Drop in well paid using IFA's

buffman

Discount brokers like Cavendish online are the way forward. IFA'a receiving trail commission year on year for doing very little is a nonseness. Why should an IFA still be receiving commision on an ISA investment that I made,say, 3 years ago that has not been touched since then?

gadgetmind

darkpool wrote: »

tbh i think a tracker is a far better investment than what her IFA suggested.

It would be very easy to do much worse than a Vanguard LifeStrategy Tracker with an equity/bond mix suited to the investor's timescale and familiarity with volatility.

Glen_Clark

2010 wrote: »

Just like to add to Darkpool`s analogy

---

estate agents.

Yes, I guess people have expected too much of Bankers and other 'Financial advisers'
If we went to a double glazing/car salesman etc, we might expect him to recommend what makes him the most profit.
Why should we expect anything else from 'Financial Advisers', Bankers, Solicitors, or Dentists etc As if being in a different business makes them somehow immune to the temptation to maximise their profit.
One thing that life has taught me is that just because a man is in a plush office wearing a smart suit, that does not make him more honest than a scruffy looking bloke in the street.
I applaud the TV programmes that expose cowboy builders etc. But why do they only expose the working class?
Why not expose the upper class so called 'professions' as well?

The only exception I have seen is one Channel 4 programme which exposed corrupt Dentists.

Stands to reason if you can do these jobs reasonably well yourself, you will save money.

Why pay someone else to hold your shares, when it costs nothing to keep the certificates yourself?

SnowMan

I would have to say my experience is similar to Rollinghomes.

I tend to be the person who friends come to for unofficial financial advice from time to time. I remember a friend being advised by a commission based IFA fairly recently when switching his mortgage to increase the mortgage on his property and to put the extra money in high risk, high cost investments which just happened to pay the adviser high commission. When I talked through with my friend about what he was doing and the risks he was taking it quickly came apparent that my friend didn't understand what he was doing and he changed his mind.

And it is a collection of experiences like this over the years that forms my judgements on IFAs.

Now it is quite possible that there are some IFAs working purely on a fee basis who are offering genuinely good financial advice which justifies the fees for most of their clients. There are some people on these forums who use IFAs and are happy with the service and what they pay for them so it is possible.

But what always concerns me is that there seem to be very few IFAs who are willing to be honest about the inadequacies of the current set up. Anyone who dares give a genuine experience of IFAs on this forum is accused of trolling, IFA bashing or having an axe to grind. What particularly amazed me was how little support there was for the RDR from IFAs when it was announced. Surely if you were an IFA giving good advice on a fee basis you would be shouting 'yes, yes, yes' Meg Ryan style on hearing about the RDR. After all the RDR is going to put the bad advisers out of business and create an environment where the good advisers can operate.

The difference between IFAs and hairdressers is that you know when you have had a bad haircut; I remember being nicknamed 'vidal' after a bad haircut once (the pyschological scars remain). However it is not immediately obvious that you have receive bad advice. And even many years later people don't realise because it is difficult to identify the position that the person would have been in had they been given good advice

I guess over the years more people are wary of the financial services industries through some of the big scandals such as endowment and pensions mis-selling. That and the huge availability of information on the internet may be why more people are DIYing if this is indeed what is happening.

However there are always going to be a lot of people who will be in need of good quality and independent financial advice. And the increased availability of information on the internet seems to come combined with an increasingly complicated financial system.

gadgetmind

2010 wrote: »

Just like to add to Darkpool`s analogy

---

estate agents.

Hey, that's not fair! Estate agents don't take 2% of the value of your property every year whether it's gone up or down.

Linton

Glen_Clark wrote: »

.....

Why pay someone else to hold your shares, when it costs nothing to keep the certificates yourself?

Buying and selling certificates is more expensive and takes longer than buying and selling shares held via nominees.

Linton

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Yes, I guess people have expected too much of Bankers and other 'Financial advisers'
If we went to a double glazing/car salesman etc, we might expect him to recommend what makes him the most profit.
Why should we expect anything else from 'Financial Advisers', Bankers, Solicitors, or Dentists etc As if being in a different business makes them somehow immune to the temptation to maximise their profit.
One thing that life has taught me is that just because a man is in a plush office wearing a smart suit, that does not make him more honest than a scruffy looking bloke in the street.
I applaud the TV programmes that expose cowboy builders etc. But why do they only expose the working class?
Why not expose the upper class so called 'professions' as well?

The only exception I have seen is one Channel 4 programme which exposed corrupt Dentists.

Stands to reason if you can do these jobs reasonably well yourself, you will save money.

I have found that most people whether they are professionals or workmen take pride in doing a good job, but expect to be paid what they consider a reasonable wage for doing it. How about you? Do you fall into that category? If you do are you someone special and its everyone else who is a crook?

Fleecing the customer isnt a good long term strategy.

But yes, if you can do the job reasonably well then do it yourself. Unfortunately, perhaps as with dentistry, there are many people around who do not have the knowledge, experience, or wish to manage large amounts of their money themselves. And again, like in self-dentistry, the penalties for ignorance and incompetence can be very painful.

Linton

SnowMan wrote: »

........

I tend to be the person who friends come to for unofficial financial advice from time to time. I remember a friend being advised by a commission based IFA fairly recently when switching his mortgage to increase the mortgage on his property and to put the extra money in high risk, high cost investments which just happened to pay the adviser high commission. When I talked through with my friend about what he was doing and the risks he was taking it quickly came apparent that my friend didn't understand what he was doing and he changed his mind.

......

Now it is quite possible that there are some IFAs working purely on a fee basis who are offering genuinely good financial advice which justifies the fees for most of their clients. There are some people on these forums who use IFAs and are happy with the service and what they pay for them so it is possible.

But what always concerns me is that there seem to be very few IFAs who are willing to be honest about the inadequacies of the current set up. Anyone who dares give a genuine experience of IFAs on this forum is accused of trolling, IFA bashing or having an axe to grind. What particularly amazed me was how little support there was for the RDR from IFAs when it was announced. Surely if you were an IFA giving good advice on a fee basis you would be shouting 'yes, yes, yes' Meg Ryan style on hearing about the RDR.
......
However there are always going to be a lot of people who will be in need of good quality and independent financial advice. And the increased availability of information on the internet seems to come combined with an increasingly complicated financial system.

And if, through ignorance and inexperience, you gave your friend bad or inappropriate advice what scheme is in place for recompense? Many bad decisions have been made on the recommendation of "friends" - look at the number of people who posted in these forums planning to withdraw from their public sector pensions.

All the IFAs posting on this forum have welcomed RDR and advocated payment by fee rather than commission. The only difficulty is that this will make the provision of advice to people with small amounts to invest very expensive.

As to the internet - sure, there is a vast amount of good information, but there is also much dreadful stuff from the tin foil hatters and the axe-grinders.

2010

gadgetmind wrote: »

Hey, that's not fair! Estate agents don't take 2% of the value of your property every year whether it's gone up or down.

The analogy I was trying to make is they do very, very, little but demand a lot, just like IFA/FA.

gadgetmind

2010 wrote: »

The analogy I was trying to make is they do very, very, little but demand a lot, just like IFA/FA.

I like to think I was agreeing with you, and with style.