How do you select a good ifa?

roysterer

This forum very often refers to getting advise from an IFA? I guess this is sound advise. But how do you know that you are getting good advise? and how do you know a good IFA from a bad one?
If you look in the Yellow Pages for a plumber you dont know whether you have contacted a cowboy until after the event.
So my question is:- if you want to invest 30K via an IFA then how do you start? and what should you look out for? and how do you know whether the IFA is looking after your interest or is own?
I am considering investing to hopefully achieve an average of say 7% to 8% growth (per year) on average (compound) over the next 10 years.
Are my expectations realistic? and where do I start.
Thanks for any advice.

Gwhiz

roysterer wrote: »

This forum very often refers to getting advise from an IFA? I guess this is sound advise. But how do you know that you are getting good advise? and how do you know a good IFA from a bad one?
If you look in the Yellow Pages for a plumber you dont know whether you have contacted a cowboy until after the event.
So my question is:- if you want to invest 30K via an IFA then how do you start? and what should you look out for? and how do you know whether the IFA is looking after your interest or is own?
I am considering investing to hopefully achieve an average of say 7% to 8% growth (per year) on average (compound) over the next 10 years.
Are my expectations realistic? and where do I start.
Thanks for any advice.

It is a minefield. I've had my fair share of meetings with unsavoury IFAs over the years. I always suggest you get personal recommendation from someone who uses the IFA and is happy. Best way not to go too wrong I would say.

In terms of return. Well.... it's all about risk vs reward and don't forget that the value of investments can go down as well as up

jem16

roysterer wrote: »

So my question is:- if you want to invest 30K via an IFA then how do you start?

A recommendation can be best. However if you can't get that then look for IFAs in your own area - https://www.unbiased.co.uk

See more than one and see what they have to say.

and what should you look out for?

Avoid national salesforces - often with 0870 numbers. They are usually sales orientated which never goes well with impartial advice. Try to pick a smaller local firm where you can deal directly with the owner/partner.

and how do you know whether the IFA is looking after your interest or is own?

Ask to see all the research for the recommendation. If they can't/won't show you it then walk away. You can pay by fee either upfront or an agreed fee which can come out of the IFAs commission payment with the rest rebated back to your investment.

I am considering investing to hopefully achieve an average of say 7% to 8% growth (per year) on average (compound) over the next 10 years.
Are my expectations realistic?

I don't think it's unrealistic but it depends on the level of risk you are willing to take.

[Deleted User]

I had a personal recommendation once. The ifa gave me sound advice for one year and that was the sprat to catch the mackerel. The following year he wanted my dh to move his big pension and he would have gained fees of lots of thousands. I took the pension on myself and moved it all to a sipp, where it grew 16% over the last 2 years. In the meantime the person who recommended the ifa made contact with me asking if I was with his recommendation. I said no. I since found out that the person doing the recommending was himself in the financial world and would have received a big kickback of money

ps: his recommendations would have gone down by a LOT as he was delving into hedge funds and property funds amongst others

I don`t want to burst your bubble re growth expectations but your growth rates are far too high at the moment. I had to work hard to achieve the 8% per year and that included selling gilts at their peak, buying shares in their troughs and being in cash when appropraite

I do have various stocks and fixed rate producers in the pot now ie the major oils are giving a yield of 7%. I also have pibs eg standard chartered bond which goes on in perpetuity and gives a yield of 11.6% (the yield is lower now as I bought this one when it wasn`t so popular) and so on.

Investing for yourself isn`t rocket science but remember everyone you `employ` will want their cut, ifas and fund managers etc.

maryotuam

Why not do a little research yourself? Read the money pages of your daily newspaper for a couple of weeks and look up anything you don't understand on Wiki or money forums. At least you can use this small bit of info to "test" your potential IFA's. You never know, you might even decide that you are safer going it alone if you have more time to reearch.

Six years ago we availed of the "free" financial advice providede by our bank. Then we checked out their recommendations. We chose two funds they suggested but signed up through Bestinvest instead. It is one of several web sites that give independent financial advice. They gave us a bigger discount than his commission and over all we felt more in control.

jem16

kittie wrote: »

ps: his recommendations would have gone down by a LOT as he was delving into hedge funds and property funds amongst others

How can you tell that he would not have made changes accordingingly? My portfolio has had various changes made over the last two years.

maryotuam wrote: »

Six years ago we availed of the "free" financial advice providede by our bank. Then we checked out their recommendations. We chose two funds they suggested but signed up through Bestinvest instead. It is one of several web sites that give independent financial advice. They gave us a bigger discount than his commission and over all we felt more in control.

Good idea if you are happy doing DIY. However are you sure that using the funds that the bank "suggested" would be the best to use?

[Deleted User]

Jem, how much has your ifa based portfolio gone up, percentage wise?

roysterer

Thank you for all your replies, it more or less confirms to me that everybody including IFAs' have different opinions resulting in some making good profits and some making huge losses. But one thing for sure is that ALL IFAs will always have an excuse for there decision making. You are GUARANTEED they will say your investment will come good if you hang on in there despite whether the ftse goes up or down. I am sure that 90% of investors have the same agenda to have a good reliable return (peaks and troughs) without taking massive risk to there capital. So therefore you would expect similar reccomendations from a broad range of IFAs. So it would be perfect if there was table showing all Funds and how many times each fund has been reccomended by IFAS on a rolling calender month. 10,000 brains is far better than one. It might even keep Fund Managers on there toes!!!!!

Lokolo

Then do it yourself, then if it all goes wrong, you only have yourself to blame...

RuthA

Thanks for the pointer to Bestinvest. We are considering investing in an OEIC but are wary of trusting a IFA and would obviously rather not pay them commission or fees. We have a reasonable amount to invest, so according to the Bestinvest website, the advise should be free.

Do you think they are worth approaching or are they just too good to be true?

Thanks!

dunstonh

We are considering investing in an OEIC but are wary of trusting a IFA and would obviously rather not pay them commission or fees. We have a reasonable amount to invest, so according to the Bestinvest website, the advise should be free.

You are wary of trusting an IFA but Bestinvest are IFAs. They are also not free. They get paid commission.