How trustees can appoint the right investment consultant

Trustees cannot discharge the duty to take advice by appointing the first consultant who looks the part.

Look for named, accredited people, not just a firm’s marketing

A consultant’s process is only as good as the people executing it. Ask who will actually work on the account, not who appears in the firm’s marketing. Ask for their professional qualifications, such as CFA or CISI accreditation. Ask, too, about their relevant industry background and how long they have worked in investment advice rather than adjacent fields. A credible consultant will have a team spanning former fund managers, stockbrokers, accountants and analysts, not a single generalist relationship contact.

This test also covers consistency. Ask whether the same standard is applied to every client, or whether service quality depends on which individual happens to be assigned. A named team, with named qualifications a trustee can verify independently, is a stronger signal than a firm’s general reputation.

CFA and CISI accreditation can be verified directly with the awarding bodies. A trustee should also ask for evidence of continuing professional development, rather than accepting a qualification gained years ago and never renewed.

Ask whether every manager is tested against the same criteria, in the same order

Investment managers compete on track record, process and people, and every manager a trustee meets will present all three favourably. A structured research framework cuts through that by applying the same questions, with the same evidence requirements, to every manager considered, whether active, passive or alternative. Without it, a consultant’s eventual recommendation rests on relative impressions rather than comparable findings.

The test: ask the consultant to describe their research framework in specific terms. How many pillars does it cover, and what is tested at each stage? Who conducts the research, and how often is an approved manager re-tested rather than approved indefinitely? A consultant who cannot describe a repeatable, documented process is, in effect, asking the trustee to trust their judgement rather than their method.

Ask, too, who approves the final list of managers a trustee can be recommended. A research process that ends with a single individual’s sign-off carries concentrated key-person risk. A process that ends with an independently chaired Investment Committee, sitting outside the firm’s own commercial reporting line, does not.

Ask for one itemised estimate covering every layer of cost, before you engage

Investment advice rarely carries a single cost. A consultancy or advisory fee typically sits alongside a platform or custody fee and fund management charges embedded in the underlying investments. Other costs, such as transaction charges or performance fees, often sit on top of those. Comparing consultants on the headline fee alone is rarely a like-for-like comparison, because the same headline number can sit on top of different totals underneath.

The test: ask for a single, itemised fee estimate before any commitment is made, covering every layer of cost the trustee will actually bear. Ask whether the estimate is tiered, and if so at what asset level it steps down. Ask, too, whether tiering applies at family-group level or per entity, and whether portfolio monitoring and platform reporting are included in that fee or charged again separately. A consultant whose fee model requires several separate conversations to understand fully has, by definition, failed this test.

Ask whether your approval sits before every recommendation, and whether the record proves it

The final test ties the previous four together. Even a well-researched, transparently priced recommendation from a qualified consultant needs to sit within a governance structure the trustee controls. Ask whether every recommendation requires trustee approval before implementation. Ask whether the consultant holds client assets directly, or whether custody sits with an independent, regulated platform instead. Ask, too, whether there is a documented, auditable record of what was recommended, considered and decided, and when.

A consultant who cannot answer these questions cleanly is asking the trustee to take independence, rigour and cost discipline on trust. Enhance Select is built to answer all five tests with evidence instead, through the Enhance Wealth Consultancy Limited (EWCL) advisory model regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.