Financial Advisers

awkward_2

Help please.
I,m trying to get my life together ( money wise) & need help from a IFA.
My main problem at the moment is I dont no who to ask for this help as several years ago I was given advise from one which I took only to find out from the FSA that I had been given the wrong advise & would have lost most of my money accept for them stepping in.
So the big question is how do I know which one to go to & trust.
Can somebody out there please give me any advise.

dunstonh

Financial services regulation is vastly superior to that of 5 years ago, let alone 10. Most of the "dodgy" old salesman have been moved on. However, the industry still suffers the old image problem and that will take some years to clear.

Personally, i believe that the sandler sales process and depolarisation will actually hurt the industry image as you will have all sorts of unqualified people giving impressions that they are advisors or even independent when they are not. However, thats for another discussion thread.

At the end of the day, you will probably get a better service from an IFA that is financially liable for the advice that they give, rather than an employed IFA or one attached to a larger firm. When you are personally liable for the first £2500-£5000 of any upheld complaint, you do tend to make sure everything you do is documented correctly and best advice given. An owner/partner IFA will have that liability.

However, as I already said, nowadays you shouldnt have too many problems and if you really want to make sure, get advice from two IFAs and see what is said.

JCL

http://www.unbiased.co.uk will help you find an IFA (or IFA's) in your area.