Do You Need Financial Advice? When To Get It, When Not To Get It Discussion Area

baracoa_babs

I have to agree 'how much the advice is worth' with an IFA in Glasgow for the investment of an inheritance.
Since I'm a mature student with practically no income, and actually poor prospects financially even when qualified, it's £60000 that's going to be invested, as I'll need the rest to live off till I get a bit of income.
At my present rate of spend, 3% of £60000 seems a huge amount of money and about 10 times the hourly rate of other professionals I consult (I know there are a lot of costs to the IFA though).
Can anyone help me get an idea of what's reasonable? I've got a family to support and do it very frugally so this seems a lot of cash to me. Thanks for any ideas.

gadgetmind

What are your investment goals?

That sum can generate about £2k of sustainable and index-linked extra income per year, which can quickly be tax free by using ISAs. Would that make enough of a difference?

dunstonh

At my present rate of spend, 3% of £60000 seems a huge amount of money and about 10 times the hourly rate of other professionals I consult (I know there are a lot of costs to the IFA though).

About 1/3rd of the remuneration goes on costs of regulation and compliance. Add on costs of staff, office, software etc than often an IFA will be lucky to see half the fee going to them.

Can anyone help me get an idea of what's reasonable?

£1000 to £2000 is a fair range. Likely to be more expensive in city locations and could be cheaper in more rural.

Daniel_Elkington

If it was straightforward and you didn't want any on-going service I can't see us charging more than about £600-800 for that?

I work on an hourly rate though and am very quick, I suppose other advisers on a % base who can't use technology as well as I can (built my first PC at age 8!) would have to charge more.

Find a sensible geeky IFA, they could probably do it for cheaper without wanting to push you into the more esoteric investment types.

Murray_Streets

Is it an IFA I need?
My partner and I are about to relocate for work. This will necessitate renting out our current (mortgaged) home and letting another at the other end of the country. Our mortgage company have approved this "consent to let" for a year, which is roughly when our fixed term ends.

We have no idea what will happen after our initial 6/12 month rental period: we may want to buy in our new location and sell the old place, or buy but continue letting out the old place.

My needs are around financial planning for the next few, uncertain years. And I also recognise my previously simple tax arrangements (we are both PAYE and have no other income) are likely to become more complicated now we are about to become landlords, at least for 6 to 12 months.

It feels like we need to be seeking financial planning, tax advice and mortgage advice in the coming months. As best I understand it, that would require visits to an IFA, a tax adviser and a mortgage broker! Seems a lot for what isn't an overly complicated change o our lives (no need or talk of pensions or other investments).

Which profession is going to be age to best help me make informed plans?
Would welcome your advice.

InsertWittyName

Sounds to me like you need an accountant for the first two and a mortgage broker for the second.

You don't need either of those by the way, but you may choose to employ them.

MoneyUnsure

Hi,

I need to get an IFA to help me set up an offshore pension thingy so I can take advantage of my companies policy on matching contributions. I move around a bit and am currently living in Tanzania, but would rather get an IFA in the UK. I work for a British Company. Is it possible to get this kind of financial advise remotely?

Thanks a lot.

Aegis

MoneyUnsure wrote: »

Hi,

I need to get an IFA to help me set up an offshore pension thingy so I can take advantage of my companies policy on matching contributions. I move around a bit and am currently living in Tanzania, but would rather get an IFA in the UK. I work for a British Company. Is it possible to get this kind of financial advise remotely?

Thanks a lot.

Are you sure your company will match contributions into a non-UK pension in the first place?

If you are UK resident for tax purposes, it may simply be easier to find a UK pension scheme and pay into that. If you are non-UK resident and unlikely to visit the UK to meet an adviser, I suspect this is a non-starter for most firms for a number of compliance reasons.

MoneyUnsure

Aegis wrote: »

Are you sure your company will match contributions into a non-UK pension in the first place?

If you are UK resident for tax purposes, it may simply be easier to find a UK pension scheme and pay into that. If you are non-UK resident and unlikely to visit the UK to meet an adviser, I suspect this is a non-starter for most firms for a number of compliance reasons.

Thanks for your reply, Aegis.
According to the information I've been given "Applicants with either UK-based or Offshore Private Pension Plans may be considered for matching contributions." Then there's a load of stuff about the differences between these two, and about being resident and non-resident...all of which is a bit confusing to me.
Is it possible/advisable to get an IFA just to help me understand the legalese maybe? I'm also unsure about if I can get NI contributions made at the moment too-I've checked the .gov websites about it, and have come away none the wiser!

Any further help much appreciated!

Aegis

MoneyUnsure wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, Aegis.
According to the information I've been given "Applicants with either UK-based or Offshore Private Pension Plans may be considered for matching contributions." Then there's a load of stuff about the differences between these two, and about being resident and non-resident...all of which is a bit confusing to me.
Is it possible/advisable to get an IFA just to help me understand the legalese maybe? I'm also unsure about if I can get NI contributions made at the moment too-I've checked the .gov websites about it, and have come away none the wiser!

Any further help much appreciated!

You could probably find someone to help, but you'll need to sift through the large number of generalists to find someone who specialises enough in non-resident tax planning and offshore pensions. I also don't know how much you'd be charged for such a service. Many of the offshore pensions (at least the really good ones) will charge upwards of £1,000 per annum just for the pension wrapper, let alone the underlying investments. For the type of market they're aiming for, this isn't a significant percentage of the portfolio each year, but for someone starting out it might significant hamper growth or even wipe out your entire pot.

It's worth looking, but be a little careful, especially if you see financial services companies that aren't authorised by a well-known regulator.