FAQs

Who are Purposeful.Money?

We are a team of Chartered Independent Financial Advisers, looking to help the transition towards a lower carbon, happier, more sustainable economy through your investments.

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What is financial planning/advice, what can it do for me?

Financial planning is an ongoing service that can help you wisely manage your finances enabling you to achieve your goals in life, think of it like planning a journey.

What is ‘ethical investing’?

You may well have come across this phrase, as well as ‘impact investing’, ESG’,
‘positive/negative screening’, ‘divestment’, ‘socially responsible investing’ and ‘sustainable
investing’.

All of these relate back to various ways of investing money with more than simply
the bottom line or return in mind. Generally speaking, all of these involve moral or ethical
considerations in the investment process. For a full explanation of the types of ethical
investing please read our blog ‘Introduction to Purposeful Investing’.

Can I transfer a final salary scheme, or other sort of previous employment pension?

Our job is to research your existing pension(s) to establish whether or not a transfer is possible AND, more importantly, whether or not it is in your best interests to do so. Depending on various factors, sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it is no.

Why should I consider a pension or ISA transfer?

Transferring a pension or ISA may be suitable if by doing so, your money would end up in a more favourable environment than where it currently sits, all things considered. Issues such as risk, guaranteed benefits, costs and performance would all form part of the decision making process. As these can be complicated, financial advice is recommended. In our case, we also take moral and ethical views on the underlying investment into account when providing advice.

How much will transferring my pension or ISA cost me?

There are no initial set up costs! There is only an on-going advice charge. Please see our 'How It Works' page for further details. There will also be ongoing costs following transfer (see Question 5).

What about underlying costs and fees?

This is an important consideration, and the financial services industry has historically struggled to make all the costs of dealing with pensions and investments clear and easy to understand. Fees and charges are probably already being levied on your existing ISA or pension and a part of our analysis will involve finding out exactly what, and how much these charges are. Our service also involves ongoing fees and charges. These will vary from portfolio to portfolio and will be detailed in the report we will provide along with the details of your existing charges for comparison so you can make an informed decision.

Whilst there are ongoing charges that would be applied to your pension or ISA, Purposeful.Money do not levy any initial fees for the advice to set up your investment.

Is there any risk?

Yes, all investments have a risk. Your current investments will already have a level of risk. Part of our role as your adviser is to establish how much risk is acceptable and suitable for you. We will complete a ‘Risk Tolerance Questionnaire’ with you, the results of which will give us an idea as to what level of risk will be suitable. We aim to reduce risk by using a portfolio of funds (instead of just one) which cover broad areas of the global market, and reviewing all of them against their peers every month. For more detail on our investment process, please click here.

Investment & Process

To view a detailed document on our investment and process, click here.

What has past performance been like?

The first thing to say here is that past performance (of any investment) should not be seen
as a guarantee or indication of future outcomes. Past performance only forms a very small part of our decision making when we are looking at funds. It is important to note that these figures do not take inflation into consideration, nor do they allow for all of the fees associated with the investments. If you wanted to see more of past performance, please find the ‘Fact sheets’ tab where our portfolio fact sheets are stored.

Can I change my mind?

Yes, you can. Once you have transferred your pension or ISA (or started one), you can switch to another provider or adviser at any point, without incurring any charge from us. You will more than likely go through a similar process to transfer your money away from us, as you did to move it to us.

How long does it take to transfer my pension or ISA?

The time it takes to transfer a pension or ISA varies from case to case, and depends on how quickly your existing pension or ISA company provides us with the information we require in order to establish whether or not a transfer is in your best interest. See our process page for further details on what is involved in a transfer. We advise that the whole process can take anywhere between 4 weeks to 3 months to complete. It is important to note that the time it takes to advise and transfer an ISA or pension also depends on you
providing us with any information required as appropriate.

How will I know that my money is ‘doing good’?

We provide regular updates on the portfolios, the individual funds provide ‘Fact Sheets’
each month giving details on the direction of, and changes within the funds. Our investment process and those of the funds we select are aimed at continually refining and improving the
overall benefits to society of the money being managed. The screening documents of funds, including their objectives, can be found here.

Are my funds invested 100% in ethical companies?

The short answer is, no, this cannot be guaranteed. Ethics is one of the most difficult
concepts to define; what is ethical to one person may be unethical to another. Our aim is to
give your money more purpose for the good of society and the environment as well as for
you personally than it currently has. Based on our extensive research it is our belief that the
funds we hold, and the companies held within them all display commitment to this goal.