What to do with 25k? Is the wife right?

dunstonh

You may be able to agree remuneration in advance but that does not preclude the IFA from offering you a deal that suits his rake-off. You may not necessarily, as a customer, be party to what the IFA obtains from any company he/she signs you up to.

It would be a breach of FSA rules for the charging structure on fee basis to match commission.

Also, the illustration issued would highlight the commission payable, if any. If that was not offset against the fee or passed on, then that too would be a breach. It's one thing to sail close to the wind but it's another to have such a blatent rule breach. Plus a breach of the fee agreement could allow criminal investigations to take place as it could be fraud.

Browntrout_2

Steve_xx wrote: »

The problem with IFA's......etc

The OP asked is there a better way?

Of course you don't need an IFA.

However why not seek professional advice on what to do with £25K?

In a relationship money can be a big, sometimes the biggest, cause of rows.

I used to think IFAs were of the tied variety focussed on pushing high commision insurance based endowments etc.

However that is not the case, it is however your average punters view as you tend to get introduced to these people when getting a mortgage.

In my opinion a good IFA is like any good professional and well worth visiting.

Strictly_Mad

Browntrout wrote: »

From my original thread I think that obviously my wide and I definitely need a mini/maxi ISA each to start with.

Aegis

Strictly_Mad wrote: »

Browntrout wrote: »

From my original thread I think that obviously my wide and I definitely need a mini/maxi ISA each to start with.

Not a bad idea as a starting point. The £3k each in cash is easy enough to decide, but you might want to consider doing a fair bit of research if you plan on investing at least £8k of your money in the stockmarket. If you plan on investing with the other £11k too, it might well be worth chatting to an investment IFA to ensure that you get a nice spread of investments that matches your overall risk portfolio.

dunstonh

That should read W I F E not W I D E.

Dont let your wife see that you called her wide!

McSaver

I'D rather put the 25K in ING's 5% Savings account than the premium bonds, at least your gonna come out on top. Luckily there are better accounts than ING so we dont have to.

I suppose you can always get the free £50 if havent opened an account with ING before by depositing a £1,000 until 30.09.08 and then draw it out as soon as you get the £50.

Steve_xx

dunstonh wrote: »

It would be a breach of FSA rules for the charging structure on fee basis to match commission.

Also, the illustration issued would highlight the commission payable, if any. If that was not offset against the fee or passed on, then that too would be a breach. It's one thing to sail close to the wind but it's another to have such a blatent rule breach. Plus a breach of the fee agreement could allow criminal investigations to take place as it could be fraud.

Yes, I understand your points. However, this does not stop an IFA from offering a customer a deal which suits the IFA better than it might the customer.

dunstonh

Yes, I understand your points. However, this does not stop an IFA from offering a customer a deal which suits the IFA better than it might the customer.

I dont follow how that can be the case though. If the remuneration agreed is standardised across the board how can one deal be better for the adviser than another?

isofa

Of course one can be better than another. There are good and bad practitioners in every industry. Can be based on intelligence, honesty, integrity - many factors.

You have excellent and poor doctors, excellent dentists and bad dentists, excellent accountants and dodgy ones, great builders and house-of-horrors builders. I'm well aware because in my profession (not financial), I, as a consultant, go to great lengths to advise clients correctly, seeing bad advice meted out over and over again to people who don't understand the technicalities, I'd always offer free advice to save someone getting ripped off buy an unscrupulous individual.

A few years ago I got offered bad advice from an IFA - and still have the badly performing fund, in the vain hope it'll regain a bit of it's value. I researched their commissions and found they did quite well out of the advice. So I'm well aware this can happen.

Just my opinion based on my experience.

Steve_xx

isofa wrote: »

Of course one can be better than another. There are good and bad practitioners in every industry. Can be based on intelligence, honesty, integrity - many factors.

You have excellent and poor doctors, excellent dentists and bad dentists, excellent accountants and dodgy ones, great builders and house-of-horrors builders. I'm well aware because in my profession (not financial), I, as a consultant, go to great lengths to advise clients correctly, seeing bad advice meted out over and over again to people who don't understand the technicalities, I'd always offer free advice to save someone getting ripped off buy an unscrupulous individual.

A few years ago I got offered bad advice from an IFA - and still have the badly performing fund, in the vain hope it'll regain a bit of it's value. I researched their commissions and found they did quite well out of the advice. So I'm well aware this can happen.

Just my opinion based on my experience.

Yes, completely agree with you. There are unscrupulous people in all walks. My point here was to advise people to look at any advice offered, but don't take it as wholesome without further investigation before signing on the dotted line.