Seen IFA, But also seen neg comments on here...

dunstonh

This sounds a bit like an admission that, as recently as 5 years ago, things in the IFA world weren't great.

Not at all. It's just that things progress so fast and standards continue to rise. Software is a lot of the reason. You can do so much more nowadays than you could do in the past. It used to be that you would get a monthly data pink paper and you would research from that. Today, you have real time data via online sources.

I wonder how many of the bad feelings on here are based on recent experiences vs older experiences.

I wonder how many of the bad feelings are from people that have never even seen an IFA yet are jumping on the bandwaggon.

psychic_teabag

Okay, sorry, so you mean the quality of work an IFA can perform, rather than the (eg compliance) standards to which they were held.

Though of course that same explosion of software and data access also makes DIY easier for those who chose that path. Although I gather the best platforms and funds are still only available via IFA :-( Perhaps just because they don't want to be exposed to lots of silly questions from retail customers - they can let the IFA deal with first-level support and know that the queries they get from IFAs will be fewer and better-framed.

dunstonh

Okay, sorry, so you mean the quality of work an IFA can perform, rather than the (eg compliance) standards to which they were held.

Compliance standards have improved. However, that doesnt mean those in the past were wrong in the years in question. More is expected nowadays than in the past. I can look back at cases I did 10-15 years ago and think I wouldnt do that now but it wasnt wrong then and it wouldnt be a complaint. However, if someone was to look at what you would do 10-15 years ago and say it is what would be done today then that would not be fair or accurate. Things move on.

Its a bit like cars. Look at all the safety features and options you get today and compare them with 15 years ago and a top-of-the-line car of that period would look very poor compared to one today. Its exactly the same in financial services.

Also, what some on here fail to realise is that you cannot recommend the best option to everyone. You have to recommend the right option for the person and that may well be picking a basic option that may only provide average returns (although wary that the multiple threads currently on the go with overlap may mean I am entering into a subject covering one of those). Advice has to take into account the ability to understand the contract and investments. Also, realistically, the amount being invested comes into play as you cannot effectively run a serviced portfolio on small amounts.

Although I gather the best platforms and funds are still only available via IFA :-( Perhaps just because they don't want to be exposed to lots of silly questions from retail customers - they can let the IFA deal with first-level support and know that the queries they get from IFAs will be fewer and better-framed.

There are fewer unbundled platforms in the DIY world at the moment but that is mainly due to the fact they can make more money on commission using the bundled model. In the advice world, the IFA does handle the bulk of the administration. So, the platform can get on with their bit and pass the bulk of the responsibility, liability and administration to the IFA. They want as little consumer interaction as possible as it costs them and that would then lead to costs. Some of the IFA unbundled platforms do introduce charges to consumers if they decide to deal direct and not surprising to see the 0.5% p.a. figure used where that is the case.

atush

Can you imagine the amt of man hours involved in getting info, calling up insr cos to get annuity rates then having to do caluclations using a tape calulator. No internet, no spread sheets etc. It could have taken then a whole day to do what they can now in an hour and a half.

But compliancestandards are now more stirct than they were, so the fact finding and risk assesments take 3 times as long.

I am not surprised fees vary.

bossymoo

After reading everyone's input into my questions, I have called the IFA (turns out he is independent) and told him I wouldn't be going with his recommendation. He was very nice, politely asked why, I said they were expensive and I was concerned they wouldn't protect the value after all the charges.

He spoke a little about how charges scare a lot of people off, but was perfectly fine, and said he still feels in my situation I would do well to utilise my s&s isa allowance, and he hopes I find something I'm comfortable with! All credit to him, he was very polite, and still tried to offer his advice.

So, I'm now looking at some fund supermarkets to see what's out there, and I will learn more for myself, so that I can confidently invest a little bit more as I learn.

Thank you all for commenting. Sorry it turned into a bit of a debate!!!