IFA - Need To Be Local?

wary

I'm on the lookout for a new IFA, having terminated my servicing agreement with my previous one.

Is it strongly advised to get someone local, so you can have a face-to-face from time-to-time? Or does it not really matter that much in this electronic age?

Malthusian

Face-to-face meetings are less important for annual reviews and general ongoing servicing. But an initial face-to-face meeting is very helpful. When discussing attitude to risk, your aims and goals and suchlike, there are things you can pick up from body language and other visual cues that you simply can't over the phone.

The other side of the coin is that there's little to choose between most IFAs if you exclude the downright incompetent. No IFA is so brilliant at his job that it's worth travelling hundreds of miles to meet him. Unless you live in a very remote area there should be a decent IFA within traveling distance.

Out of interest, why did you leave the previous IFA?

DancingBadger

Our IFA is British, and came with excellent recommendations, but he lives in Lithuania - which I confess did put us off a bit at first, but our fears were unfounded. He's part of a UK firm of IFAs and comes to their offices for a week once a month for review meetings etc. He also has a dedicated assistant in the UK office who can field questions and involve another of the firm's IFAs if any urgent issues arise while he's on leave.

We've not encountered any problems because of the distance; he's easily contactable by phone and email, and responds very promptly. Review meetings can be conducted via Skype if needed.

So no, distance isn't a problem, but really the initial meeting needs to be face-to-face.

wary

Thanks both.

Malthusian wrote: »

Out of interest, why did you leave the previous IFA?

The previous IFAs were creaming off 0.5% in trail commission and doing very little for it. Then they were taken over by Towry and things got even worse. I did some checking and discovered they have a terrible reputation so decided to get out pronto ...

Sobryma

I use an IFA I found online for a specific requirement (pension), never met him, have spoken once, emailed at review/setup. You don't need to meet up as such although there nothing wrong with that if local.