Free pension advice ?

brizey47

I retire next March and I've been quoted £150 per hour by an IFA to sort out my private pension which is by todays standards very small, much less than £100,000, I know I can take the commision route instead should I choose to do so but is there any way of getting this advice for free and if not which alternative should I choose.

Aegis

You could try the Pensions Advisory Service for very basic enquiries, but if you want specific advice on your circumstances, you'll need to pay for it. Otherwise there's no sustainable business model that could survive while giving out tailored financial advice for free!

dunstonh

is there any way of getting this advice for free

Only if you meet a stupid adviser and in that case, I wouldnt be happy in trusting their advice.

There are plenty of sites on the web that give basic, generic information, including the pension advisory service, but you wont get advice.

and if not which alternative should I choose.

If you dont like the charges of one IFA then try another. Remember that most fees can be collected via the commission system. So, you can agree a fee but have it taken out of commission with any surplus commission being used to improve terms (HMRC do not allow commission rebates to you on pension business)

zygurat789

Seems to me that you just got some.

sandsy

Why do you think you should get a professional service for free?
And commission is not free, it's built into the cost of the product.

sa_06

Aegis wrote: »

You could try the Pensions Advisory Service for very basic enquiries, but if you want specific advice on your circumstances, you'll need to pay for it.

I didn't know this service existed actually, so i thought I'd butt into this thread and say a quick thank you myself.

erdd2

brizey47 wrote: »

I retire next March and I've been quoted £150 per hour by an IFA to sort out my private pension which is by todays standards very small, much less than £100,000, I know I can take the commision route instead should I choose to do so but is there any way of getting this advice for free and if not which alternative should I choose.

£150 an hour is not small if the advice is shoite;) you could shop around ifas, tied and voluntary advisors gathering info to promulgate before making any decisions.

bigfreddiel

sandsy wrote: »

Why do you think you should get a professional service for free?
And commission is not free, it's built into the cost of the product.

i would not mind paying for advice - however is there any site or agency that will rate an IFA? They cannot all be equally good so how can I as a consumer be confident I am getting good advice?

Perhaps I could ask them to show me their client list, their credit rating or something else?

cheers

fj

dunstonh

however is there any site or agency that will rate an IFA?

Not any of any use. It wouldn't work. Everytime the market goes down, the iFA would be rated low and when it goes up they would be rated higher. When in reality, that isnt the job of the IFA.

They cannot all be equally good so how can I as a consumer be confident I am getting good advice?

Statically, despite doing the majority of advice transactions (over 3/4 when it comes to pensions), IFAs account for under 2% of complaints with the FOS. So, the odds of a bad one are low. Ask questions, look at the quality of the research and the ability to explain it to you so you understand. Most advice is logical and uncomplicated.

Perhaps I could ask them to show me their client list

data protection would not allow that.

their credit rating

A business does not have a credit rating. IFAs, as individuals, have to be solvent.

Loughton_Monkey

brizey47 wrote: »

I retire next March and I've been quoted £150 per hour by an IFA to sort out my private pension which is by todays standards very small, much less than £100,000, I know I can take the commision route instead should I choose to do so but is there any way of getting this advice for free and if not which alternative should I choose.

Very difficult to answer!

The words "sort out my private pension" are extremely vague and could mean anything. It could mean (a) simply buying an annuity for you, (b) advising what type of annuity to buy, (c) advising on alternatives to annuities, (d) advising on appropriate fund switches to optimise your fund for the remaining period, (e) advising on choice of funds for drawdown if that's the route you would be taking, (f) simply de-coding your paperwork and helping you to fill in the forms necessary to draw your pension.

Were I to be an IFA (I'm not) I, too, would quote an hourly fee, since I have no idea what you want me to do to "sort it out", and so I'd probably just do all of the above, and come to you with a bill for £3,000 claiming it all took me 20 hours......

Best recommendation, therefore, is to clarify and specify precisely what you want doing. Maybe it's so simple any of us could adequately point you in the right direction. If that involves an IFA, then, again, it might be cheaper if you instruct him/her precisely.