How do you select a good ifa?

Rollinghome

It's tricky even with recommendations. A friend highly recommended his IFA to me but I was very surprised when I saw what he'd been sold. He just wasn't aware how second-rate the advice he'd been given was or how much he'd effectively paid for it. He'd recently retired and the advice he'd been given concerning deferring his state pension was also wrong. It seems the expections of many people just aren't very high and almost by definition might not be best able to recognise second-rate advice.

More recently I used unbiased.co.uk to find an IFA specialising in investment. The nearest recommended was a director in a smallish company. He was middle-aged, likeably and seemed open and honest, but his financial knowledge was incredibly poor. I'd expected his expertise to be limited to funds but even there it wasn't very unimpressive. Even the "fact-find" was practically non-existent and didn't include nearly enough to properly advise me. It was for a very large sum of money so I had expected more.

I also had a rep from a provider contact me via a building society. He was so clueless even about his own products it amazed me that anyone bought from him.

I'm quite happy choosing my own investments but have better things to do with my time and would have been willing to pay someone decent to do it for me if they could do it better and add value. I expect there are some very good advisers out there offering a service worth paying for but as yet I haven't found one.

RuthA

dunstonh wrote: »

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

Thanks.....I will look very carefully then. We have not been over-impressed with either of the two IFAs we have spoken to and one was a recommendation from a friend.

I think a wee bit more research on my part might be worthwhile!

roysterer

dunstonh wrote: »

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

You regularly advise people to get independant financial advise. I was kind of hoping you would explain the best route to take to obtain this advice.
It would appear that many people have taken independant advice only to regret it. It is easy to be vague and generalise and tell people where they have gone wrong after the event, but when advice is requested before the event there does not appear to be much particularly from experts.
I applaud the ammount of time and effort you take in replying to peoples post but please explain next time you advise someone to seek advice from an IFA how they go about getting it?
Keep up the good work, I would take advice from you seriously, so if you know a good IFA in Gloucester please let me know.
Thankyou.

Lokolo

You have to go in, not expecting a 5%, 10%, 50% return. IFAs are just like any other person, just with the financial knowledge to give guidance.

They cannot read the future.

Its not like other advisor type jobs where you get the thing you want, so a estate agent, you find the house you want for example.

People complain when they come out after 10 years without profit. Yeh its a pain, a right pain, but they aren't aiming for you to lose money, they'll lose custom, and therefore income. They want to give you profit, so you put more time and money into them, but they can't automatically do this.

In that respect it is hard to choose a good one, a lot of people go in thinking, I want the one who can give me the best return. What you want is someone who can give you a decent portfolio according to your position. (so if you are risky you go for risky investments and vice versa)

roysterer

Lokolo wrote: »

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

This is exactly the reply you come to expect from a so called money saving expert. I dont want to blame myself if it goes wrong. That is why I am seeking advice from this forum. If what you posted is constituted as advice then why did you bother posting at all?

Where do you get your investment advice from? Are you happy with it? How long have you been using your advisor? What areas of investment is he advising you invest in at this moment in time? these are the sort of questions I and many others are looking for. So come on all you experts give us the benefit of your expertise and start posting real advice.

Aegis

roysterer wrote: »

This is exactly the reply you come to expect from a so called money saving expert. I dont want to blame myself if it goes wrong. That is why I am seeking advice from this forum. If what you posted is constituted as advice then why did you bother posting at all?

Legally speaking, you can ONLY blame yourself if you take financial "advice" from this or any other web forum and it doesn't work from you. Financial advice comes from financial advisers, and they will only dispense their advice when a sufficiently detailed factfind has been conducted and when they have had a chance to determine the investments they feel would best suit your objectives and risk profile(s). Any professional adviser giving you advice via this medium could be in trouble with the FSA and could lose their right to practice. Knowing that, can you see why you don't get specifics from the professionals here?

Where do you get your investment advice from?

For my part, I do my own research and rebalance when I see fit.

Are you happy with it?

Yep, but it's what I want to turn into my career, so I'd have to be!

How long have you been using your advisor? What areas of investment is he advising you invest in at this moment in time?

Advice is specific to individuals. You can pretty safely bet that 10 people getting financial advice will have 10 different sets of recommendations. There will be overlaps, some more common than others, but posting actual specific financial advice in this setting is not possible for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's against the board rules.

these are the sort of questions I and many others are looking for. So come on all you experts give us the benefit of your expertise and start posting real advice.

As I said, it doesn't work like that

jon3001

roysterer wrote: »

and how do you know a good IFA from a bad one?

Do an Internet search and see if anything like this comes up...

German pensioners ‘kidnap and torture their investment adviser’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6565206.ece

[Deleted User]

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

people only have themselves to blame. Most people could look after their own financial affairs but it takes effort and research and that takes time and commitment. Too many people are too quick to pass the buck when things go wrong. Prevention is better than revenge

Lokolo

roysterer wrote: »

This is exactly the reply you come to expect from a so called money saving expert. I dont want to blame myself if it goes wrong. That is why I am seeking advice from this forum. If what you posted is constituted as advice then why did you bother posting at all?

Where do you get your investment advice from? Are you happy with it? How long have you been using your advisor? What areas of investment is he advising you invest in at this moment in time? these are the sort of questions I and many others are looking for. So come on all you experts give us the benefit of your expertise and start posting real advice.

I do it myself. I don't get advice. I get some ideas from others on this forum on things like how to balance the portfolio and what sort of risk I want to take. But the specifics I have chosen myself.

Around 3-6 months of learning what funds are, what areas there are and the risk they ential I am doing it myself. Now just hoping I get a decent return.

Bold bit. The thing is, a lot of people come on here, wanting 10%+ returns with no cost, and its not possible. Noone can guarentee 10% return and noone is going to give advice for free. When you go to an IFA and after 2 years you are down 5% or whatever, and come back to this forum saying "etc.etc.etc. I want to sue my IFA he has lost me money" (because unfortunately, a lot of people do!) we have to say, tough luck, which is the point I was trying to make.

Rollinghome

Lokolo wrote: »

When you go to an IFA and after 2 years you are down 5% or whatever, and come back to this forum saying "etc.etc.etc. I want to sue my IFA he has lost me money" (because unfortunately, a lot of people do!) we have to say, tough luck, which is the point I was trying to make.

With the FTSE down over 35% over the last two years, any advisor who has limited losses to just 5%, especially if that's after his 5% front end commission, is doing rather well.

Who is this man? Seems to be the bloke roysterer is looking for.