Advice

londoninvestor

I might even beat dunstonh to posting this!

What the IFA - I for Independent - will give you is advice that covers your options in the whole of the market, not just the products from that bank or its affiliates.

Personally I'm a DIY investor, but if I didn't feel confident in that, I'd expect an IFA to give me better advice, with much less conflict of interest than the bank.

Davethepioneer

Ok the bank are wanting £5000 to do this for me, would I be looking at a lot more with an IFA or is that pretty standard for £500,000 investment?

JimmyTheWig

Davethepioneer wrote: »

Can i ask what advice would an IFA give me that the bank won’t?

Imagine you wanted to buy a car, but knew nothing about what cars were available.
You go to a Ford dealer and ask them to recommend the best car for you. They'll tell you the best Ford for you.
Whereas if you went to an "Independent Car Adviser" (I don't know if such a thing exists!) then they will tell you the best car for you. Which might be a Ford, in which case they won't have done anything the Ford dealer couldn't have done. But it might be a Vauxhall, or anything else.

Malthusian

Davethepioneer wrote: »

Ok the bank are wanting £5000 to do this for me, would I be looking at a lot more with an IFA or is that pretty standard for £500,000 investment?

I am assuming £5,000 is the upfront fee - what ongoing (annual) fee are they charging you?

Some IFAs might charge more, some might charge less - for an amount that size some would possibly charge zero upfront and an annual fee only. Depends on where you shop around and whether you negotiate.

Wildsound

Another point of note, other than the lack of independent advice, is that big banks generally have a large amount of funds under management. This is generally due to legacy cases and a history where people would go to their banks for this kind of stuff. As a result of such large amounts of funds under management, they are unable to invest in smaller funds (many of which are popular or have strong track records) due to capacity issues. This can then have an impact on performance.

In today's world, more and more are going the independent route or the DIY route (which wasn't as accessible as it is today).

Out with the old, and in with the new.

AlanP_2

I don't know how the fees for the IFA you choose to use would compare to the HSBC fees but you need to be aware of comparing Apples and Oranges.

The IFA will look at your overall family financial situation (assuming you are "collaborating" with your wife to maximise overall situation), consider your attitude to Risk and what you want to achieve, your tax and pension situations and so on.

So, they will be providing Financial Advice not just Investment Advice if that makes sense.

A friend of mine, ex forces like you, used an IFA when he came out about 15 years ago. The advice provided, and investments he ended up with, included Pensions, BTL, ISAs and unwrapped investments - all based on the personal circumstances of his wife and himself.

Aegis

Davethepioneer wrote: »

Ok the bank are wanting £5000 to do this for me, would I be looking at a lot more with an IFA or is that pretty standard for £500,000 investment?

Ideally not more at all.

xylophone

Move the money to NS&I while you consider your options.

Take advice from an Independent Financial Adviser.

https://adviserbook.co.uk/

https://register.fca.org.uk/

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/about-pensions/pensions-basics/top-tips-for-your-pension/choosing-an-ifa

dunstonh

Can i ask what advice would an IFA give me that the bank won!!!8217;t? So with the £500,000 that I have to invest would it be a good idea to put £20,000 in an isa for myself and my wife £10,000 in something else and £450,000 in the Pru. I will be honest I don!!!8217;t want much money, what I do want and what I told the bank was that if in ten years time I want my £500,000 back it will be there and not turned into £350,000 hence low risk.

£450k in Pru? A niche option with that much money is unusual. Not a cheap option either.

What about future years? You have annual bed & ISA, bed & pension and annual CGT use to consider. What are they doing about that?

badger09

Davethepioneer wrote: »

One financial advisor wanted £15000 that can't be right surely. Can I ask if I put £500,000 in NS&I can I take it back whenever I want say to put some in an isa for me and the wife or is it locked in for a certain time

Depends which product. They have different T&Cs:cool:

https://www.nsandi.com/our-products