How to find a reliable financial advisor?

Sumarokov

Hello. My brother is returning to the UK after working abroad for 20 years. He contacted me with a question to which I do not know the answer, so I thought I would ask here.

He would like to find a financial advisor to help with his saving he has accrued (which I believe are close to a quarter of a million). He will need to sell out of some foreign things, pay tax in the UK on any gains (I presume) and would like an expert to advise him on how to best invest in the UK based on his age, desires, etc. I have no idea of where you start finding the best person; when I inquired at my bank they only offer things for which they can charge "fees".

Any advice for a newbie on how to find a reliable financial advisor (preferably someone who can handle stuff like tax on foreign investments, not just hand out general advice)?

Reaper

Recommendations are best, but failing that you can find an IFA (better than a tied bank advisor) at unbiased.co.uk

bostonerimus

It will be important to get the tax situation sorted before returning to the UK, there might be advantages if your brother is not a UK tax resident yet. This is one area where a standard financial advisor is going to be out of their depth as specialist knowledge is required.

Albermarle

when I inquired at my bank they only offer things for which they can charge "fees".

If you go to a bank for financial advice they only have Financial Advisors who can recommend their own products .

If you got to an IFA , they can recommend what they think is suitable for you ( although like all people they have their own preferences ). The IFA is not allowed to get any commission for using any particular product , but will of course charge for their time . Your friends case is not that simple so probably be looking at a few Grand to start with and then an ongoing % fee for monitoring investments . 

on_your_nelly

You're right to be shunning advice from your bank, but for the wrong reason. "Fees" are a good thing, because that means explicit fees which the customer agrees to. The alternative was never genuinely free advice, but dodgy back-handers to pay for the "advice", of amounts the customer might not know, and which compromised the quality of the advice by inclining it towards commission-paying products. That has all been done away with now (at least in theory), i.e. all advice is supposed to be paid for with explicit fees.

The main wrinkle is (as Reaper and Albemarle have implied) that proper financial advice is only given by Independent Financial Advisors. Financial advisors who can't say that they are independent (or who try to wriggle out of answering that question by using other terms instead) can't give advice on the full range of possible products, so their "advice" is not the best (even though they are now paid for that advice with explicit fees, not back-handers).

The timing of when your brother sells overseas investments may be important. It is possible that he will not be subject on UK tax on those disposals if he makes them before returning. So that might be a good approach to take, but it depends on the tax regime where he currently resides. This is an area that calls for more specialist knowledge than the more run-of-the-mill IFA stuff; though after his move is sorted, the latter may be all he needs on an on-going basis. But you may need an IFA who has specific knowledge about where your brother currently lives (and about any other jurisdictions where he has investments).

xylophone

Where is your brother currently resident?

Sumarokov

Many thanks for all the advice, it is much appreciated. My brother's affairs are not really all that complicated, but he just did not know how to go about the first step of actually finding a trusted advisor (he has been working and just salting stuff away, concentrating on that; now he would like to invest). Thank you.