Financial Advisor - how to find a good one?

cfw1994

Langtang said:

Malthusian said:

Langtang said:

Thanks for your reply. How does this (taken from the Brewin website) tie in with what you mentioned above about Brewin? Are we talking about different things here? “ We are bound to no corporate group, so offer unbiased recommendations from a broad universe of investment opportunities”

Classic tied salesman weasel words. In fact that's one of the more egregious examples I've seen. "Bound to no corporate group" makes absolutely zero sense. Brewin ARE a corporate group.

The key word is "independent". If they say they are "independent" advisers they almost certainly are. If they don't use the word "independent", they are almost certainly restricted, i.e. tied. The term "independent adviser" is prestigious, so you don't put a lot of effort into being able to use it and then not use it.

Even more confusing (for me) further down the page: bound to no corporate group. As you say, they are a corporate group. Across markets... individual companies... 

“Independent minds

We are an independently-owned firm, listed on the London FTSE 250, bound to no corporate group. We have an award-winning research team, who undertake research across markets, asset classes and individual companies. They develop unconstrained views and insights for our advisers to draw upon so they can best manage your wealth”

Sounds like they are deliberately trying to fool people into thinking of them as “independent” to me, using the word twice in a different context to that of an IFA.  

Some might call that cheeky, others a disgrace.
I find it worse that they “offer unbiased recommendations from a broad universe of investment opportunities“.
Firstly....what the heck is a “broad universe” - are they offering Space-X schemes on Mars and Jupiter?!  What a meaningless term!
Secondly....they are clearly NOT IFAs, and therefore they ARE biased.
*sigh*
No wonder the financial advice industry struggles to shake the perception of tricking people with lies.