MOst adsvisers are unfit for purpose

Tiggs_2

Sounds like you are building your own mental barriers - pensions is not a complex issue. Any half decent adviser should be able to explain it in a way that you understand unless they are useless or you are un-teachable.

A tax wrapper for money is not rocket science...stop worrying about getting ripped off and what nonsense Which are rattling on about and have a meeting with an adviser....if you dont like them have another - somewhere out there is an adviser that can help you....IF you let them.

Find an adviser in their 30's and they prob wont even know what a bloody endowment is! I have never sold one in my life yet i'm an evil tied agent so surley i must have made a living out of such things????

whiteflag_3

Gorgeous_George wrote:

Independant financial advice is something to buy without having sales linked to the advice.

Take the advice, mix with scepticism and personal experience and then buy the products independantly of the financial adviser.

Today's IFAs are yesterday's endowment policy salepeople.



GG

Im an IFA (12 Years) and have never sold an endowment - Georgeous Dod you need to edit your post at the very least , better still delete the whole thing.

whiteflag_3

Tiggs wrote:

Find an adviser in their 30's ????

Probably easier to find an adviser with a wooden leg and real foot!!

EdInvestor

Cook_County wrote:

There is - however - a slight mistake in the description of tax qualifications in the Which? report. Seeing this error made me think that the overall standard of journalism might be questionable.

The FSA found exactly the same thing in a
report a couple of months ago.

Which is why before consulting an advisor, readers should come here to get background info and then come back later to get comment on the advice given.That way there's more chance of avoiding problems.As I've said before - and IFAs have agreed - no-one competent will object to a well-informed client who asks intelligent questions.

dunstonh

Which is why before consulting an advisor, readers should come here to get background info and then come back later to get comment on the advice given.That way there's more chance of avoiding problems.As I've said before - and IFAs have agreed - no-one competent will object to a well-informed client who asks intelligent questions.

Debating the issues is great. However, when some of the individuals here ignore facts and give incorrect information out, it can do far more damage than good. Asking intelligent answers is great but ignoring the answers isnt.

The Which report isnt causing any ripples so far. Seeing as it was first published 2 weeks ago, it hasnt had an impact. Probably as none of the issues it highlighted were of major concern. Plus there are comments that have been made that the research is flawed. I.e. Investment business where no illustration was issued is marked as a failure. However, there is no requirement to provide an illustration on ISAs, unit trusts or oeics and many providers do not have the facility to give an illustration.

Every profession and industry has individuals that bend or break the rules to some extent. Whether they are doctors, teachers, policemen or whoever. If this is the worst they find, then that is easily dealt with. I mean, name and shame a couple of providers where some advisers gave the impression they were indepedent when they were not! Its hardly end of the world stuff.

Im an IFA (12 Years) and have never sold an endowment

Which leads to an interesting point. Which? were advising people to take out endowments all those years ago as a best buy. It is probable that Which? are responsible for more endowment sales than most companies and certainly any one adviser.

The consumers association and the various financial services bodies are always at each others throats. I would say that it would be hard for either side to be totally objective in these things as they are all looking to take "media" punches against each other.

anniecave

Well interestingly enough I phoned up Norwich Union for a quote for a life assurance policy last week, and both the introductory mechanical voice and the person I spoke to said that they were only giving info on their own stuff not financial advice. I commented to the lady I spoke to that the introduction had already said this, and she apologised and said that the introduction had been changed that week. I wonder if they are now being doubly careful in light of the report then?

Tiggs_2

EdInvestor wrote:

Which is why before consulting an advisor, readers should come here to get background info and then come back later to get comment on the advice given.

should they? in the area i advise in there are regular posts/threads with infomation posted by forum members that ranges from slightly wrong to very, very wrong.

it would be quite possible for one of my clients to come on here and be told they are getting incorrect advice from a scum bag tied agent who probably caused 95% of all endowments sales on his own.

as it is i have not had a single complaint in 10 years, have saved millions of pounds in tax for clients, made millions of pounds in growth for clients and was at school when endowments were being missold.

caveat emptor is all very well but i bet if the net had been around in Roman times there would be a version that translated to "forum member lookout"

dunstonh

I commented to the lady I spoke to that the introduction had already said this, and she apologised and said that the introduction had been changed that week. I wonder if they are now being doubly careful in light of the report then?

More likely an update down to NU issuing their new protection contract this week and making sure everything is updated to reflect that. With any new launch, the compliance team would have had their tasks to do to tick their boxes.

regularsaver1

I know the tied advisers in my bank are paid very well, but they do a good job and follow regulations - up to client if they go with the advice

why are they paid so much more that mortgage advisers is what beats me???

anyhow, some of the PFA's that i know, used to be independent but chose to work for the bank. maybe they earn more this way? I'm not sure

Pobby

My expeience with tied FAs has not been good at all.I won`t go into details on the subject.Dunstonh explained to me the difference which I was grateful for.Certainly I would chose an IFA.As I see it,for the most part their success would be based on performance and therefore reputation.

How many times I wonder has my wife,when paying a good commission cheque for me,been asked if she had any ideas what she would like to do with the money.Banks have become very aggresive in trying to sell you their ``products``.