Do I need an IFA?

recordfair

Hi,
I am 53 years old and my pension seems to be all over the place due to my changing employers , i track one with friends provident that is split into 3 different ones totalling around £60k which i havent contributed to for four years , i am now also receiving statements from Aegon relating to the same period with the same employer totalling £13k , because of doing nothing recently and my present empoyer not contributing ive set up a personal stakeholder that i intend to put around £1500 per annum in, but i'm not sure where im at with this and would like to sit down with someone who's not just going to sell me another policy ... i live in Nottingham .. what sort of advisor should i be seeking.. i have set up an isa that i put £5k per annum into also,

many thanks
Dave

Velcro_Hotdog

www.unbiased.co.uk is a good site to find a local IFA,

dunstonh

would like to sit down with someone who's not just going to sell me another policy ..

See an adviser and not a sales rep.

what sort of advisor should i be seeking

An IFA. Not an FA.

Do I need an IFA?

The two main choices are DIY or use an IFA. Ignore the rest of the options. If you cant DIY then it makes sense to use an IFA.

THere is a good chance an IFA will recommend you change some of the pensions. Modern pensions are usually cheaper than legacy ones and offer better investment selections. Operate on fee basis with commission rebated (or offset against the fee) and you know you wont have any perception of bias.

CannySaver_2

Hi

Some thoughts for you:

1. Dunstonh is right use an Independent Financial Adviser. I'm not sure everyone appreciates the difference, in essence an IFA is independent and can offer / advise on products from the whole of the market (there are some exceptions who say they are independent but in reality are not, Towry anyone?). A Financial Adviser is often tied to one product provider, for example if you would into Santander and see their adviser you will end up with a Santander product, or one from a single life company who they have chosen to tie themselves to. So, always use an independent adviser

2. Make sure you get on with the adviser on a personal level, you need to know, like and trust them. A good client / adviser relationship should last many years and over time they often become a trusted confident.

3. Think about whether you want to pay for their advice via fees or commission. Most advisers are moving towards fees now whether as a percentage of what you invest or an hourly rate which is often capped.

4. Make sure that the adviser you are dealing with has specialist knowledge of the areas you want to discuss, no good seeing an equity release specialist if you want to talk pensions!

5. Use unbiased.co.uk, as a great way of finding an adviser, also ask friends and family who they have used

6. Do some research before hand, a couple of hours on boards like this can help you formulate some ideas in your head before you see an adviser

I hope this helps

The Canny Saver