First post

mollycat

Smed wrote: »

The problem with such forums is that they are obviously frequented by anonymous persons who are living in a fantasy world where they are rich and know what there is to know about investing their riches and can therefore advise others. Why would anyone in those circumstances post anonymously on an internet forum and considering the times of their posts could be unemployed people with not even two pennies to rub together? From my point of view great for general discussion but for anything more than that go to an IFA.

Sounds like you haven't read much of the excellent guidance and help provided by the posters you are making assumptions about; has helped myself considerably over the years to the extent I manage my own finances without the need to pay an advisor.

Why would they do this? (you ask)...

Altruism, and a belief in the greater good are perhaps beyond the scope of your imagination?

At least the reason for you joining the forum, (after a confusing first post), are now clearer.

bigadaj

Smed wrote: »

To me trusting financial affairs to anonymous forum posters is misguided.

I would not say that you yourself are misguided just confused. Have a look at my reply in the "What can an I.F.A. do for me" discussion and see below.

I have already posted that I have an I.F.A. and an Accountant which is grouped together under "Wealth Management" but I do not consider myself to be wealthy. It's because my financial affairs are more out of the ordinary. I could do it myself and also maybe fall into traps set for the less well informed but I don't have the time to do it so I pay someone else to do it.

I don't trust anonymous forum posters with my financial affairs but utilise the forum to gain some general ideas, run thoughts thorough and utilise the experience of others.

You can use accountants and financial advisers but again they aren't going to solve all your financial needs, because they aren't experienced and frequently authorised to do so. If they aren't doing everything then you obviously need to understand and take some responsibility, notwithstanding the fact that whilst uncommon its not unknown for professionals to provide poor levels of service or worse.

I manage my own investments and am happy with this, but the range of financial information is wide, including but not limited to simple bank accounts, through unit trusts and investment trusts and occasionally individual company shares, unwrapped, isa and pension thorough to vct and p2p lending. That's ignoring various insurances, credit cards and other financial products.

Again if you are happy with your advisers then fine but it's by no means the only way, as most of the advisers frequenting this board will freely admit.

On a more general note then whilst many threads are general the board is dominated by specific questions. So if you have a general discussion in kind it would probably be best to at least start with some specific comment or opinion which may or may not spark a debate.

Fatbritabroad

ChesterDog wrote: »

These forums and some very knowledgeable posters within them are an incredibly rich source of information.

There's a world of difference between utilising that freely-given knowledge and your statement above.

Plus several of the anonymous posters are ifas I believe. The garden and window box is a good analogy for me. Post rdr the amount I have to invest (20k) plus a couple of hundred a month with maybe one or 2 K lump sum as my cash savings build) while a lot of money to me is simply not worth paying advisor fees on it (nor their time) . When i am 50 say hopefully 5 to ten years from retirement I will quite happily pay for wealth preservation advice if I don't feel confident in my own abilities . At the moment simple indexes are all I feel I need. In the meantime this is a great source of generic rather than specific advice from novice and professional investors alike. I fact that advice /opinion is the reason I've come to this conclusion

Smed

bigadaj wrote: »

I don't trust anonymous forum posters with my financial affairs but utilise the forum to gain some general ideas, run thoughts thorough and utilise the experience of others.

You can use accountants and financial advisers but again they aren't going to solve all your financial needs, because they aren't experienced and frequently authorised to do so. If they aren't doing everything then you obviously need to understand and take some responsibility, notwithstanding the fact that whilst uncommon its not unknown for professionals to provide poor levels of service or worse.

I manage my own investments and am happy with this, but the range of financial information is wide, including but not limited to simple bank accounts, through unit trusts and investment trusts and occasionally individual company shares, unwrapped, isa and pension thorough to vct and p2p lending. That's ignoring various insurances, credit cards and other financial products.

Again if you are happy with your advisers then fine but it's by no means the only way, as most of the advisers frequenting this board will freely admit.

On a more general note then whilst many threads are general the board is dominated by specific questions. So if you have a general discussion in kind it would probably be best to at least start with some specific comment or opinion which may or may not spark a debate.

I had to laugh when I read this. Apparently this forum is frequented by authorised and experienced Independent Financial Advisors who have nothing better to do than posting free advice at all hours of the day and night. I think my previous view is more plausible that the "advisers" on this forum are unemployed without two pennies to rub together who are in their fantasy and it they who dominate this board. They don't even know the difference between an I.F.A. and a fund manager.

Fatbritabroad

Anyone got a goat and a bridge handy? I smell troll

AnotherJoe

Smed wrote: »

I had to laugh when I read this. Apparently this forum is frequented by authorised and experienced Independent Financial Advisors who have nothing better to do than posting free advice at all hours of the day and night. I think my previous view is more plausible that the "advisers" on this forum are unemployed without two pennies to rub together who are in their fantasy and it they who dominate this board. They don't even know the difference between an I.F.A. and a fund manager.

I see no evidence for the latter comment but in any case, it does raise the question, not just "why are you here ?" but "why are you still here?" given you haven't actually asked a question or even an opinion about some matter of finance related to this forum but spent your whole time criticising and even attacking posters.

DiggerUK

Smed wrote: »

.......... I think my previous view is more plausible that the "advisers" on this forum are unemployed without two pennies to rub together who are in their fantasy and it they who dominate this board.........

We often hear stories about fake surgeons walking in to hospitals and performing operations,...successfully. So even if the F.A's here are false, it doesn't mean they won't advise as an F.A. would. How valuable that advice is becomes the issue. As far as I am concerned they are sexed up sales reps selling financial products and services of dubious value.
You are content to use their services.

As to what guidance or advice we accept off MSE, let me give the anecdote of a much loved relative who encouraged me to "seek advice from any source I could, but hold my own counsel at the end of the day'..._

bowlhead99

Smed wrote: »

I think my previous view is more plausible that the "advisers" on this forum are unemployed without two pennies to rub together who are in their fantasy and it they who dominate this board. They don't even know the difference between an I.F.A. and a fund manager.

Smed wrote: »

I had to laugh when I read this

Yes, I had to laugh when I read what you posted too.

The board policy is that IFAs identify themselves as such through their signature. When you read the comments that those posters write, generally they do come across as having good levels of knowledge. It's rare to find comments from them that are irrelevant or sound like bad advice in the context of the thread. Nor comments that imply they're unemployed or have been out of the game a long time. Although of course, investing is about opinion and often there isn't just the one right answer.

You generally find the "IFA" comments within the threads about investing or pensions or tax wrappers rather than purely savings, as they are usually less interested in (for example) following the latest and greatest current account and regular saver deals ; there are plenty of other people who can quote rates and chapter and verse of the T&Cs of different bank products without needing professional experience to do it.

So, as you have investing matters all tied up with your existing accountants and advisors - and have said you are only signed up to the forum to talk about savings and wouldn't wish to discuss investments - you probably won't be engaging with many self-declared "IFAs" on the threads in which you participate, So, even if there are some cads who have added an IFA signature without actually being practicing IFAs, it is unlikely to cause you to have a negative experience.

Smed wrote: »

who have nothing better to do than posting free advice at all hours of the day and night

If you have knowledge from which others can benefit, what is "better to do" than post free advice at all hours? Seems like quite a nice thing to do. Even if there is an element of self-interest, it is better than not posting the free advice, if the advice is good quality and opens people's eyes up to opportunities or risks.

There are of course plenty of knowledgeable people giving their time for free at all hours of the day and night, whenever they have time to participate. Whether you're getting a comment from someone who is semi retired age 55 with plenty of time to post at 2pm, or an office worker posting at 6.30am before their morning commute, or 9am after their commute, or 11am on their cigarette break from a mobile, or 2am from a hotel room in Chicago when bored on a business trip, or 4am while on their lunch break on secondment in Singapore... it is probably better to allow them to do that and see what they have to say rather than dismissing it out of hand because of the time of day that they posted.

What I'm saying is that there is no 'normal' time to post on the internet so you don't need to deride someone as a fantasist just because they are posting at a time that you think that a 'normal' person would be deep in a client meeting or their wife.

Smed wrote: »

From my point of view great for general discussion but for anything more than that go to an IFA.

That ties up with what IFAs here say.

DiggerUK wrote: »

As to what guidance or advice we accept off MSE, let me give the anecdote of a much loved relative who encouraged me to "seek advice from any source I could, but hold my own counsel at the end of the day'..._

That seems sound advice to me too.

Smed

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Yes, I had to laugh when I read what you posted too.

The board policy is that IFAs identify themselves as such through their signature. When you read the comments that those posters write, generally they do come across as having good levels of knowledge. It's rare to find comments from them that are irrelevant or sound like bad advice in the context of the thread. Nor comments that imply they're unemployed or have been out of the game a long time. Although of course, investing is about opinion and often there isn't just the one right answer.

You generally find the "IFA" comments within the threads about investing or pensions or tax wrappers rather than purely savings, as they are usually less interested in (for example) following the latest and greatest current account and regular saver deals ; there are plenty of other people who can quote rates and chapter and verse of the T&Cs of different bank products without needing professional experience to do it.

So, as you have investing matters all tied up with your existing accountants and advisors - and have said you are only signed up to the forum to talk about savings and wouldn't wish to discuss investments - you probably won't be engaging with many self-declared "IFAs" on the threads in which you participate, So, even if there are some cads who have added an IFA signature without actually being practicing IFAs, it is unlikely to cause you to have a negative experience.


If you have knowledge from which others can benefit, what is "better to do" than post free advice at all hours? Seems like quite a nice thing to do. Even if there is an element of self-interest, it is better than not posting the free advice, if the advice is good quality and opens people's eyes up to opportunities or risks.

There are of course plenty of knowledgeable people giving their time for free at all hours of the day and night, whenever they have time to participate. Whether you're getting a comment from someone who is semi retired age 55 with plenty of time to post at 2pm, or an office worker posting at 6.30am before their morning commute, or 9am after their commute, or 11am on their cigarette break from a mobile, or 2am from a hotel room in Chicago when bored on a business trip, or 4am while on their lunch break on secondment in Singapore... it is probably better to allow them to do that and see what they have to say rather than dismissing it out of hand because of the time of day that they posted.

What I'm saying is that there is no 'normal' time to post on the internet so you don't need to deride someone as a fantasist just because they are posting at a time that you think that a 'normal' person would be deep in a client meeting or their wife.


That ties up with what IFAs here say.


That seems sound advice to me too.

Have I become a special interest for you? I'm asking because you also replied to my post in the Last Investment thread with a similar large amount of "verbosity" which incidentally I'm not replying to.

What exactly are you trying to say? Is it that I should trust in your opinion just because you post on M.S.E. forums? You don't post your qualifications and financial experience. You say that I.F.A.s on M.S.E. must declare it in their signature but you don't have it in your signature so I conclude that you are not an I.F.A. So who or what are you and why should I trust you?

ChesterDog

I'm not sure why you set so much store by trust, in the context of a forum.

Advice, information and suggestions given by others here or elsewhere provide data, ideas, pitfalls, solutions and so on, which you are free to examine, test, adapt, adopt or discard as you wish.

To dismiss their usefulness because you don't know who the people are and whether you can trust them is to do yourself and those providers a disservice.

It would be quite different if you were - as you put it in an earlier post - entrusting your financial affairs to them.

If you were to visit a place where you had never been before and someone said to you "If you like fine food and a great view, Doggo's Restaurant by the harbour is well worth a visit", would that suggestion be of no merit in case you cannot trust the person who said it?

Would you not utilise that information, which you might otherwise never have known, to do some further research of your own, and thereby perhaps even find that this particular source seems useful and trustworthy?