Best advice on how / where to invest

Cerberuz

I recently won a 4 year long medical negligence case (3 counts of neglect by my GP which left me with a disabled leg) and im after some advice on where's the best place to invest safely.. A financial advisor who I spoke to briefly recommended that I invested £150k and spread the rest over a couple of savings accounts, But under closer inspection it seems that the advisor would get £5550 in comission and then they'd pocket around £900 / £1000 per year while my money was invested, is this normal??

Would i be better investing in property and renting it out??

Any advice greatly appreciated

Loughton_Monkey

Whilst it's perfectly 'normal' for an advisor to steal 3.7% of your money, it's rather a silly thing to do, don't you think?

I will do it for 3.5%, and I'm not FSA registered.

Go around the local IFA market, and tell them all you want it done for £1,000 flat fee. Settle for £2,000 absolute tops.

The idiot who wants £5,550 plus £1,000 a year - hang his name, address, and picture on about 7,000 posters. Put the details on it and nail them to 7,000 trees around the area. He will get loads of work as a comedian, which is the only profession he is apprently capable of.

dunstonh

Would i be better investing in property and renting it out??

But then your letting agent would take money and you would incur other costs.

A financial advisor who I spoke to briefly recommended that I invested £150k and spread the rest over a couple of savings accounts, But under closer inspection it seems that the advisor would get £5550 in comission and then they'd pocket around £900 / £1000 per year while my money was invested, is this normal??

For an FA on commission it is. What you really need is an IFA on fee basis. The amount you are looking at is too much for commission.

The idiot who wants £5,550 plus £1,000 a year - hang his name, address, and picture on about 7,000 posters. Put the details on it and nail them to 7,000 trees around the area. He will get loads of work as a comedian, which is the only profession he is apprently capable of.

LM, as its an FA, they really have no choice. They do what their employer tells them to do. Most FAs do not have a fee option or the ability to reduce commission.

Loughton_Monkey

dunstonh wrote: »

LM, as its an FA, they really have no choice. They do what their employer tells them to do. Most FAs do not have a fee option or the ability to reduce commission.

Well, I guess that's true. But I would look to the company (bank?) behind it. I suppose that here, at the very least, commission disclosure is working, and it has put the OP on enquiry......

To Cerberuz, I would suggest that you can afford a few weeks of 'ordinary' savings account interest where you bone up on a comfortable 'strategy' for what to do with your money. Basically there are savings (safe but low interest) or investments (volatile, risky, but with better long term growth potential). Within each are ISA wrappers, and there a pension opportunites (possibly, but maybe not) as well.

Get the strategy right, and then implementing that is neither difficult nor costly. A good (well recommended) IFA would be expected to give reasonably good advice at a reasonable cost.

People like myself (with a bit of a financial services background) do this for ourselves at no 'cost'. However, it is perfectly possible for an IFA to look at what I do (have done), and give me access to markets that do the same, but cheaper. I don't do this, because I would have to pay for the (strategic) advice that I don't need. In your case, it's probably worth it.

Do not, however, go to a High Street Bank or a single company 'advisor' because they are not required to come up with the 'correct' strategy - only an appropriate one within the constraints of their own product line.

Cerberuz

Cheers for the help, The company who's Financial Advisor i have had this "advice" from is part of the same company as that of my solicitors who dealt with my medical negligence case, My solicitor asked me if i wanted to have the money put in a Personal Injury Trust Fund, which I have done, This Financial Advisor sent me a report and in the report are all the commission figures etc that they will get If i invest, seemed to be alot of commision that could be better used giving me a better return on my investment if I were to Invest..

Thanks for the advice regarding high-street banks, I was considering going to Lloyds’s and Santander to book appointments, the only thing that stopped me doing so was a feeling that they'd only offer me their own in-house services etc, I'll look for an independent Advisor now..
As for renting out and then an agent getting his share, By trade I’m an electrician, I know lots of other trades so looking after any potential properties I'd buy and rent out is not an issue really as far as looking after them goes..

dunstonh

Cheers for the help, The company who's Financial Advisor i have had this "advice" from is part of the same company as that of my solicitors who dealt with my medical negligence case, My solicitor asked me if i wanted to have the money put in a Personal Injury Trust Fund, which I have done, This Financial Advisor sent me a report and in the report are all the commission figures etc that they will get If i invest, seemed to be alot of commision that could be better used giving me a better return on my investment if I were to Invest..

It seems very strange that a IFA linked to a solicitor is taking commission. You normally expect to see those on fee basis.