Unregulated advice

sweeneytodd

I'm a little confused so please bear with me.

I know the quality of paid for advice can vary but as far as I'm aware there are safeguards in place should that advice prove to be wrong or misleading?

Is there any form of redress available should I put my hard earned into a vehicle recommended here or is it basically the Wild West?

Linton

The internet is the wild west. Anything said here is a comment for discussion and not advice or a recommendation. On the other hand there is much to be learned from this and other financial forums.

atush

Learn but DYOR. It is the wild west here and elsewhere.

dunstonh

I know the quality of paid for advice can vary but as far as I'm aware there are safeguards in place should that advice prove to be wrong or misleading?

It doesnt vary that much. IFAs handle over three quarters of pension advice. Yet only have under 1.5% of complaints at the FOS. Nothing is perfect but the odds are good that you will get good advice and of course you do have the consumer protection.

Is there any form of redress available should I put my hard earned into a vehicle recommended here or is it basically the Wild West?

Nothing is recommended here. The board is for discussion and comment only and in the few places there are articles on regulated products/areas, the quality is not that good. e.g. the pension article on this site is obsolete and includes products that havent been available for 3 years. Or the income protection article that focuses only on payment protection and not PHI which is the main type of income protection. The info on the site is basic. It serves a purpose to get you thinking but I wouldnt rely on it.

You get no consumer protection by acting on comments or articles on this website.

fairleads

dunstonh wrote: »

The info on the site is basic. It serves a purpose to get you thinking but I wouldnt rely on it.

I'll second that.

sweeneytodd

I spent a decade or so of my life working in compliance and this is an interesting model for sure.

The advice, for advice it is in at least some cases, is free, of variable quality and delivered by both professionals and amateurs based on whatever information the original poster chooses/remembers to provide.

It's an interesting business model. The site owner, who as far as I'm aware also holds no qualifications in this area, facilitates posting by folk who can claim to be whoever or whatever they want and uses the traffic they generate to increase overall revenue for the site?

I'm all for DIY when it comes to kitchens and bathrooms I'm surprised folk can receive advice, free or not that could mean them making a decision to commit their life savings without any form of redress if it goes tits up.

Caveat Emptor Max Strength indeed:eek:

bigadaj

The lack of basic understanding of finance is shocking, and whatever you decide to do then you need to have a basic understanding of what you are doing. The advantage of this site is that you will get a range of responses and with no axe to grind then feedback here from a variety of people will give some indication of what you need to aim for. The problem seems to be that many people go to advisers without a basic idea, and then are shocked with short term losses. If you are a beginner then save money in cash isas and do some reading, paying down a mortgage is good advice if you have a low risk attitude and pension contributions are normally worthwhile if the employer contributes. Only then should you go into equities or higher risk investments, and as with anything if you don't understand why or what you are doing then don't do it. If you do go to an adviser then remember there are no guarantees, i.e. If you lose money it's highly unlikely you will have redress so long as the advice hasn't been reckless.

atush

Actually I have seen a huge number of axes grinding on this site (from one poster in this thread particularly).

But I agree basic understanding is shocking (most shocking to me is those supposedly educated folks in the PS) and most of us amateurs here can only base our specuation on the often incomplete info we are given.

AS long as everyone is trying to learn, and uses responses here as a basis for DYOR then it should work fine as a single educational resource.

fairleads

sweeneytodd wrote: »

I'm a little confused so please bear with me.

I know the quality of paid for advice can vary but as far as I'm aware there are safeguards in place should that advice prove to be wrong or misleading?

Is there any form of redress available should I put my hard earned into a vehicle recommended here or is it basically the Wild West?

Have to say that its only wild if we allow it to be. Unfortunately life is less a of school, where we were taught, but more of a university, where we have to learn. Education is the best protection.

bigadaj

Sorry missed the axe grinding in front of me. My point was that the balance of advice here is normally ok, not saying that individuals don't do it.

gadgetmind

sweeneytodd wrote: »

I'm all for DIY when it comes to kitchens and bathrooms

I'm sure that kitchen and bathroom fitting companies might say otherwise.