Money decisions don't always sit in one place.

Nothing, and nothing is sold in it. It produces a short written summary of what needs attention and in what order — typically pensions nobody has looked at, protection gaps, a mortgage coming off a fixed rate, and where business and personal money are quietly working against each other. If part of what it identifies is regulated advice, you are introduced to a regulated adviser and told what that would cost in pounds before anything proceeds. If the honest finding is that your arrangements are already sensible, you get that in writing too.

Fees and any commission are disclosed in writing before you decide whether to proceed, as the rules require. Ask for the figure in pounds rather than as a percentage — 1% of a pension sounds modest and is not the same sentence as £4,000. Protection and mortgage business is frequently commission-paid by the provider, which is not a problem in itself but is a fact you are entitled to know, along with what it is. If any adviser is reluctant to convert a percentage into a number for you, treat that as information.

No. The health check is open to anyone and Buzz Financial Services advises clients independently of the accountancy practice. Where being a client helps is that the person looking at your pension can already see what the business earns, what you draw and what the accounts will support — which removes a lot of guessing about affordability. Where it does not help is if you would rather keep the two relationships separate, which is a legitimate preference and one plenty of people have.

Roughly: how much tax a decision costs is accounting, and which product to use is regulated advice. Deciding that a £30,000 employer pension contribution is more efficient than a dividend is a tax calculation. Choosing the scheme, the funds and the provider is a regulated recommendation, and it has to come from an authorised firm. In practice they overlap constantly, which is why they are discussed together and then handled by whoever is qualified for each part. Anyone blurring that line to keep the whole job in one place is doing you no favours.

Buzz is not authorised to give regulated financial advice. Where you need it, we can introduce you to Equity & General Financial Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA No. 474163 — checkable on the FCA register. What the FCA does not regulate: tax advice, trusts, will writing and some forms of estate planning. Those still need doing properly, but they sit outside the FCA's protections, including the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Knowing which side of that line a piece of work sits on matters if it goes wrong.

The two are different jobs. Workplace pension duties — auto-enrolment assessment, contributions, opt-ins and opt-outs, three-yearly re-enrolment and the Declaration of Compliance — are administration and are handled by our payroll and pensions service. Advice on the scheme itself, or on your own retirement arrangements, is regulated advice and goes through the regulated firm. Employers routinely assume their payroll provider is advising them on scheme suitability. They are not, and if nobody has reviewed your scheme since staging, that is worth a conversation.

Then you will be. You get the written summary and no follow-up sequence, and you can act on it yourself or take it to an adviser you already trust. The reason to say this explicitly is that free financial reviews have a well-earned reputation for being the opening move in a long campaign. If you would rather have the summary and nothing else, say so at the start and it will be noted. If you do want to be contacted about something specific later, that is easier if you tell us what and when.