means an investment manager is given the choice to alter the balance between the two styles on an ongoing basis as they see fit.
Ethically influenced purchasing decisions are now firmly established as part of everyday life. The use of labels such as ‘fair trade’, ‘organic’, ‘ethically traded’, ‘recycled’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘low carbon emissions’ is on the increase, as both businesses and individuals recognise their benefits.
Investors’ interest in Ethical investing has also been on the increase. Recognising that not all ethical investors will have the same preferences we have four ‘flavours’ for you to choose from.
If you need to speak to a planner at any stage of the process, you can contact us for assistance. You can arrange a telephone call or have an email conversation – whichever suits. If it is possible, we can arrange to meet in person.
If you start the process but want to speak to us before completing, ensure you go as far as creating an email and password so that you can log back in to where you left off.
We charge an ongoing fee of 0.5% pa of assets under management. For example, if you invested £1000 we are paid £5 annually.
Parmenion will take an initial fee of 0.25% of your contributions and 0.3% ongoing for managing the investment. So again using the same £1000 investment, this would be an initial fee of £2.50 and an ongoing fee of £3 annually.
You can also get a FREE risk profile and investment proposal without committing to anything.
An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is simply an investment account on which NO TAX IS PAYABLE. This means that it can grow completely free of tax, apart from 10% dividend tax which cannot be reclaimed.
NB: You pay tax on income in a normal bank account.
A General Investment Account is an investment account on which TAX IS PAYABLE on any income or growth.
In an ISA, you have an annual ISA Allowance, which is currently £20,000 per annum for the tax year 2018/19. You cannot carry this forward, so you either use it or lose it.
There is no limit as to how much you can invest in a GIA.
The minimum investment is a one off £1,000 lump sum or a monthly contribution of £100.
Yes – after all, it’s your money. You can log in to your account and request a full or partial withdrawal. It can take up to two weeks for your money to be dis-invested and sent to your bank account. Please remember that it may not be worth as much as you put in, as investments can go down as well as up.
No. However, we view investing as a long term game, and so if you have plans for this money or think you will need it within 3-5 years, we would advise against investing. Similarly, there is no time period for you to change your investments, so this money could be invested for the rest of your life.
Not yet, but we hope to be in a position to offer this soon. However we can make alternative arrangements, so if a pension is important to you, please contact us.
Simplified advice is a streamlined advice process aiming to address straightforward needs of clients. It is a limited form of advice, in that it is focused on one or more specific needs without involving a full analysis of client circumstances if they are not directly relevant.
The outcome of the simplified advice process is to make a specific recommendation, provided it’s suitable, based on the information provided by you. It is therefore important to be honest and accurate in the answers you give to ensure you receive an accurate recommendation.
We are happy to accept transfers (such as transfer of an existing ISA). However, due to the limitations of this being an online advice process we are NOT able to make recommendations on which assets you should sell or transfer. This will be solely down to your discretion. If you are unsure, please contact us.
Most online services do not provide advice based upon your personal circumstances. They are known as ‘execution only’ services. You therefore carry the risk of investing in funds that do not perform within your tolerance for risk and potentially expose you to losses that you do not have the capacity to accept. Also, if you get it wrong you have no form of redress. We go to great lengths to make a suitable recommendation for you and our advice is covered under the Financial Ombudsman service.
This service helps you by providing advice to match your investment objectives to a specific risk level, selected by asking you questions about your risk tolerance (your personal acceptance of risk) and your risk capacity (your ability to accept loss).
You will be guided through a process that gathers relevant details about your investment amounts and timeframe and then a process to assess what risk level is right for your investment. Then, we will provide you with a comprehensive investment management proposal that outlines the investment portfolio that we are proposing to build for you based upon what we have assessed to be the right risk level for you.
If you wish to proceed and set up an ISA and/or GIA you can do so online. At this stage we will need to ask you some personal questions about your financial situation and after investing we will provide you with a full suitability report confirming the parameters of this service and why it is right for you.
If we feel like that the investment is not suitable for you, or some information you give makes us think that this may not be the best use of your money, we will contact you either by phone or email, to talk through the issue and explain what will happen next.
No – our services are available to UK residents only. This means as long as you are a UK resident for tax purposes you are eligible to invest with us.
At any time. You can log in to see how your investment is doing when it suits you. Once you have been invested for 1 year, Parmenion will automatically send out an Investor 6 Monthly Report.
You can retake the risk questionnaire if you wish to change your risk profile, and you can also manage your contributions whenever and as often as you like.
The easiest way is to set up a direct debit or bank transfer from your bank account directly to Parmenion. They will also pay any withdrawals directly into your bank account.
We want you to understand the commitment you are making before you invest. We therefore provide a personalised investment proposal part way through the process to outline the parameters, potential volatility characteristics and expected return from your investment. You can go through the process until you reach this Investment Proposal for free with no obligation. It is then up to you whether or not you decide to continue.
Law Society (NI) Financial Advice Ltd has a strict complaints policy to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently. Please refer to our Complaints Policy if you have a complaint about our services or products.