Financial Advisers.

marathonic

Libra1975 wrote: »

Especially as the fee agreement I have found says the contract with the company is between 2009 & 2010.

Is the contract for 2009-2010 or is there an end date at all? I'd be surprised if a company only gave ongoing advice for two years. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they only quoted the fees for the first two years.

Libra1975

Sorry I don't know what you mean by end term. The documentation says
This agreement will be in force from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX

And that was a 12 month period.

marathonic

Libra1975 wrote: »

Sorry I don't know what you mean by end term. The documentation says
This agreement will be in force from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX

And that was a 12 month period.

That's a strange one. Maybe one of the IFA's will be able to help out - in particular, when you get the breakdown of costs!!

Jegersmart

Libra1975 wrote: »

Thank you for that clarification.

Despite having paid over £2000 to them over a 3 year period for what appears to be 1 or 2 letters asking for a meeting apparently we owe them over £600. As the reviews of policies I would guess are only done if there is contact so the IFA is up to speed for meetings and recommendations I feel a little fleeced and laughing a bit as we couldn't have afforded to have any changes or recommendations as we would have spent it all getting the advice. He is going to send us a breakdown of where the money has been spent and i await that with interest. Especially as the fee agreement I have found says the contract with the company is between 2009 & 2010.

Hi

I am not sure what the outcome here is likely to be although I am relieved to see that they have not charged you the whole amount you gave them.

Having said that, I really do not understand why someone would pay an upfront fee to an advisor like this? I don't mean any criticism, but I just don't really understand the thinking behind it - OR the fact that the company accepted it without any qualms at all.

I guess you need to put it down to experience?

J

Libra1975

We haven't got any of the money back, in fact they are now saying we owe them money £600 worth on top of the £2000 we have already paid.

As to why we would pay upfront, he made it sound like we were saving up for when we would need his services again i.e. we wanted to change mortgage or something, as IFAs are expensive it sounded like a good idea. Naive.

marathonic

This is why I avoid IFA's - at least up until now and in the near future anyway.

Unless I get into a really complex scenario financially, I'll just stick with being slightly over-insured, at a cost below what the correct level of insurance would cost through an IFA, and maximising my ISA allowance into a Vanguard Lifestrategy, or similar, fund. This, of course, will be after I replenish my emergency fund via a Cash ISA.

The Vanguard Lifestrategy funds are a great range of products and people wouldn't be going too far wrong investing in one of them via Cavendish or Hargreaves Lansdown - using something like the (120 - age rule) to select their allocation towards equity and assuming they have the risk appetite to stay the course.

marathonic

By the way, I have no dependants... If someone is considering an IFA, don't use my actions as a basis for your decisions if you've got family or dependants - as a mistake would have a lot more repurcussions for you - especially with regards to insurance.