How many people use an IFA?

bugslett

Just quickly, my IF A looks after a small pool of clients, I'm comfortable with his strategy as I understand it and his charges are in line with other IFAs.

I know my nature is reckless, my profile is still aggressive. I'm the kind of person who does things and worries about it afterwards. If I were to handle my own funds it would end either spectacularly well or spectacularly badly. The sanest thing I can do is leave the money with someone I trust.

enthusiasticsaver

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Clearly some mixed opinions here. As a novice investor so far I don't think I have made any huge mistakes in the 5 years since I started but still have loads to learn and picking funds is done with just a modicum of knowledge and lots of examination of assets, charges and performance on trustnet or morning star. I will be speaking to the IFA and reserve judgement on whether we engage him or not. What I have learnt from this and other threads is that all IFAs have their own approaches and I may need to see more than one if we decide to go down that route. Bugslet your words ring true for me although I don't consider myself reckless I do worry about whether I am making the right choices and whether I am better leaving it to someone who has a lot more experience than me.

LHW99

There is nothing inherently wrong about choosing an IFA over DIY, if that helps you sleep at night and you would appreciate a bit of hand holding.
It is still always worth learning as much as you have interest for, as it makes it easier to have a conversation over your investments, and understanding what is being said and where you need to ask extra questions.
I DIY because I like hands on and I'm an Excel nerd. I'm also not yet too close to my dotage. As time goes on though I may well want an IFA's input to make sure I don't have to worry about getting the sums wrong at the very least!

DT2001

I have only used an IFA for the last 4 years. I talked to 4 before deciding which one to go with. I like someone that whilst knowledgeable doesn’t use jargon unless he explains it. When I had lots of time (pre children) I invested in individual shares, took high risks and achieved some spectacular returns BUT also saw big losses in 2000 from shares and options. Thereafter I picked a few funds and followed them on 6 monthly reviews.
An IFA ensures a more measured approach, a good sounding board for broad investment strategies and some gems of information - having approached the IFA’s about pension funding from a bonus payment it was suggested that salary sacrifice could be appropriate. This saved me £4K+ in N.I.
Ongoing cost is 0.5%.
Performance has been solid and I do not have to spend too much time researching.
Overall I am very pleased

Thrugelmir

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

So it seems many of you agree that they are not there necessarily to advise on investments and get the best returns

A busy IFA isn't going to have the time. An IFA is not a sizable fund management team.

fred246

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

He said he can model what our investments would have done had he invested them rather than them being put in diversified index trackers like many others have done on this forum.

That is so unbelievably crooked in so many ways. Anyone can put a portfolio together that would have outperformed your trackers. Is he investing all his clients in the same portfolio? Is that tailored to the customer? Is previous performance indicative of future performance? Is he going to prove that he gave his customers that portfolio? Of course he can't.

fred246

JonathanBFS wrote: »

would not of known what to do with his recent unexpected windfall

Ooh you have an unexpected windfall. I am sure I can help you solve that little problem. Customers that IFAs love the most.

AlanP_2

fred246 wrote: »

Ooh you have an unexpected windfall. I am sure I can help you solve that little problem. Customers that IFAs love the most.

Fred you have "I hate IFAs" bombed a few threads overnight.

Do you have anything constructive or relevant to the original question in each post to add or just random thoughts based on your views with no evidence?

dunstonh

AlanP wrote: »

Fred you have "I hate IFAs" bombed a few threads overnight.

Do you have anything constructive or relevant to the original question in each post to add or just random thoughts based on your views with no evidence?

He pops on every few weeks, slags off IFAs and then goes away again for a week or two. Rarely adding anything beneficial to the threads in question. Very troll like behaviour.

fred246

I notice you two have totally ignored my other comment on this thread. An IFA saying show me your portfolio and I will tell you how much more I would have made. Totally unprofessional, unethical. Totally crooked.