IFA Qualifications

lindabea

Hello all, If an IFA has these qualifications Cert PFS, Cert CII, (MP & ER), can someone please advise if these would make him well qualified to advise on pensions/annuities. Or could they be just basic qualifications? Any comments please would be appreciated.

dunstonh

Cert PFS (and others) are ok for the moment but will be insufficient from 2013. The fact there is MP & ER included suggests that the person may be more focused on mortgages and equity release. Although some firms focus on equity release and retirement provision as a same area (people who need equity release are usually retired). Most IFAs no longer do mortgages (they use mortgage advisers) although those that do tend to be more mortgage biased. Displaying the mortgage qualification isnt anything special and in conjunction with eq release, indicates possibly mortgages and borrowing is their main area.

Difficult to really say going on initials only.

Annuity purchase is a bread and butter transaction for an IFA. You can largely sleepwalk on those unless it is larger pot. DipPFS is the 2013 requirement. About half of advisers are reported to be there or nearly there by now.

lindabea

Thank you Dunstonh- I knew you'd have the answer for me. I went on the Personal Finance Society website, but I could not see what MP and ER mean.

lindabea

Looked up the IFA on the FSA register, and he's listed as controlled functions CF30 customer. His history is listed as investment advisor CF21 and CF22.Would he be suitable to talk to me about pensions?

dunstonh

lindabea wrote: »

Looked up the IFA on the FSA register, and he's listed as controlled functions CF30 customer. His history is listed as investment advisor CF21 and CF22.Would he be suitable to talk to me about pensions?

CF21 was trainee adviser. CF22 was adviser but the FSA replaced those with CF30 when it got rid of the adviser/stockbroker classifications to combine them. It means he holds the qualifications.

Aegis

lindabea wrote: »

Looked up the IFA on the FSA register, and he's listed as controlled functions CF30 customer. His history is listed as investment advisor CF21 and CF22.Would he be suitable to talk to me about pensions?

Every adviser in the country should be listed as a CF30, as that essentially just means "customer facing adviser". It doesn't help at all with working out his qualifications.

Given that the RDR has been progressing for many years now, with the qualification requirement finalised quite some time ago, someone who has less than a year to go who still hasn't passed his exams is either a) extremely confident that he will be able to pass the rest of his exams before the end of the year, b) planning to stop advising at the end of the year or c) new to the industry. If it's a, then they might be very knowledgeable, if it's b or c then you should be on your guard a little more.

That said, there's an argument that the actual qualifications of an adviser are not that important in comparison to other issues. Whether they will be able to deal with your query efficiently depends on the complexity of your affairs and the experience of the individual, which may well be something gained from actually doing the job rather than from qualifications.

It's difficult to say whether they'll do a good job or not based solely on qualifications. I'd be inclined to find an adviser already qualified for next year simply because you know they can actually carry on advising once 2012 ends, while someone with only certificate level qualifications will have to stop (unless, as I mentioned above, they are brand new to the role, in which case they have a little longer).

In short, they are basic qualifications, deemed to be academically insufficient for provision of advice as of next year, but it might not fully represent the knowledge they have.

lindabea

Thank you Dunston and Aegis for your explanation. I found another local IFA who has CF30 and also CF24 which I understand is more to do with pensions. However, the first one sounded very professional when I spoke to him on the phone; I think I'll talk to them both and see which one I prefer.