For adviser use only.
Where we refer to ‘we’ or ‘us’, we are referring to Timeline Platform, provided by Timeline Portfolios Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (number 840807). Where we refer to ‘you’, we are referring to the adviser.
What fees are applicable to my client on the Timeline platform?
There are several fees that will apply to a client holding their assets on the Timeline Platform. These include the following:
Platform Fee: The platform fee is taken by Timeline for the servicing and custody of a client’s assets held on the platform.
Discretionary Fund Manager (DFM) Fee: The DFM fee is taken by Timeline from any Timeline Portfolios clients for access to, and the servicing of, the Timeline model portfolios. This fee only applies to the value of assets held within a Timeline model portfolio.
Fund Charges: Fund charges are taken by the fund manager of an individual asset. This is often referred to as the ongoing charge figure (OCF) which is typically a combination of the annual management charge (AMC) plus additional administrative and trading costs. This charge reduces the NAV of the fund itself rather than being deducted from Timeline Platform.
Adviser Fees: An adviser fee is a fee paid for professional advisory services by a client to their adviser for the advice, servicing and administration of their investments held on the Timeline Platform.
Timeline Platform facilitates the following types of adviser fees:
Ongoing Adviser Fee: This adviser fee is taken in monthly intervals on an ongoing basis and is expressed as either a tiered annual percentage calculated against the total value of a client’s assets or as a recurring fixed monetary amount.
Initial Adviser Fee: This adviser fee represents a one-off cost to the client and is typically expressed as either a percentage of a new transfer or deposit instruction. Initial adviser fees can also be expressed a fixed amount.
Ad hoc Adviser Fee: This adviser fee is a fixed amount taken from an existing client’s investment account and paid to the adviser for services not necessarily related to the addition of a new transfer or deposit instruction.
What are the Platform fees and how are they deducted?
The platform fee is applied to the overall value of a client’s assets under management (AUM) or the total AUM of a ‘family group’ on Timeline Platform. This is calculated on a percentage basis under the following tiering and taken in monthly intervals:
£0 - £1,000,000: 0.15% per annum (15bps)
£1,000,000+: 0.08% per annum (8bps)
These percentages/basis points (bps) are representative of an annual amount chargeable to the client or ‘family group’ for holding assets on the Timeline Platform. They are calculated daily and deducted on the 10th of each month or closest business day and taken proportionally from all accounts.
If there is sufficient cash for the fee to be paid within the relevant account on the 10th, then a ‘platform fee’ transaction will appear for the required amount, taken directly from a client’s available cash.
If there is insufficient cash on the 10th to pay the fee, then a sale instruction is generated for the required amount from the largest holding within the account and the fee is removed once this transaction has settled.
What are the DFM fees and how are they deducted?
DFM fees only apply to the total value of AUM held within a client’s Timeline Model Portfolio account. Like the platform fee, it is an annual amount expressed as a percentage taken in monthly intervals.
The typical annual DFM rate for Timeline Portfolios is 0.9% (9bps). *Minimum requirements apply. Please visit https://www.timeline.co/portfolios for more information.
The DFM fee is calculated daily and deducted from an account on the 10th of each month or closest business day.
If there is sufficient cash for the fee to be paid on the 10th, then a ‘Discretionary Fund Manager fee’ transaction will appear for the required amount, taken directly from a client’s available cash.
If there is insufficient cash on the 10th to pay the fee, then a sale instruction is generated for the required amount from the largest holding within the account and the fee is removed once this transaction has settled.
What are the asset charges and how are they deducted?
Fund charges (OCF) are built into the individual assets held by a client. Unlike the other fees listed in this guide, no transactions are generated for these fees to be deducted. Instead, they are typically reflected in the price of an asset. More information can be found on the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) provided by the asset provider.
What are the Ongoing Adviser Fees and how are they deducted?
Ongoing adviser fees are set by the adviser and can be setup against either the total AUM of an individual client’s assets or the total AUM belonging to a ‘family group’. This can be calculated as either a flat recurring amount or on a tiered annual percentage basis.
When deducting the ongoing adviser fee, the default option for advisers is for it to be taken proportionally across all accounts belonging to a client or all accounts within a ‘family group’. Advisers can also elect for the fee to be taken from a nominated account within an individual client’s portfolio of accounts or a single account within a ‘family group’.
The ongoing adviser fee is calculated daily and deducted on the 3rd of each month or closest business day.
If there is sufficient cash for the fee to be paid on the 10th, then an ‘ongoing adviser fee’ transaction will appear for the required amount, taken directly from a client’s available cash within an account.
If there is insufficient cash on the 10th to pay the fee, then a sale instruction is generated for the required amount from the largest holding within the account. Once the trade has settled, the fee is immediately removed.
How do tiered Ongoing Adviser Fees work?
The tiered ongoing adviser fee works by allowing an adviser to specify different fee rates based on AUM thresholds for an individual client or within a ‘family group’.
As an example, the tiering could appear as follows:
£0 - £500,000: 0.5% per annum
£500,001 - £999,999: 0.2% per annum
£1m+: 0.1% per annum
Please note, tiering is optional. A fixed percentage can also be set up.
Can I set up Ongoing Adviser Fee rates to automatically apply to all new clients?
Yes, ongoing adviser fees can be set up at a firm-level so that they will appear as the default option for all new clients. This can also be changed during the onboarding journey for new clients.
How do I instruct an Ad hoc Adviser Fee:
Ad hoc adviser fees can be instructed by sending a request to the [email protected] email address where it will be actioned by our Operations team.
Where sales are required and not specified, trades are instructed proportionally across all assets within an account. If you elect to take the fee from a client’s model account, the asset sales cannot be specified and will be sold down proportionally across all assets to minimise drift within the model.
Once instructed, the Operations team will also provide you with an illustration highlighting the impact of the fee on the client’s holdings.
How do I instruct an adviser initial fee and how are they deducted?
Initial fees can be instructed when onboarding a new client via the web journey. They can also be instructed when adding a new deposit or transfer instruction to an existing Timeline account. These fees can be expressed as either a fixed lump sum amount, or as a percentage of the deposit or transfer instruction.
On receipt of funds from either a deposit or transfer, the full balance is applied to the respective account and then the initial fee is deducted prior to any investment instructions being generated. This fee is then paid with the next available adviser fee run.
When an initial fee is instructed against the value of a transfer which contains assets being transferred in-specie, the initial fee amount is deducted only after all in-specie transfers have complete from a specific scheme or provider. In this scenario, once all in-specie transfers have completed and any residual cash has been sent by the ceding scheme or provider, the value of the fee will be sold down proportionally across all assets received as part of a specific transfer instruction and then deducted from the account.
How do fees work with a family group?
Advisers can set up family groups for the purposes of charging ongoing adviser fees and platform fees as a percentage of the total AUM within the family group as opposed to an individual client’s total AUM.
A family group can consist of up to two partners plus any number of dependent children with a maximum age of 24. Once a dependent child reaches the age of 24, they are de-coupled from the family group.
There can be a maximum of 2 SIPP accounts per family group.
Within a family group, adviser fees can be taken from a single nominated account from any individual account within the group or proportional across all accounts. Platform fees will continue to be taken proportionally across all accounts.
When are adviser fees paid?
Adviser fees are paid weekly via BACS every Friday. Each payment run will include all adviser fee types deducted across all linked accounts covering a period from the previous Friday up to the Thursday a day prior.