Affordable IFA advice

grey_gym_sock

grizzly1911 wrote: »

AIUI you don't need a solicitor to do your conveyancing for you either, although if you need a mortgage the lender would not allow it.

perhaps if you're selling. but if you're buying, you could miss something important, and end up with a defective title. (a solicitor could make a mistake, too, but then you could sue them.)

gadgetmind

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

(a solicitor could make a mistake, too, but then you could sue them.)

I know a solicitor who messed up his own conveyancing!

doughnutmachine

wigglefish123 wrote: »

doughnutmachine

why would it benefit this site for people to see an IFA - they are self employed in the main and therefore I can't see it making much difference to them what is posted on here??

There are circa 30,000 IFAs in the UK. They are represented by a couple of professional bodies. These professional bodies are meant to represent the interests of their members (ie IFAs). They do this by lobbying government etc and trying to get more customers to go to IFAs

It's not out of the bounds of possibility that one of these IFA professional bodies pay a member to post on internet forums with free advice, people then read the posts and are more likely to go to an IFA.

It's either that or someone has spent 10 years of their life and spent thousands of hours posting here and never once thought to post anything on any of the non financial threads.

grizzly1911

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

perhaps if you're selling. but if you're buying, you could miss something important, and end up with a defective title. (a solicitor could make a mistake, too, but then you could sue them.)

Goes without saying you need to know what you are doing but it isn't that difficult for most run of the mill properties.

rpc

doughnutmachine wrote: »

There are circa 30,000 IFAs in the UK. They are represented by a couple of professional bodies. These professional bodies are meant to represent the interests of their members (ie IFAs). They do this by lobbying government etc and trying to get more customers to go to IFAs

It's not out of the bounds of possibility that one of these IFA professional bodies pay a member to post on internet forums with free advice, people then read the posts and are more likely to go to an IFA.

Quick! Grab your tinfoil hats while you still can!

It's either that or someone has spent 10 years of their life and spent thousands of hours posting here and never once thought to post anything on any of the non financial threads.

Perhaps they don't really have much of an interest in the other threads? I only usually look at 4 of the boards in here and I expect a lot of people are the same.

<man in only-reading-threads-he-finds-interesting shocker>

There's a place for advice and there's a place for DIY, but some of the anti-IFA brigade step beyond the bounds of reality. I do my own finances for now but a solicitor wrote my will, I use a main dealer for car servicing and will probably employ someone else to recarpet and paint the house next year.

We need better financial education so that people can understand the place of advice and the pros/cons of advice and DIY, but that doesn't mean it's fair to bash the advice-givers.

grey_gym_sock

gadgetmind wrote: »

I know a solicitor who messed up his own conveyancing!

could he claim on his professional indemnity insurance?

doughnutmachine

rpc wrote: »

Quick! Grab your tinfoil hats while you still can!

We need better financial education so that people can understand the place of advice and the pros/cons of advice and DIY, but that doesn't mean it's fair to bash the advice-givers.

Lol! The comment below is from the BBC. It is fairly well known that companies employ people to post on internet forums. It's the people that deny this could happen on MSE that should be wearing the tinfoil hats.

"Trust in information on the web is being damaged by the huge numbers of people paid by companies to post comments online, say researchers."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15869683

I 100% agree that there should be more financial education.

Freecall

wigglefish123 wrote: »

they are self employed in the main

As a complete side issue, is this the case?

I had always assumed that most would be employed by the big firms but maybe that is only because the only dealings I have ever had has been with the huge players.

Someone will have a link to the breakdown I'm sure.

gadgetmind

Linton wrote: »

When I had a central heating boiler installed

Out of interest, did you go straight to the guy doing the actual work or pay a percentage to an Independent Boiler Advisor to recommend a boiler and installer that suits your attitude to risk?

Of course choosing an IBA isn't something that you should do yourself!

Linton

gadgetmind wrote: »

Out of interest, did you go straight to the guy doing the actual work or pay a percentage to an Independent Boiler Advisor to recommend a boiler and installer that suits your attitude to risk?

Of course choosing an IBA isn't something that you should do yourself!

I did go to an independent company that managed the installation of boilers. Our needs and lifestyle were discussed and various options proposed. After disccusing these and raising questions I chose the one I felt most appropriate for my needs - they organised the supply.

Now I know, after reading these threads, that I did everything wrong. All I needed to do was to get the cheapest one on the market, buy a couple of books on boiler installation and do the whole job myself. All boiler installers are crooks and simply after fleecing me of my hard earned. Next time I'll know better.