Who gives good advice?

Lucy88

I posted a message earlier and would like to know where you can get good unbiased business/financial advice? My bank wants to sell me more and is not interested in advice to help me. I feel they would happily see me get in more debt then have to sell to pay what I owe them-each little advisor would have their bonus for selling more!! I've tried phoning mortgage/ commercial advisors but they also seem to want a quick fix.Am I synical?? I ended up researching and completing my own Tax returns after realising I was paying £200 per year to tell the accountant what to fill in!! Are there people out there who are mechanics rather than part changers !!

UK007BullDog

Well, if you need business advice you could try your local council for their business startup help, or a business network like https://www.ecademy.com where there are people in the same position but it will cost you a membership fee of £10 per month. There you will find lots of business people willing to give you advice for free.

Bankers are not business people so they are not the ones to ask for advice on running a business. They are not in the business of letting you go bankrupt, they make money by helping you get the most out of your business and charging you fees and interest for the privilege. They are definitely not the ones to ask for business advice.

I pay my Accountant £250 and he tells me what to give him in documentation and he does everything. I found him by visiting 4 accountants and I liked him best because he had already prepared a list for me on the "get to know us visit".

There are also a lot of books written on how to run a business. I have about a dozen of those. Some were good others were excellent and some totally useless. I found that networking in large business networks are best for advice and getting clients as well.

Lucy88

Thanks that's useful but I live in a very rural area- how do you find a good accountant who's not a relative of a friend? I am on PAYE and have run a business alongside working for LEA. I can't afford to give up the day jod -although I have cut down my hours as that pays the mortgage and bills.

Luddite_2

There is an organisation that will provide a list of Independent Financial Advisers . Presumably it is also possible to get a similar list of qualified accountants - then as the previous poster suggested go with the one you like. I know what you mean though - I live in a rural area where everyone knows or is related to everyone else. It can be difficult but it can work in your favour - word of mouth recommendations can be very useful.

dunstonh

Accountants give advice on tax issues. IFAs give advice on investment products. Mortgage advisers give advice on mortgages. Banks operate on s salesforce basis and most business "managers" havent a clue about businesses (I used to work for a bank many years ago and my banking business manager started in the bank a few months after I did and has no experience in business, no qualifications relating to business but has a massive sales target to achieve).

What sort of advice are you after?

An Accountant only costing £200 suggests you were paying for a very basic service.