Fogwill & Jones Wealth Management

Sophie gave my mum straight forward easy to understand advice around how best to protect her money after a house sale. Sophie has been helpful, knowledgeable and humourous. Thank you for your expert help. Helen and Audrey

Sophie Smith has been really helpful in helping me to choose insurances that meet my family's needs. She's worked really hard to get the right quotes, has listened well and understands our situation, and then went over and above to re-quote later when the first policies were insufficient (due to the company's criteria). She is friendly and helpful, and I trust her completely with my finances.

One of the biggest mistakes of my life. Not because Fogwill & Jones seem like a bad company as such – I was always dealt with decently by professionals – but the decision, as a novice, to hand over my inherited wealth for investment turned out to be a disaster. Please think twice.First of all, this review should be taken seriously in comparison with others because it was written post-portfolio closure. Immediately upon signing the documents at F&J they send you a request to add a Google review. This, of course, would be prior to seeing how your investment portfolio performs. When I received the request, I informed them I'd write a review when I actually saw the results. They didn't reply.I feel that there are a few techniques F&J employs at the outset to secure your trust and get you to invest. Your initial meetings will be held in the grand conference room, for example, which is pretty dazzling. Once your money is invested, however, all subsequent meetings will take place in small, unimpressive backrooms. I have a suspicion that the Financial Advisors get bonuses for securing new clients, but more power to them if so.They also give you inspiring projections prior to signing – an 'assumed annual growth rate of 6.5%'. Once you see the 5-year projection based on that growth rate (10 grand+ profit if you're investing their minimum amount) your mouth begins to water and you start looking for a pen. There is no projection for an assumed annual LOSS rate, which is what I experienced. And it was an extremely aggressive loss.The first thing that happened when my medium-risk portfolio was live, was its value slumped by nearly 20%. This was due to a global 'mass sell-off of technology shares', among other factors. I was assured there would be a 'bounce back' by the end of the year. This didn't happen.Then war broke out in Ukraine. The markets don't like war, I was told at my introductory meeting, when Putin was merely considering invasion. What I wasn't advised by F&J was to hold off investment until things became clearer. Why would they? It's business. They tried to assure me by saying all signs were pointing towards peaceful negotiation. I didn't think about it any further. I just reached for the pen. I was naive.So, 2 years on, I have lost tens of thousands of pounds. When I closed my portfolio and exited, I didn't get any goodbye or good luck, thank you for your custom, sorry it didn't work out. Nothing. Bear in mind this is a company that used to send me birthday cards.But let me be clear: I blame myself. I get it, it's business. It was my decision to plunge all that money into something that is so inherently erratic. Even if you spend 20 years amassing a lovely amount of wealth, it could be slashed overnight by something that spooks the markets. Yes, they talk about diversification of investment to spread the risk; well, mine was diversified and the disaster was certainly spread throughout my portfolio.Would my money have been better handled elsewhere? Probably. I mean, it's a very modest company in Sheffield and I'm sure the staff would be first to admit they're not mega rich. Furthermore, lots of very clever people around the world made a fortune during Covid and the Ukraine war. What were their strategies?If you think F&J will be tinkering about with your portfolio every day, buying and selling to stay ahead of the curve, then think again. The way it works is that they make the investments, then sit on them for a year to see what happens (I got the impression that once the investment was made, it's out of sight, out of mind – I also had to be pro-active for annual catchups). Maybe this is obvious but, well, I was naive.At the end of the day, I have to point the finger at the mirror. F&J are decent folks. Of course they'd love it if you got rich. But should you sink all your hard-earned money (or someone else's hard-earned money that you've inherited) into such a shaky, fickle, disaster-prone project? In a world that is shaky, fickle and disaster-prone?Maybe try the casino instead and bet on red.

Had been trying all morningto find appropriate company to help me with various tax issues advice. Found Fogwill and Jones via Google search. Chris was excellent. Expected to have to make an appointment but he answered my question there and then on the phone. Clear information, well explained. All sorted in about 15 minutes . Thankyou very muchChris Johnson

We were extremely pleased to meet David who was professional and friendly. He was easy to talk to and discuss our options, he gave us confidence.

I recently met with Dave to discuss consolidating a number of pensions from previous jobs. Dave took time to make sure I understood every step of what we were doing and explained everything clearly, I look forward to our next meeting and would recommend Fogwill and Jones without hesitation.

An honest & professional service, nothing is to much trouble and always available to answer any questions you may have. Happy to recommend their services.

I Recently arranged a will for my mum. I highly recommend Fogwill and Jones. Helena Grady was wonderfully warm and empathetic with us all but especially mum for that I am truly grateful as mum was really nervous and worried. She put mum at ease and explained everything very clearly. I was impressed with the office and staff that welcomed us on arrival. Really pleased we chose Fogwill and Jones I would recommend without hesitation and will definitely use them again.

The initial meeting I had with David Gill was extremely informative and clear. This was just to get an overview of my options for my current private pensions and how to either use as an annuity or where possible to use as a drawdown. David was very professional and easy to talk to on this rather important issue for me at my stage in life and would recommend using Fogwill and Jones as a financial advisor.

I am truly delighted with Sophie’s service and advice. She has been my adviser for only a short time but in that time she has already had a powerful impact. She has been a brilliant sounding board for me to discuss my desire to change my employment situation and career path, looking at both the personal and financial impact of the changes I would like to make. Her no nonsense but incredibly empathetic approach makes sure that it is me, my life and my happiness at the centre of anything we discuss together. Something that is very refreshing compared to the more investment management focused advice I have received from previous financial planners. I cannot recommend her highly enough and look forward to working more closely with her in future.