Advice please

Pobby

Not altogether trusting IFA`s,I would welcome any advice.At 57,I am reviewing my options for retirement.I cannot see me retiring before 65{unable to afford it} and my situation is as follows.
Mrs.Pobby is 55 and will receive her state pension @ 61 of around
£85 per week,in addition to an estimated £60 pension made up from private and old company pension.
I am told that the state pension for me will be £117 per week and I will also receive a further £60 per week from a private pension.
We own outright our home valued @ around £120k and we have other savings,namely £25k in premium bonds,ISA`s worth approx. £30k in stocks,£30k in a high {thats a laugh} interest savings account and finally an endowment plan paying out approx£46k in 7 years.
In addition to saving into pensions and the endowment we can save a further £200 to £400 a month.
Any thoughts on maximising our funds to provideus with the best income possible on our retirement would be most welcome

dunstonh

Not altogether trusting IFA`s,I would welcome any advice.

Ok, that rules me out then.

I am sure it's better for you to trust some unknowns on a website who know nothing about your situation, risk profile or goals.

Pobby

I only said this as in the past I have had some very poor advice from IFA`s that promised all sorts of things which,surprise,surprise, didnt materialise.
My attitude to risk is fairly low as you mentioned.I was just interested in finding out if anyone was in a similar position and how they viewed it.

ReportInvestor

The pension board moderator has also been an IFA, so watch your language .

They do get everywhere, even MSE, but not all IFAs are bad people.

caveat_emptor

Pobby wrote:

Not altogether trusting IFA`s,

Maybe not a good way to start your question but I can understand your reservations about IFAs as I have similar experience and being of the once bitten twice shy school now do my own research. Unfortunately there is a reluctance by good IFAs to accept that others do not necessarily act in their clients best interest.
I'm sure that there's some excellent advice given on this board so suggest you do a trawl of previous threads and you'll probably find your question has already been answered OR find an IFA at https://www.unbiased.co.uk

EdInvestor

Pobby wrote:

We own outright our home valued @ around £120k and we have other savings,namely £25k in premium bonds,ISA`s worth approx. £30k in stocks,£30k in a high {thats a laugh} interest savings account and finally an endowment plan paying out approx £46k in 7 years.
In addition to saving into pensions and the endowment we can save a further £200 to £400 a month.

I would suggest that you consider putting some money into commercial property funds, which are available in ISAs for the first time this year.They suit your risk profile and will provide some diversification.You should max out your ISA this year for 7k.

Tax free income should be the focus as you already have taxable pensions.

Many endowments are no longer good ways to invest.
Post some figures for a view on yours:

Guaranteed sum assured
Declared bonuses
Surrender value (ring up)
Monthly premium
Maturity date

bbruce

dunstonh wrote:

Ok, that rules me out then.

I am sure it's better for you to trust some unknowns on a website who know nothing about your situation, risk profile or goals.

Well said!
OP shot himself in the foot in his first sentence!
Many IFAs give their time freely on this board when they could be making money.
Methinks OP's only option is to sign up under a new name and rephrase his request.

ReportInvestor

I forgot to say, "Welcome to the site, Pobby."

Be nice to all MoneySavers, everyone .

EdInvestor

bbruce wrote:

Methinks OP's only option is to sign up under a new name and rephrase his request.

Not necessary at all. The OP is only being sensible.

There would be far less misselling and other problems in financial services if more people took the trouble to inform themselves about investment and financial planning on websites like these, so that they had an idea of what to ask an IFA and how to evaluate the advice received.

No genuinely fair-minded advisor is going to be unhappy about having a well informed client, because such clients are helpful in getting rid of the cowboys that are destroying the industry.

Pobby

Firstly my I apologise for any offence I may have caused.I am sure there are good IFA`s out there and my bad experiences are not the norm.Being pretty niave on the investment front it is easy to be trusting,in particular when advice is being offered from ones own bank.
Thankyou for the useful postings so far.Once again,no offence intended.

dunstonh

Being pretty niave on the investment front it is easy to be trusting,in particular when advice is being offered from ones own bank.

The banks generally do not have IFAs. They have a tied advisor salesforce. Thats a double whammy as you get the worst of both worlds. Tied advice and from someone employed in a salesforce. You are totally correct in being sceptical in the advice being given by a bank salesman/woman.

Recent surveys have found that a significant number of people seeing tied agents incorrectly believe they are independent. We have seen it often on this board where people use the term IFA when they have later found out it wasnt an IFA.

As for your first post. Yes, there are lots of things that "could" be done but we know nothing about what you hold and what you are asking is a bit too specific to be answered here without you giving us more personal details.