What are red flags when choosing a financial adviser?

Pressure, unclear fees, unexplained products, unusually high return claims, reluctance to provide written recommendations, mismatched contact details and requests to move quickly are all reasons to stop and verify before proceeding.

Financial Advice for Lottery Winners | UK Guide

Q: Should lottery winners get financial advice?

A life-changing lottery win can justify regulated financial advice, especially where the money needs to support long-term spending, investing, family commitments or estate planning. The key is choosing an adviser whose FCA permissions, experience and service match the work required.

Q: How much does a financial adviser cost?

Fees vary. MoneyHelper says hourly advice is often around £100 to £350, while investment or pension advice may typically be around 1% to 3% initially and 0.5% to 1% for ongoing advice. A winner with a large portfolio should always ask for the cost in pounds, not only as a percentage.

Q: Do lottery winners need ongoing financial advice?

Not automatically. Some winners need a one-off financial plan and periodic reviews; others benefit from ongoing advice because investments, tax, family commitments and spending are changing. Ongoing service should have a clear purpose and a clearly understood annual cost.

The short answer

What does good financial advice look like after a lottery win?

It should make a complicated new life easier to understand. Before an adviser recommends investments, you should be able to explain what the money needs to do, what decisions can wait, how much can stay accessible, what your family commitments are and how much risk you are actually willing to live with.

The adviser’s value is not that they know a secret place to put lottery money. It is that they can help turn the prize into a written, regulated and reviewable plan.

RegulatedThe firm has FCA authorisation and the right permissions for the work.

UnderstandableYou can explain the recommendation back in your own words.

TransparentFees, restrictions, conflicts and ongoing service are visible in pounds and percentages.

Still yoursThe adviser supports the decision; the fortune does not quietly become somebody else’s project.

Timing

When should a lottery winner speak to a financial adviser?

If the prize is life-changing, early advice can be useful — but “early” does not mean you need to invest the money in the first week. The first useful conversation may simply identify the decisions that are urgent, the ones that can wait and the information needed before a sensible recommendation is possible.

Claim and protect first

If you are still securing the ticket, claim, privacy or account access, use the First 48 Hours guide before trying to build a portfolio.

Advice can begin before investing

A planner can help map spending, family, cash needs, risk and long-term income without forcing an immediate product decision.

Big commitments deserve advice first

Large gifts, investment mandates, complex ownership and permanent lifestyle costs are easier to structure before they have happened.

Complexity should earn its place

You may eventually need several specialists. Do not hire a large “wealth team” simply because the jackpot number looks impressive.

National Lottery support: The National Lottery says anyone winning £1 million or more gets free access to legal and financial advice and a wellbeing expert, regardless of whether they choose publicity. That can give a winner space to understand the issues before choosing any long-term commercial relationship.

Advice types

Independent or restricted? The label matters, but it is not the whole decision

MoneyHelper describes two main types of financial adviser. An independent financial adviser can consider products from across the whole market. A restricted adviser recommends from a limited number of providers, or within a particular product area.

Restricted does not automatically mean poor advice, and independent does not automatically mean excellent advice. What matters is understanding the restriction, whether it affects your choices, and whether the adviser’s service suits the job you actually need done.

Independent financial advice

Designed to consider a broader range of the market when making recommendations.

ask which markets and products are within scope
ask whether any specialist areas are excluded
understand whether investment management is done in-house or elsewhere
still compare fees, service and investment philosophy

Restricted financial advice

Advice is limited by provider, product type or another defined area.

ask exactly what the restriction is
ask what alternatives they cannot recommend
decide whether the restriction matters to your situation
do not confuse a familiar brand with a complete market comparison

If your bigger question is not “which adviser?” but “which professionals do I need at all?”, use How to Build a Wealth Team After Winning the Lottery.

Know the service

Advice, investment management and banking are not the same thing

One of the easiest ways to lose track of control is to let several different services blur together under one brand. Ask what the firm is actually doing for you.

Service	What it means in practice	The question to ask
Financial planning / advice	Looks at your circumstances and recommends actions or financial products suited to your needs and goals.	What exactly are you advising me on, and what is outside the scope?
Ongoing advice	The adviser continues reviewing the plan over time rather than ending after the initial recommendation.	What will you actually do each year, and what is the annual cost in pounds?
Discretionary investment management	An authorised manager makes day-to-day investment decisions within an agreed mandate without asking permission for every trade.	Who makes the investment decisions, what are the mandate limits and how can I terminate it?
Custody / platform	The legal infrastructure that records and safeguards investments. It may be a different organisation from the adviser.	Who actually holds my assets and what protections apply if a firm fails?
Private banking	Banking, large-payment support, lending and sometimes investment or wealth services.	Which parts are banking, which are advice, and which legal entity provides each service?

Before you sign anything

How to check a financial adviser properly

Do not stop at a professional-looking website, a familiar company name or a Firm Reference Number in an email. The FCA continues to warn about clone firms that copy genuine authorised firms’ names, addresses and regulatory details.

Use the FCA Firm Checker yourselfConfirm the firm is authorised and has permission for the service you are being offered.

Check the individual where relevantUse the Financial Services Register for individuals, roles, employment history and the fuller regulatory record.

Match the permissions to the workBeing authorised for one regulated activity does not mean a firm can provide every financial service.

Use independently sourced contact detailsIf somebody contacts you, call back using the phone number on the FCA listing rather than a number in their email, message or website.

Check whether they are an appointed representativeIf so, understand the principal firm and what activities the representative is permitted to carry out.

Get the service and fees in writingYou should know what advice is included, whether it is one-off or ongoing, what it costs and who else is being paid.

Cost

Ask what the advice costs in pounds — especially when the portfolio is large

MoneyHelper says advisers can use fixed fees, hourly rates or percentage charges. Its current examples put hourly financial advice often around £100–£350, while investment or pension advice may typically be 1%–3% initially and 0.5%–1% for ongoing advice.

Those are broad examples, not a fair price for your situation. The important point for a lottery winner is that percentages scale very quickly.

£25,000 0.5% of a £5 million portfolio for one year. Illustration only.

£50,000 0.5% of a £10 million portfolio for one year. Illustration only.

£100,000 1% of a £10 million portfolio for one year. Illustration only.

£250,000 0.5% of a £50 million portfolio for one year. Illustration only.

Ask for the all-in cost. Adviser fees, investment-management fees, platform/custody charges and underlying fund costs can appear separately. “If nothing changes, how many pounds will this relationship cost me over the next 12 months?” is a useful question.

Adviser interview

12 questions worth asking before you become a client

You do not need to sound financially sophisticated. Clear questions are often better than technical ones because they make it harder for complexity to hide weak answers.

1. Are you independent or restricted?If restricted, ask exactly what the restriction prevents them from recommending.

2. What FCA permissions cover the work you will do for me?Ask them to explain the permissions in plain English, then verify them yourself.

3. Have you advised people with sudden or newly acquired wealth?The important issue is not celebrity clients; it is whether they understand first-time wealth, family pressure and pacing.

4. What would you recommend I do in the first 90 days?A useful answer should include what can wait, not just a list of things to buy or restructure.

5. What will this cost in pounds in year one?Ask for adviser, portfolio, platform, fund and other known recurring costs.

6. What would it cost in a normal later year?Separate one-off planning/setup work from the ongoing relationship.

7. Who actually holds my investments?Know the custodian/platform and do not assume the adviser or brand name is the legal holder.

8. Who chooses the investments?Is it the adviser, a separate investment manager, a central committee or a third-party model portfolio?

9. What happens if I disagree with you?You want an adviser who can explain options without turning disagreement into pressure.

10. What ongoing work am I paying for?Reviews, cashflow planning, tax coordination, rebalancing and family planning should be specific rather than vague “ongoing support”.

11. How do I leave?Ask about notice, exit fees, transfer restrictions and what happens to assets and records if the relationship ends.

12. What should I not do yet?A strong professional should be willing to recommend delay where delay protects you.

What to expect

The first meeting should be mostly about you, not their portfolio

MoneyHelper says an adviser needs information about your circumstances and plans before providing tailored advice. For a lottery winner, that means the meeting should cover far more than “how much did you win?”

Your life first

Family, age, work, home, debts, dependants, planned gifts, known purchases, charities, business interests and what you want daily life to feel like.

Your money second

Cash needs, existing pensions and investments, tax position, future income requirements and how much capital genuinely has a long time horizon.

Your risk in real language

Not simply a questionnaire score. What would you actually do if £10 million temporarily became £8 million during a severe market fall?

You are allowed to leave without buying anything. A free initial meeting is usually a chance to understand the service, your needs and the likely cost. It is not a deadline to become a client.

One-off vs ongoing

Do you need an adviser every year?

Not necessarily. MoneyHelper notes that advice can end after the initial recommendations or continue with ongoing monitoring. A lottery winner should decide what recurring work is genuinely valuable rather than assuming a permanent percentage fee is simply part of being wealthy.

One-off or periodic advice may fit when…

your plan is relatively straightforward
you are comfortable implementing and monitoring parts yourself
you want specialist advice around specific decisions
your affairs do not change very often

Ongoing advice may add value when…

spending and investment withdrawals need active planning
family gifts, property or business interests are evolving
several professionals need regular coordination
you want somebody to keep the full financial plan under review

Ongoing advice and discretionary portfolio management are still different services. If the overall setup is becoming complex, compare the roles on How to Build a Wealth Team rather than adding people without a clear job.

Warning signs

Reasons to stop the conversation and check again

Feeling uncertain is enough reason to pause. MoneyHelper specifically says not to continue if you feel uncomfortable or rushed, and identifies pressure, unclear recommendations or refusal to provide written advice as warning signs.

They want speed

“We need to get this invested now” is a poor substitute for explaining why delay would genuinely harm you.

The returns dominate the conversation

If upside is vivid but losses, volatility, liquidity and alternatives are vague, you are not hearing the whole recommendation.

You cannot explain the fees

A sophisticated service can still have a simple answer to “what will I pay, who gets it and what do I receive?”

The contact details do not match

Clone firms can use real regulatory details. Verify telephone numbers, emails and domains through the FCA rather than the incoming message.

Everything stays in one ecosystem

That may be perfectly legitimate, but you should understand whether the same group is advising, managing, providing products and holding assets — and what conflicts that creates.

Questions make them defensive

A large new client asking who holds the assets, how the firm is paid and how to leave is being sensible, not difficult.

Unsolicited approaches deserve extra caution. A lottery winner should not need to respond to strangers promising exclusive investments, unusually high returns or urgent access to opportunities. Verify independently before sharing financial information or transferring money.

What good advice should produce

By the end, you should have more clarity — not just more products

A useful adviser relationship should leave you with a plan you can understand and review.

A map What the money is for, what is short term and what is long term.

A number A realistic view of sustainable spending rather than a vague feeling that the jackpot is huge.

A structure Cash, investments, family commitments and professional responsibilities with clear roles.

A review A way to revisit the plan as life, tax, markets and family circumstances change.

Continue from the decision you have

The adviser page should not try to become your whole wealth plan

Once you understand how to choose advice, move into the specific question that actually needs solving.

Questions answered

Financial advice for lottery winners FAQs

Plain-English answers to the questions people should ask before putting millions under professional advice.

Should lottery winners get financial advice?

A life-changing win can justify regulated financial advice, especially where the money needs to support long-term spending, investing, family commitments or estate planning. The important part is choosing an adviser whose FCA permissions, experience and service match the work required.

How do I check a financial adviser is genuine in the UK?

Use the FCA Firm Checker to confirm the firm is authorised and has permission for the service you need. Use the Financial Services Register for fuller firm and individual records. If somebody contacts you, use the contact details shown by the FCA rather than simply replying to the phone number or email they gave you.

What is the difference between an independent and restricted financial adviser?

MoneyHelper describes independent advisers as able to consider products from across the whole market, while restricted advisers recommend from a limited number of providers or within particular product areas. Both can provide tailored regulated advice; you should understand whether the restriction matters to your needs.

How much does a financial adviser cost?

Fees vary. MoneyHelper currently says hourly advice is often around £100–£350. For investment or pension advice, its broad examples are around 1%–3% initially and 0.5%–1% for ongoing advice. With a large lottery portfolio, always convert a percentage into the actual annual pound cost and ask about other investment, platform and fund charges.

Should lottery winners compare more than one adviser?

Yes. MoneyHelper suggests contacting at least three advisers so you can compare costs and service. A lottery winner can also compare communication style, pace, investment approach, restrictions, conflicts and whether the adviser understands sudden wealth rather than only established investors.

Do lottery winners need ongoing financial advice?

Not automatically. Some winners may need a one-off plan and occasional specialist reviews. Others may benefit from ongoing advice because spending, investments, tax, property and family commitments keep changing. Ongoing service should have a clear job and an understood annual cost.

Can a financial adviser take control of my lottery winnings?

You should understand exactly what authority you are giving. Financial advice, arranging products, discretionary investment management, custody and private banking are different services. Ask who makes decisions, who holds the assets, what permissions apply and how you can stop or change the arrangement.

What are the biggest red flags when choosing an adviser?

Pressure, unclear fees, unexplained products, unusually high return claims, reluctance to provide written recommendations, contact details that do not match FCA records and requests to move money quickly are all reasons to stop and verify before proceeding.

Does winning £1 million or more give National Lottery winners access to advice?

The National Lottery says winners of £1 million or more receive free access to legal and financial advice and a wellbeing expert, regardless of whether they choose publicity.

Is a wealth manager the same as a financial adviser?

Not necessarily. “Wealth manager” is a broad commercial description and can cover different services. Check the exact regulated entity, FCA permissions, whether advice is independent or restricted, who manages the investments, who holds the assets and the complete fee structure.

Official checks

Sources and review method

This page is UK-focused and was reviewed against current FCA, MoneyHelper and National Lottery information on 4 September 2026. It explains how to approach regulated financial advice; it does not recommend a particular adviser, firm, investment strategy or fee model.