What is Ownvance?
Ownvance is an independent financial consulting firm for private individuals. Our work rests on one idea, safe finance: enough money set aside for life's shocks, investing only what you can leave alone and understand, and never sending money to a firm or person nobody has checked. Your money stays with you throughout.
Money trouble rarely begins with a bad investment. More often it begins when there's nothing put aside and the car fails its inspection, when savings are locked away just as they're needed, or when a friendly stranger online makes an offer that seems too good to question. A plan written down in advance, and the habit of checking before you pay, deal with most of it before it gets expensive.
3 checks never to skip
Before any money moves: the regulator's register, the contact details, and who would actually hold your money. A full check covers more.
1 fixed fee, in writing
Set out in a short letter before any work starts, and the whole cost unless you agree a change.
0 commissions
No bank, platform or provider pays us anything, whatever you decide to do.
0 products to sell
We don't sell or recommend funds, platforms or investments, so no product shapes our answers.
Who is Ownvance for?
Ownvance works with private individuals who want an independent, plain-English view of their own money. That might be someone building savings for the first time, someone with money put aside who isn't sure what to do with it, or someone who has been offered an investment and wants it checked before paying anything.
We're likely to be a good fit if you:
- have no clear picture of what comes in, what goes out and what's left each month;
- have savings building up and aren't sure how much to keep within easy reach;
- are thinking about investing and want to understand how it works before choosing anything;
- have been offered an investment, a trading platform or a 'personal manager' and want it checked first.
We're not the right firm if you:
- want someone to pick investments or manage your money for you, which needs an authorised investment firm;
- are looking for guaranteed or very high returns, which nobody honest can promise;
- are hoping to recover money lost to a scam. Your bank's fraud team and the police are the right first contacts, and anyone offering to get it back for a fee is likely running a second scam.
What can Ownvance help you with?
Ownvance offers three services, each built around a money decision people face: how to organise what you have, how investing really works, and whether a particular firm or offer can be trusted. Each is a fixed-fee piece of work agreed in writing, and each ends with something written down that you keep.
A personal financial plan
For getting your money in order. You receive a written plan and a simple spreadsheet covering your budget, emergency fund, debts and goals, including how much to keep within reach. More on building a personal financial plan with us.
Investing education
For understanding investing before you start. One-to-one sessions on risk and return, diversification, fees, time horizons and reading a platform's terms. We never tell you what to buy. More on our one-to-one investing education.
A check on a firm or offer
For an offer in front of you now. We check the register, signs of a clone firm, the contact details and who would hold your money, then give you a written record. More on checking a firm or investment offer.
Is Ownvance legit?
Ownvance is a financial consulting firm paid only by the people it works for, through a fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts. It doesn't accept deposits, sell investments or manage anyone's money, so you never hand money over to it. No bank, platform or provider pays it anything, so its answers can afford to be blunt.
We aren't a regulated investment adviser and we never recommend specific investments. If your situation needs one, we'll tell you and help you work out what to ask.
If anyone using our name asks you for money to invest, a password, a one-time code or remote access to your phone or computer, it isn't us, however convincing the message looks.
- Never holds, moves or manages your money
- Paid only by you, with no commissions
- Everything agreed in writing first
How can you check a firm before you send it money?
Look the firm up on the public register kept by the financial regulator in its country, and check that its permissions cover exactly what it's offering you. Compare its website, email address and phone number with the register, then contact it only through the registered details. Clone firms copy real names, so that step matters most.
Two of our guides go through it step by step: checking an investment firm yourself and spotting the red flags of investment fraud. Both cover the warning signs that mean you should stop before paying. If the offer came from a new online friend or a dating match, read how crypto and romance scams unfold too.
Have an offer in front of you already?
A check on a single firm or offer can be a small piece of work on its own. We compare the firm with the regulator's register, test the contact details you were given, find out who would hold your money and read the terms, then write down what we could confirm and what we couldn't. Whether to go ahead is always your decision.
Questions people ask before they get in touch
How much does Ownvance charge?
A fixed fee for each piece of work, quoted once we understand what you need and written into a short letter you agree before we start. That fee is the whole cost unless you agree a change in writing. We never take commissions or a percentage of anything you save or invest.
How long does it take?
Days rather than months. A check on a firm or offer is the quickest piece of work, a written plan takes a week or two, and an investing course runs over a few sessions. The engagement letter you sign sets the dates.
Do I need a lot of money for this to be worthwhile?
No. Some of the most useful work is with people who are just starting to save or are still paying off debt. What matters is that there's a real decision in front of you. If a piece of work wouldn't be worth its fee, we'll say so at the introductory consultation.
Will you tell me what to invest in?
No. We explain how investing works so you can judge options for yourself, but we never recommend a fund, share, platform or product. If you want a personal recommendation, you need a regulated financial adviser, and we can help you prepare the questions to ask one.
Will you need access to my bank accounts?
No, never. Nobody at Ownvance needs your passwords, logins or security codes, or any way into your accounts. You decide which figures to share and in what form, and you're welcome to blank out anything you'd rather keep to yourself.
Can you get back money I've lost to a scam?
No, and nobody can promise to. Contact your bank's fraud team straight away and report it to the police or your national fraud reporting service. Be very wary of anyone who offers to recover the money for a fee: recovery offers are a common second scam.
More answers are on the FAQ page.
How does working with Ownvance start?
The first step is an email to Ownvance with a few lines about what you'd like help with. We reply to arrange an introductory consultation, then send a short engagement letter with the scope, what you'll receive, the dates and a fixed fee. Nothing starts, and nothing is payable, until you've agreed to it.
Email us
A few lines are enough: what you'd like help with, any offer you want checked and any deadline you're facing. Please don't send passwords, bank details or copies of your ID.
Introductory consultation
We ask what's going on with your money, which decision is coming up and what you've already looked into. By the end, you'll have a clear sense of whether the work would be worth its fee, and whether we're the right firm to do it.
Engagement letter
The scope, what you'll receive, the dates and the price, written down in a short letter. Nothing starts until you've agreed to it.
The work and the handover
We work through it with you, check what we find as we go, and hand over everything we prepare with an explanation, so you can keep using it without us.
Our email address is consulting@ownvance.com.
The contact page lists what's useful in a first message, and how we work walks through the whole process.