Annuity Advice?

dunstonh

. A few appear to be the financial advice wings of large accountancy practices -- two of whom I have dealt with in the distant past and left because of their astronomical fees. I'll pass on those.

That matches the situation in my area. One of the [now regional] accountancy firms has a minimum fee which is higher than my maximum. Accountant owned firms more or less have it handed to them on a plate. So, they don't need to be competitive. Many independent or small accountancy firms have local arrangements with other IFAs. That works well most of the time.

Two other IFAs listed are very local to me and appear to be either individuals or listed under their own name but working for larger outfits.

They could be IFAs that are using networks for compliance purposes. So, if they have their own trading name but are appointed representatives of XYZ then that XYZ is likely to be a network. That means that rather than have their compliance in house, they buy services from the network who then do the compliance for them.

. I thought there'd be hundreds of IFAs around here but there are not very many.

There is a filter that is auto on during the search to only show those that pay to have an enhanced entry (bigger box in blue). It will filter out and not show non paying firms. You have to untick the box (i think its option 2). That usually results in a greater number appearing as the overall database is around 99% of IFA firms.

65StillRockin

Oops! I was right about the minefield thing. The IFA I was going to approach first was very close to my home address but one I though looked like the working-from-home-for-a-big-company type, as a company name was mentioned. Thought I'd do some checking on t'net. The FSA did a probe on this company and (possibly in December - can't tell exactly when from my info) removed their permissions to be an IFA! The investigation by an independant outfit cost the company over £230000 and they've gone into receivership. They are not allowed to write any more new business. The unbiased.co.uk website still has them listed, quite understandably -- they probably haven't had time to update the website yet. But it just goes to show that it is very difficult to choose an IFA. My fragile confidence in the system is now further depleted!

dunstonh

My fragile confidence in the system is now further depleted!

There was probably only one IFA firm struck off in the last 3 months. It tends to make the headlines when it happens as it is not a common event. So, for you to pick the one out of the 30,000 out there that has been is pretty good going!

65StillRockin

My skills in such things are unrivalled!!

65StillRockin

OK! So I've now found what seems to be the right IFA. Let's see what develops. I post results here for information. Thanks dunstonh and others. Probably would have tried to sort it out myself if I hadn't have ventured onto this forum and received such useful advice.

Loughton_Monkey

65StillRockin wrote: »

My skills in such things are unrivalled!!

In that case, fingers crossed that the one you have found is 'Kosher'. But check first. Seeing IFA on the card could legitimately mean:

Irish Farmers Association (will take your pension fund and supply you with a kilogram of potatoes a month)
Institute of Field Archaeologists (will offer to dig up your grandmother)
Iraq Football Assocaition (might sign you up as a mid-fielder)