> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.capitalfounders.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to Choose a Wealth Manager After Selling Your Business - URL: https://www.capitalfounders.io/choose-wealth-manager-after-selling-business/ - Published: 2026-11-12T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-12T09:44:04.000Z - Description: To choose a wealth manager after selling your business, start with your own situation, then put the same twelve questions to two or three firms in writing. This guide gives you the questions, a scorecard to mark the answers, what UK and US clients pay, and how to switch firms. - Author: Taras Rybak - Tags: Wealth Architect When you choose a wealth manager after selling your business, start with your own situation. Get your holding structure and tax position settled with a lawyer and a tax adviser. Then decide how much you want managed, what you want the money to do and how much of the work you want to do yourself. After that, find out who does each job and what you'd pay in total, and put the same twelve questions to two or three firms, in writing. [The questions are below](#how-to-choose-a-wealth-manager-12-questions-to-ask-with-a-scorecard), with a scorecard you can print and fill in. By wealth manager I mean anyone who looks after your money. That could be a financial adviser, a private bank, a wealth management firm, or a multi-family office, which serves several families at once. My business is investment and wealth management, so this is very close to what I do, and I'm not neutral. When I speak with clients, friends and contacts, I try to help them understand the industry well: who does what, how each provider is paid, and what each one does well (and what not), so they can make the right decision. ## What's Inside - **How to check a firm you've been introduced to.** The FCA's register in the UK, and BrokerCheck and the SEC's adviser search in the US, show a firm's record before you meet. - **What to settle first.** Get your holding structure and tax position settled, then decide what you want the money to do and how involved you want to be. - **Twelve questions, with a printable scorecard.** Score each firm's answers 0, 1 or 2, out of 24, to compare firms or review the one you have. - **Who holds, runs and advises on your money.** Custody, investment management and advice are separate jobs, and cash is protected differently from investments. - **What you pay in the UK and the US.** The average UK total was 1.80% a year in 2026 with fund and platform charges, and most US advisers expected to charge under 1% above $5m. - **How advisers are paid, and your protections.** Ask what the person advising you earns a bonus for, and check whether you're a retail or a professional client. ## How to check a wealth manager you've been introduced to After a sale, you'll probably be introduced to a wealth manager by someone you already work with. It might be your lawyer, your corporate-finance adviser, the bank that ran the sale, or the financial adviser you've used for years. Many founders go with that first firm because they trust the person who made the introduction, even though that person can tell them little about how the firm manages money. Lawyers, bankers and advisers can give you good introductions, but I always check who I'm being introduced to. I try to get introductions from a few different people, and I try not to trust someone simply because they were recommended to me. I judge for myself, and I interview the people I'm going to work with thoroughly. When someone tells you "he's a great guy, I know him well", you still need to find out whether he can manage your money well. You can check the basics yourself before the first meeting. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) keeps the [Financial Services Register](https://register.fca.org.uk/s/?ref=capitalfounders.io). It shows whether a firm is authorised, what it's allowed to do and any action taken against it, and it lists individuals too. In the US, [BrokerCheck](https://brokercheck.finra.org/?ref=capitalfounders.io) and the SEC's [adviser search](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/?ref=capitalfounders.io) show a broker's or an adviser's registration and any disciplinary history. Some founders don't choose anyone. They keep the money in cash across a few banks, because they don't trust any one adviser with all of it. A reader who got in touch with me was in that position. He's clearly smart and had taught himself a lot about investing. He knew he had to do something with the cash, but he didn't know where to start. ## What to settle before you meet a wealth manager ### Your holding structure and tax position Before anyone invests the money, you need to know who will own it and where it will be taxed. It could be you personally, a holding company or a trust, in one country or several. That's work for a qualified lawyer and tax adviser, and it's best done well before the exit. To me it's probably the most important part to get right. You then ask a wealth manager to work within what your lawyer and tax adviser set up. If you've already sold, a tax adviser can still look at how future income and gains will be taxed, and whether a company or a trust would help. [Here is how holding structures work for founders](https://www.capitalfounders.io/holding-structures-global-founders/). ### How much you have to invest Someone with $5m or $10m usually has simpler needs than someone with $50m or $100m. Your needs get more complex as you add things to look after, for example: - You hold money through a holding company or a trust as well as personally. - You have assets or tax to deal with in two or three countries. - You own investments other than listed shares, bonds and funds. If several of those apply, look for a firm that already handles them for other clients, whatever the size of your portfolio. If you have between $5m and $100m to invest, you may need more attention than a typical advice client gets. But you may not have enough to justify a family office with its own staff. [Here is why that gap exists](https://www.capitalfounders.io/emerging-wealthy-founder-bracket/). ### What you want the money to do, and which type of firm fits Next, decide what you want the money to do and how involved you want to be. If you don't want to learn about investing, or about private equity, private deals and hedge funds, it's better to find someone who can manage the whole pot for you. If you want more control, you might set up a solo family office instead. You run your money as a business and hire professionals part-time for the work you don't do yourself, which takes more of your time and resources. Say you have $20m and you're aiming for 5–7% a year. You could get much of that from bonds, without much trading. In early November 2026, [ten-year UK government bonds](https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/government-bond-yield?ref=capitalfounders.io) (gilts) yielded just over 5%, and [bonds issued by US companies](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BAMLC0A0CMEY?ref=capitalfounders.io) with strong credit ratings yielded about 5.7%. Those yields are before tax and inflation, and they move every day. A gilt held until it's repaid pays what it promised, in pounds. A company bond can default, and getting closer to 7% means lending to weaker companies. If you spend pounds and hold dollars, or the other way round, the exchange rate alone can add or take away more than a year's yield. For a plan like that, you might do fine with an independent financial adviser in the UK, a registered investment adviser in the US, or a private bank. It needs safe custody more than active management, so it shouldn't need large fees. If you live in one country and hold assets in the other, check that the firm can look after both. If you want to do more with the money, such as earning more than bonds pay or funding a new business, you'll look at other investments: - Private credit means lending to companies directly, and it can pay you an income. - Structured products are packaged investments whose return is tied to a market or an index. - Property, hedge funds, private equity and start-ups usually tie your money up for longer than listed shares and bonds. - Digital assets can swing much further in price than anything else you own. For that, you'd probably look at a multi-family office or a solo family office, because a firm that runs one kind of strategy won't cover all of it. ## How to choose a wealth manager: 12 questions to ask, with a scorecard Put the same twelve questions to two or three firms by email, so you can compare the answers, and to the firm you already use. Ask once a firm has made you a proposal, so it has something specific to answer. ### Who manages your money and what they'll do 1. Who will manage my money day to day, and can I meet them? Ask too whether they'll make the decisions or you'll approve each one. If it's an investment committee, ask who sits on it and who you'll talk to. 2. How many of your clients are founders who've sold a business, at about my size? Ask for examples with the names taken out. A firm whose clients built up savings over 30 years may never have handled a sum that arrives all at once. 3. What will you do for me in the first year, and what will you pass to others? Listen for who will hold, manage and advise on your money, and for the names of any outside managers, since each takes a fee. ### What you'll pay and how the firm is paid 1. What will I pay in total each year, in pounds or dollars, counting your fee, fund costs, custody, dealing, currency and VAT? Ask for one figure, and check that it includes the currency margin. A UK firm has to give you its costs before you invest. 2. How are you paid personally, and what does your bonus depend on? Listen for anything tied to particular products or to bringing in new money. 3. Does anyone apart from me pay your firm because I'm a client, and did you pay anyone for introducing me? If either answer is yes, ask for the amounts. ### Conflicts, rules and who holds your assets 1. How much of what you're proposing is in your own firm's funds or products, and what did you compare them with? Ask to see the comparison, and if the firm's own funds came out ahead, why. 2. Which rules do you work under (independent or restricted in the UK, fiduciary or broker in the US), and am I a retail or a professional client? You're checking what they can choose from and which protections you have, for each account if you hold assets in more than one country. 3. Who holds my assets, and are they kept apart from your firm's own? Your investments should be held in your name at a custodian the firm can name. Cash at a bank is a deposit, covered only up to the deposit limit. ### Reports, risks and how you'd leave 1. How often will you report to me, and will I see returns after all fees, set against a benchmark we agree now? A benchmark is an index, or a mix of indices, that a portfolio like yours can fairly be compared with. Ask to see a sample report. 2. What can go wrong, under what circumstances and when? A good answer describes the market conditions that would hurt the strategy they propose, and roughly how much it could lose. 3. If I decide to leave, how does the transfer work, what does it cost and how long does it take? I'd make sure to ask question 11\. You need to make sense of what they are saying and understand their strategy. [![Wealth manager scorecard: the twelve questions in four groups, with a box to score each answer 0, 1 or 2 for up to three firms, a total out of 24, and what each range of totals means.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/71/79/7179fad3-7d04-43ac-adef-ebe0849bf7ad/content/images/2026/11/wealth-manager-scorecard-figure.png)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/71/79/7179fad3-7d04-43ac-adef-ebe0849bf7ad/content/images/2026/11/wealth-manager-scorecard-figure.png?ref=capitalfounders.io) Score each answer 2 if it's clear and direct, 1 if it's partial, and 0 if you got a sales pitch instead. The total shows how much each firm has told you. Whether you like what it told you is a separate question, so a clear answer you don't like still scores 2. - If a firm scores 20 to 24, you understand what you're buying, and you can judge whether it's worth the yearly cost. - If it scores 12 to 19, some answers are missing. Send the firm the questions you scored 0 or 1, and agree a date for the answers. - If it scores under 12, you can't judge the firm yet. Ask for the missing answers in writing first. Whatever the total, fix a 0 on questions 4 to 6 first, because cost and pay are what you'll compare firms on. ## What a wealth manager does: who holds, runs and advises on your money You pay for three separate jobs, whether one firm does all of them or each is done by someone different: - Custody means holding your assets. Your shares, bonds and funds sit with a custodian, in your name and apart from its own assets. Even if a smaller wealth manager runs your money, your assets usually sit at a large custody bank, a private bank or an investment platform. - Investment management means running the money. An investment manager can run the portfolio, but you still decide what you want from the money and how much risk to take. You can leave the decisions to the manager within limits you agree (a discretionary mandate), or approve each move yourself (an advisory one). - Advice and oversight means looking across everything you own. You usually get it from whoever you deal with: a financial adviser, a wealth manager or a private banker. With them you plan what you'll spend, give away and leave, and they keep your lawyer, tax adviser and managers working from the same information. From a financial adviser you mostly get the planning and retail products, while a wealth management firm will run the bespoke portfolio and offer access to alternative investments and other products. Retail products are the funds sold to the general public. Alternatives are anything outside listed shares, bonds and cash, such as private equity, hedge funds and property. A private bank offers the same as a wealth management firm, and it also holds your assets itself and can lend to you. A multi-family office pulls all of it together for you and other families, and a single-family office does it for your family alone. I often find that a firm has one focus and does one or two of these jobs well. There are very good people in each category who really care about their clients and provide very good service. So look for the firm whose focus matches the job you need done most. [This comparison](https://www.capitalfounders.io/private-bank-vs-wealth-manager-vs-adviser/) puts the four types of firm side by side. ### How your investments and cash are protected Your shares, bonds and funds stay yours if the firm holding them fails, though getting them back can take time. If anything is missing in the UK, you can claim as much as £85,000 for each firm from the [Financial Services Compensation Scheme](https://www.fscs.org.uk/?ref=capitalfounders.io) (FSCS). If a US broker goes under, the cover from the [Securities Investor Protection Corporation](https://www.sipc.org/for-investors/what-sipc-protects?ref=capitalfounders.io) (SIPC) is as much as $500,000, of which up to $250,000 can be cash. Neither scheme covers you if your investments fall in value. Your cash in a bank account is different, because it's a loan to the bank. Your deposits are protected up to £120,000 at each UK bank by the FSCS, and up to $250,000 at each US bank by the FDIC. Above those limits, you depend on the bank. Many founders feel safer at a large private bank because of its balance sheet. Your investments have the same protection at a small firm, but the balance sheet matters for your cash and for any loan you take. ## Wealth manager fees in the UK and US: what you pay in total If you pay for ongoing advice in the UK, the average fee in 2026 was 0.83% a year. With fund and platform charges added, the average total was 1.80%. Those figures come from [NextWealth's 2026 survey](https://nextwealth.co.uk/under-pressure/?ref=capitalfounders.io) of 545 UK financial advisers. The [FCA's own research](https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/evaluation-of-the-impact-of-the-rdr-and-famr.pdf?ref=capitalfounders.io), published in 2020, found similar averages: 0.8% and 1.9%. Both are averages across ordinary advice clients, and the rate usually falls as you invest more. In the US, the research firm Cerulli said in 2025 that [83% of advisers expected](https://www.cerulli.com/press-releases/fee-compression-and-rising-service-demands-cause-advisors-to-adjust-pricing-structure?ref=capitalfounders.io) to charge clients with more than $5m under 1% a year by 2026\. Above $10m, it expected the average to be about 0.66%. | What was measured | Figure | Source | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | UK average ongoing advice fee, 2026 | 0.83% a year | NextWealth, survey of 545 UK financial advisers | | UK average total cost of advice, with fund and platform charges, 2026 | 1.80% a year | NextWealth | | UK averages in the FCA's research, published 2020 | 0.8% for ongoing advice, 1.9% in total | FCA | | US advisers who expected, in 2025, to charge clients with more than $5m under 1% a year by 2026 | 83% | Cerulli, 2025 | | US average adviser fee expected for clients with more than $10m | about 0.66% a year | Cerulli, 2025 | | VAT on discretionary management fees in the UK | 20%, on top of the fee | HMRC | You pay five kinds of cost: - You pay the firm's own fee, for advice or for managing the portfolio, and it's usually the only one you're quoted. In the UK, [VAT at 20% is added](https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-finance-manual/vatfin5800?ref=capitalfounders.io) to discretionary management fees, whoever charges them, so a quoted 0.75% costs you 0.9%. - You pay each fund's running costs before you see a return, and some funds, hedge funds and private funds especially, also take a share of the profits. - You pay the platform or custodian for holding the assets. - You pay dealing costs each time something is bought or sold. - You pay a margin whenever your money is converted between currencies, and you won't see it unless you ask. Say you have $3m growing at 7% a year before fees. After 20 years you'd have about $11.6m. With a 1% fee coming out each year, you'd have about $9.6m. Of the $2m difference, $1.1m is the fees and the rest is the growth they would have earned. On $10m, the gap is about $6.6m. The 7% is an assumption to keep the sum simple. To work out your own, use a rate you think is realistic over the years you plan to invest, then run it again with the yearly cost taken off. Tax can take more than the fees. If your interest is taxed at 45%, a bond paying 5% leaves you 2.75%, so the tax costs you more than twice a 1% fee. In the US, interest is taxed at up to 37% federally, plus a 3.8% tax on investment income. That tax bill depends on which accounts hold which investments, when you take gains and where you live for tax. So judge each strategy by what it adds to the whole portfolio after fees and tax. Ask your tax adviser to review the portfolio as well as your tax return. In the UK you don't have to add it up yourself. You're entitled to see all the costs and charges [before you invest](https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/multi-firm-reviews/mifid-ii-costs-and-charges-disclosures-review-findings?ref=capitalfounders.io), as a cash total, and to a yearly statement of what you paid. In the US you get a [relationship summary](https://www.investor.gov/CRS?ref=capitalfounders.io) (Form CRS), which describes the kinds of fees and conflicts but not your own total, so ask for that in dollars. When it comes to investment products, I would try to negotiate the best fees possible, but I would want them fair. I would also try to tie them more to performance, but I also need to make sure they align with the money manager's interests (so they don't take too much risk aiming for performance). ****Everything here is free.** Subscribing just tells me the content is useful — and helps me decide what to write next. [Subscribe ](https://www.capitalfounders.io/#/portal/) ## How wealth managers are paid, the rules they follow and your client status You need to understand how they're making their money and what fees they're charging. Your costs statement shows the fees, but not what the person advising you earns a bonus for, so ask them. In August 2025 the SEC, the US regulator, [fined Vanguard Advisers $19.5m](https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/administrative-proceedings/ia-6912-s?ref=capitalfounders.io). For more than three years, its advisers could earn bonuses, pay rises and sometimes promotions for getting clients to join its paid advice service and stay in it. Some of its documents said those advisers got no extra pay. Vanguard settled without admitting or denying the findings. A client who read only the documents couldn't have known. So ask the person directly what their bonus depends on, and check that the firm's documents say the same. If you pay a percentage fee, you shrink the pot your adviser is paid on when you pay off a mortgage or give money to your children. Before a step like that, ask what they'd suggest if their fee stayed the same either way. In the US, ask whether the firm acts as an investment adviser or as a broker on each account. An investment adviser is a fiduciary: the SEC says it has to act in your best interest throughout the relationship. A broker has to act in your best interest each time it recommends something, under [Regulation Best Interest](https://www.sec.gov/resources-small-businesses/small-business-compliance-guides/regulation-best-interest?ref=capitalfounders.io), even if you're an accredited investor. Ask who, if anyone, will watch the account between recommendations. In the UK, the nearest rule is the FCA's Consumer Duty, which requires firms to put their customers' needs first. It applies to retail customers. As an individual, you're a retail client unless you've asked in writing to be treated as a professional one. You're also entitled to know, [in writing](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/types-investment-adviser?ref=capitalfounders.io), whether the advice is independent, chosen from a wide range of the market, or restricted to certain products or providers. You can also choose how you're classed. If you want as much protection as possible, stay a retail client. You'll be offered fewer investments, but the regulator's rules protect you and limit what you can be sold. To reach investments that firms can't offer retail clients, such as some private funds, you can ask to be treated as a professional client. The firm has to assess your knowledge and experience, and you have to meet two of three tests: - You've traded in significant size about ten times a quarter over the past year. - Your portfolio of cash and investments is over €500,000. - You've worked in finance for at least a year in a role that needed the knowledge. Most founders reading this pass the portfolio test, so you'd need one of the other two as well. You sign a written request, and the firm has to warn you in writing which protections you'd lose. If you're investing your own money as a private individual, you can still take a complaint to the [Financial Ombudsman Service](https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/?ref=capitalfounders.io). In the US you don't ask to be reclassified. You count as an [accredited investor](https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/updated-investor-bulletin-accredited-investors?ref=capitalfounders.io) if your net worth is over $1m, not counting your home. You also count if your income was over $200,000 ($300,000 with a spouse) in each of the last two years. Firms can then offer you private investments that aren't registered with the SEC and come with less disclosure. Your protections as an adviser's or a broker's client stay the same. [Here is what you gain and what you give up](https://www.capitalfounders.io/retail-vs-professional-investor-classification/) with each status. ## How to review your wealth manager, and how to switch If you already have a firm, ask it the same twelve questions about the service you get now. If you took the firm you were introduced to at the sale, you may never have asked. If you've had it for years, your money is a different size now, and the firm's owner, its fees or the person you deal with may have changed too. Many founders stay with the same firm for years without reviewing it. Moving takes work, and often nothing has gone badly enough to force a decision. So put a review in your diary once a year. Between reviews, note these when they happen and raise them at the next meeting: - The person you deal with changes, and you hear about it afterwards. - Your meetings turn into presentations of new products. - You find a charge on a statement that you can't match to your agreement. - Your reports show returns before fees, or with nothing to compare them against. - You wait longer for replies than you used to. I wouldn't move firms over one bad year of results. I'd look at how the firm responds and how sharp its people are, and at whether the results stay poor against the benchmark you agreed. Check your own expectations too. I often see people expect a higher return without the risk that comes with it. If the scores stay low after you've asked twice, especially on cost and pay or on how you'd leave, start meeting other firms. Nothing has to move until you've chosen, though if much of your money is in cash, check how much of it is above the deposit limits. [This chapter of the family office guide](https://www.capitalfounders.io/playbooks/running-a-family-office-under-100m/chapters/auditing-your-wealth-setup/) covers the rest of a review: trusts and companies, insurance and your will. ### How to switch wealth managers and transfer your investments If you do move, the new firm runs the transfer: you sign its form, and it asks the old firm for your assets. Cash is the simple part, because it moves as a payment. For investments, find out before you sign how each of these works for your account: - You can move holdings as they are (an in specie transfer in the UK, in kind in the US), or have them sold and sent as cash. - Some holdings won't move, such as a firm's own funds and some private investments. You sell them, or leave them at the old firm in an account you keep open. - In the UK, [investment platforms have to offer an in specie transfer](https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/policy/ps19-29.pdf?ref=capitalfounders.io) if the new platform offers the same fund. That rule covers platforms only, so ask a private bank or a discretionary manager how it handles transfers. - A holding that moves as it is hasn't been sold, so in the UK there's usually no tax on the move. If something is sold outside an ISA or a pension, you can owe capital gains tax, so have a tax adviser check first. Move an ISA from provider to provider rather than taking the money out. - If you've borrowed against the portfolio, [you'll likely have to repay the loan](https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/securities-backed-lines-credit?ref=capitalfounders.io) before the assets can move, or borrow from the new firm instead. - In the US, FINRA, the brokers' regulator, has a [transfer rule](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/11870?ref=capitalfounders.io). The old firm has one business day to accept or query the request and three more to complete it, for holdings that move electronically. The old firm's own products don't have to transfer unless the new firm agrees to take them. For a UK account, ask both firms for a date. - You may be charged for leaving. In the US, [ask both firms about transfer fees](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/transferring-your-brokerage-account?ref=capitalfounders.io). In the UK, [exit fees aren't banned](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/statement-certain-fca-work-light-coronavirus-and-changing-market-conditions?ref=capitalfounders.io), though the Consumer Duty bars a firm from making it unreasonably hard for a retail client to switch. Check your agreement, and get the figure in writing before you start. Before you start, download every statement and the purchase history for each holding. Online access can end when the account closes, and you'll need the purchase prices for tax. ## When running your own family office makes sense Whoever you choose, you need to stay in control of your structures and your affairs. You can work with selected professionals part-time or on a fractional basis, paying for a share of an experienced person's time. You're the most motivated person to do it very, very well, because it's your money. That's why many founders now look at setting up a family office of their own. With the software and AI tools available now, you can run one with anything from $10m or $20m up to $100m. It can have the reporting, controls and investment process of a much larger office. It takes time and effort to learn, and you don't need to invest straight away while you do. After a sale you might start a new business, or treat the capital itself as one. [Here is how a solo family office works](https://www.capitalfounders.io/solo-family-office/), and [how the four family office models compare on cost](https://www.capitalfounders.io/family-office-models-compared/). This week, send the twelve questions to the firm you have and ask for written answers before your next meeting. If you're still choosing, send the same email to each firm you're considering. Writing it takes about 10 minutes. When the answers come back, score them on the card above. Complete guide · PDF Running a Family Office Under $100M All 17 chapters of the playbook in one designed PDF, 75 pages, free for subscribers. [Download the guide](https://www.capitalfounders.io/family-office-under-100m-guide/) ## New on the Site If most of the money is still in cash while you choose, this guide covers where to keep it: bank accounts, money-market funds, UK gilts or US Treasury bills held directly, and gold. It compares how safe each one is and what it pays. Read it: [Where to Keep Cash After Selling a Business](https://www.capitalfounders.io/where-to-keep-cash-after-selling-business/) ## Common questions How do you choose a wealth manager after selling a business? Start with your own situation: get your holding structure and tax position settled with a lawyer and a tax adviser, then decide how much you want managed and what you want the money to do. Then put the same twelve questions to two or three firms in writing and score the answers. Before the first meeting, check the firm on the FCA's register in the UK, or on BrokerCheck and the SEC's adviser search in the US. What questions should you ask a wealth manager? Ask who will manage your money day to day, what you'll pay in total each year, how the adviser is paid personally, and whether anyone else pays the firm because you're a client. Ask how much of the proposal is in the firm's own funds, which rules apply to you, who holds your assets and how you'd move them out. Score each answer 0, 1 or 2 to compare firms out of 24. How much does a wealth manager cost in the UK? If you take ongoing advice in the UK, the average fee in 2026 was 0.83% a year, and the average total was 1.80% once fund and platform charges were added, according to NextWealth's survey of 545 UK financial advisers. Your rate usually falls as you invest more. If a firm manages your portfolio at its own discretion, you also pay VAT at 20% on its fee, so compare firms on the yearly total in pounds. How do you switch wealth managers and transfer your investments? You start with the new firm, which runs the transfer: you sign its form and it asks the old firm for your assets. You can move holdings as they are (in specie in the UK, in kind in the US) or have them sold and sent as cash, though you may have to sell a firm's own funds. In the UK, selling outside an ISA or a pension can mean capital gains tax, so have a tax adviser check before anything is sold. Do you need a wealth manager after selling a business? You don't have to have one. If you don't want to learn about investing, a firm that manages everything for you may suit you. If you want more control, a solo family office lets you run the money yourself, with professionals working for you part-time or on a fractional basis. **Capital Founders OS** is an educational platform for founders with $5M–$100M in assets. Frameworks for thinking about wealth — so you can make better decisions. Explore more: [Playbooks](https://www.capitalfounders.io/playbooks/) · [Capital Signals](https://www.capitalfounders.io/tag/capital-signals/) · [Wealth Architecture](https://www.capitalfounders.io/tag/wealth-architect/) · [Investment Strategy](https://www.capitalfounders.io/tag/investment-office/) · [Business Building](https://www.capitalfounders.io/tag/build-mode/) · [Life Design](https://www.capitalfounders.io/tag/life-os/) Found this useful? Forward it to a founder who's thinking about this stuff. Got a question or disagree with something? [Get in touch](https://www.capitalfounders.io/contact/). New here? [Subscribe](https://www.capitalfounders.io/#/portal) for one email a week. ⚠️ ****Disclaimer:** This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as such. The views expressed are the author's own and do not represent any employer, firm, or institution. All investing carries risk, including loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Nothing here is an offer or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Your circumstances are unique — consult qualified professionals before making financial, legal, or tax decisions. By reading, you accept these terms.