Total transparency. Not one hidden fee or charge.

The financial services industry has a lot to answer for. Traditionally, they've been the masters of hidden charges, inflated fees and backdoor commissions.

When you receive a fee-per-trade from a broking house, then the temptation is to convince your clients to constantly trade in and out of shares. Because the more you trade, the more you make.

Not only is this an unethical business model, it's completely against a client's interests.

Then there are the fees and charges from the fund managers. These are passed on to you through your financial planner who also adds an extra fee here and there for his or her services. The result is a labyrinth of costs which, when unravelled, can be horrifying.

One fee. Total transparency.

TWD is a fee-for-service company. We charge for designing your MasterPlan, and then we charge for the ongoing management, administration and updating of your investments. These charges are clearly explained to you at our first meeting - and locked in.

TWD will never pass on any third party fees to you. If we do receive a commission, it will be directly credited to your account.

Managed funds are expensive. So we encourage our clients to hold their assets in their names; usually in a self-managed superannuation fund. This way, third party fees are minimised, or eliminated altogether.

Hidden fees revealed. An example.

Let’s take a look at how an old-school financial planner makes their money.

Firstly, they typically charge a fee to prepare your Statement of Advice (SOA). This ranges from $3,000 to $10,000 depending on its complexity.

They then charge you an Entry Fee to move your money into the product they’ve recommended; normally a managed fund. This fee ranges from 1.1% to 4.4% of the total amount you invest.

Then there’s a review fee for their ongoing advice. The industry average is 1.1% of the amount you have invested every year.

Next comes the hidden commissions. Despite the recent negative press on this topic, some advisers still happily take commissions and they average 0.60% of your total amount invested.

Here's how it all adds up.

If you had $750,000 to invest, you'd pay:

- an SOA fee of $5,000
- an Entry Fee (2.2%) of $16,500
- an Adviser Review Fee (1.1%) of $8,250
- and commissions (0.60%) of $4,500

So, in your first year, you’ve paid fees totalling $34,250. Plus, don’t forget you’re also paying the fund manager and platform fees which could add a further $15,000 to the bottom line. That brings your total fees to a staggering $49,250. At TWD, we structure things very differently.

For the same service, we charge $15,000 in the first and second years; and then $10,000 a year after that. We also structure our fees so that in most cases they’re fully tax deductible. So, in just the first year, you’ve saved $34,250 in fees – a substantial amount that goes directly into your investments, not your financial advisor's pocket.