How do you find a good independent advisor?

MC1977

There appears to be nothing on the main site here. Any help would be much appreciated.

Aegis

Either get a personal referral from someone you know who has already retained one, or go looking on unbiased.co.uk for a few in your area to chat to.

atush

and it helps to choose your IFA and investmetnsif you clue yourself up a bit first depending ont he area of enquiry.

Aegis

atush wrote: »

and it helps to choose your IFA and investmetnsif you clue yourself up a bit first depending ont he area of enquiry.

Absolutely, it's also a good idea to get an idea for what's cheap/expensive, but that's something you can revisit once you have a couple of quotes from the local IFAs.

It can be worth posting your findings here to see what people make of it.

Out of interest, what are you looking to accomplish?

CannySaver_2

Hi

A few thoughts for you:

1. Always see an IFA, never a bank adviser, never an adviser tied to a specific company, always an IFA. The problem is now that some IFA firms look very much like tied agents, one was in the news this very week having lost a high profile court case, but with a bit of digging you can usually confirm they are independent

2. Work out what you want the IFA to do for you and then see an IFA who specialises in your area of need, it's no good seeing an IFA who specialises in mortgages and does some pensions on the side if you want a full review of your retirement planning

3. If you want advice which involves any sort of investment then see a fee based IFA; personally I would never see an IFA who works on commission, in my view this can skew advice

4. Get a recommendation from friends or family, if not use Google or www.unbiased.co.uk then check out their website to get a feel for the company, give them a call and book a meeting to have a chat with them

5. I'd see two or three, get a feel for how they work, how they charge and most importantly how you get on with them, this could and should be a long term relationshiop

6. Finally for now make sure you are their sort of client, you need to be important to them without being their biggest client. If they are 'wealth managers' used to dealing with lottery winners and you have £10k to invest you are unlikely to be on the top of their list to call for a review; daft example but you get the point!

Hope this helps.

The Canny Saver

PennyForThem_2

ask for their qualifications.

You don't necessarily want someone off the street with mimimum qualifications.

look here: http://www.financialplanning.org.uk/general-public/why-choose-cfp-professional

dunstonh

PennyForThem wrote: »

ask for their qualifications.

You don't necessarily want someone off the street with mimimum qualifications.

look here: http://www.financialplanning.org.uk/general-public/why-choose-cfp-professional

However, you dont want someone with top end qualifications doing something that they are overqualified for and has charges to reflect their qualifications.

A lot of what IFAs do is bread and butter transactions they can do with their eyes closed. Whilst some areas are specialist. If you need a specialist then you should use one. if you dont then you are just wasting money.

property.advert

Looking at some list on a web page isn't going to give you a decent IFA per se. It is just a list after all.

Best to work out what you have and what you need and hit the net to educate yourself in the basics. Then at least you're not paying or wasting free time on Investing 101.

My guess is that you're pretty stuffed. If you already knew one or had a recommendation you wouldn't have asked the question and because of a lack of experience and knowledge you have nothing to benchmark any advisor against or to know whether he gives marvellous advice or is a charlatan out to rob you blind.

The only hope is to educate yourself.

bigfreddiel

here are 10 questions to ask:


1 – Are you an Independent Financial Adviser?

2 – What is your investment proposition?

3 – How do you charge for your services?

4 – What are your areas of expertise?

5 – Do you provide an ongoing review service?

6 – Who can I speak to if you are not available?

7 – Can I see your recommendations in writing?

8 – Which qualifications do you hold?

9 – Are you a member of a professional body?

10 – Where do you appear on the FSA Register?

remember ifas are only advisors - its up to you to decide what their advice is worth.

fj