Views on advisors

[Deleted User]

ChilliBob said:

I'd be interested to know of any obvious questions to weed out !!!!!! people?

"So, your initial fee is xxxx; can you show me that you can save me xxxx +1 at the outset?"
Don't mention your economics degree, involvement with an accountant nor mention entrepreneurs relief; and don't settle for any vague projections. Not that your adviser will demonstrate with a pen and paper on first meeting, in case you rush off and do it yourself, but the answer will be indicative of what kind of service is on offer. 

Linton

ZingPowZing said:

ChilliBob said:

I'd be interested to know of any obvious questions to weed out !!!!!! people?

"So, your initial fee is xxxx; can you show me that you can save me xxxx +1 at the outset?"

Doesnt that rather depend on what you would do without advice?  In any case the primary issue isnt maximising returns but rather achieving objectives at minimum risk.

Hopefully a good IFA would explain, in the nicest possible way, why your question is foolish.

ElephantBoy57

missile said:

 Crooks in suits

Most will do a good job, because they want/need recommendations. Its the accountants that are crooks ...

https://www.taxadvisermagazine.com/article/disguised-remuneration-independent-loan-charge-review

DiggerUK

ChilliBob said:

Clearly quit le a variety of opinions here, and here was me thinking this thread might get a couple of replies!
Would I change a boiler, heck no! Would I repressurise it after my plumber and a YouTube video, yep, with caution!

Allow me to remind you of a hit song from the 1980's "Video Killed The Radio Star". Compare that to your comment about YouTube self help videos, which we all use regularly, the world has moved on. 

The world of personal finance has advanced as well; we don't need some mystical priesthood of financial  Jedi's with the force, we can all use it.
Some will use it wisely, others unwisely; but the magic of self empowerment is free..._

enthusiasticsaver

ChilliBob said:

Hey guys, 
I'm keen to get people's views on financial advisors when it comes to creating a portfolio.. 
1. Did you bother when starting out, or just learnt as you went, carefully
2. Do you continue to use one? If so in what capacity?
3. Assuming you *dont* use someone to do it for you (since they take a % cut) presumably you just pay for advise adhock, much like you might for legal advice?

On the face of it I'm thinking it's unnecessary with enough research and care, but unsure if that's a reasonable view, or very naive. 

Thoughts most welcome, cheers guys. 

 Initially I learnt as I went as I was starting out with a relatively small portfolio and I wanted to learn about investing.  After about 5 years as the portfolio was much larger and my husband had also started to invest we moved to an IFA and have been with him about a year.  He was the second one we had a free meeting with as we were not impressed with the first one. 

As  I understand it IFAs don't do ad hoc advice, at least ours doesn't.  They do a free initial meeting and if you decide to go further they do a recommendation (which you can pay for and not do the ongoing service so that might count as ad hoc). We opted for the ongoing service. 

I don't think it is naive to DIY if you do your research.  We could have carried on doing that but I was starting to get nervous about managing that amount of money (well over £200k) although he did say that I had managed it well over the 5 years I was looking after it.  He actually moved it from medium to cautious though as my husband was less inclined to  take risks.  I have more peace of mind and don't keep checking the value of the portfolio as I did when I was managing it. 

A few things I would say.  If you are going to DIY then you have to do your research and be aware of what your risk appetite is.  If you panic if the markets move downwards by more than a certain percentage and you  are tempted to sell out then you are invested in the wrong thing. Quite a few on here do DIY and some really do not like IFAs.  I just think that you have to remember you get an expert to service and repair your car and do work on your house so why not pay someone to manage your investments?  Yes of course there is a cost but the service we get from ours is not just managing the investments but advising on the best way of  financing  our lifestyle.  For us we get peace of mind but equally if I wasn't happy with him then we would terminate and manage it ourselves again. 

fred246

enthusiasticsaver said:

ChilliBob said:

Hey guys, 
I'm keen to get people's views on financial advisors when it comes to creating a portfolio.. 
1. Did you bother when starting out, or just learnt as you went, carefully
2. Do you continue to use one? If so in what capacity?
3. Assuming you *dont* use someone to do it for you (since they take a % cut) presumably you just pay for advise adhock, much like you might for legal advice?

On the face of it I'm thinking it's unnecessary with enough research and care, but unsure if that's a reasonable view, or very naive. 

Thoughts most welcome, cheers guys. 

As  I understand it IFAs don't do ad hoc advice, at least ours doesn't.  They do a free initial meeting and if you decide to go further they do a recommendation (which you can pay for and not do the ongoing service so that might count as ad hoc). We opted for the ongoing service. 

They always say they will give ad hoc advice but in reality they won't. They throw their toys out of their pram at the very mention of it. They insist on charging thousands of pounds for a review that in reality would only take a few seconds. So you have to pay them year after year for doing very little. They are parasites. They attach themselves to rich people and suck at their resources. Just get rid of the blighters and keep the money for yourself.

[Deleted User]

Linton said:

ZingPowZing said:

ChilliBob said:

I'd be interested to know of any obvious questions to weed out !!!!!! people?

"So, your initial fee is xxxx; can you show me that you can save me xxxx +1 at the outset?"

Doesnt that rather depend on what you would do without advice?  In any case the primary issue isnt maximising returns but rather achieving objectives at minimum risk.

Hopefully a good IFA would explain, in the nicest possible way, why your question is foolish.

Chillibob has already indicated that he would invest 100% in funds, that his risk profile is very cautious and that his objective would be to have a steady stream of income off which he can live (potentially forever) and the value of the shares he is selling may put him in that ballpark. He has some experience of investing in ISAs and a decent pension. His accountant will be investigating the tax angles. He has an economics degree. He is well capable of gauging the glidepath to his objectives. The funds he chooses will, in any case, have at least one set of managers who are paid on results. 
You're really suggesting that he should employ an IFA to provide a service that should be unquantifiable ?

ChilliBob

enthusiasticsaver said:

ChilliBob said:

Hey guys, 
I'm keen to get people's views on financial advisors when it comes to creating a portfolio.. 
1. Did you bother when starting out, or just learnt as you went, carefully
2. Do you continue to use one? If so in what capacity?
3. Assuming you *dont* use someone to do it for you (since they take a % cut) presumably you just pay for advise adhock, much like you might for legal advice?

On the face of it I'm thinking it's unnecessary with enough research and care, but unsure if that's a reasonable view, or very naive. 

Thoughts most welcome, cheers guys. 

 Initially I learnt as I went as I was starting out with a relatively small portfolio and I wanted to learn about investing.  After about 5 years as the portfolio was much larger and my husband had also started to invest we moved to an IFA and have been with him about a year.  He was the second one we had a free meeting with as we were not impressed with the first one. 

As  I understand it IFAs don't do ad hoc advice, at least ours doesn't.  They do a free initial meeting and if you decide to go further they do a recommendation (which you can pay for and not do the ongoing service so that might count as ad hoc). We opted for the ongoing service. 

I don't think it is naive to DIY if you do your research.  We could have carried on doing that but I was starting to get nervous about managing that amount of money (well over £200k) although he did say that I had managed it well over the 5 years I was looking after it.  He actually moved it from medium to cautious though as my husband was less inclined to  take risks.  I have more peace of mind and don't keep checking the value of the portfolio as I did when I was managing it. 

A few things I would say.  If you are going to DIY then you have to do your research and be aware of what your risk appetite is.  If you panic if the markets move downwards by more than a certain percentage and you  are tempted to sell out then you are invested in the wrong thing. Quite a few on here do DIY and some really do not like IFAs.  I just think that you have to remember you get an expert to service and repair your car and do work on your house so why not pay someone to manage your investments?  Yes of course there is a cost but the service we get from ours is not just managing the investments but advising on the best way of  financing  our lifestyle.  For us we get peace of mind but equally if I wasn't happy with him then we would terminate and manage it ourselves again. 

Thanks, this is really interesting to read. I think the charging model is a big part of it for me. For example a friend in a similar situation a few years ago has just whacked most of what he got on a few global index trackers, he seems happy with it and said it costs him about 100 quid a year, but due to sums involved would be about 10k via an ifa if they were to 'manage it'.

Linton

ZingPowZing said:

Linton said:

ZingPowZing said:

ChilliBob said:

I'd be interested to know of any obvious questions to weed out !!!!!! people?

"So, your initial fee is xxxx; can you show me that you can save me xxxx +1 at the outset?"

Doesnt that rather depend on what you would do without advice?  In any case the primary issue isnt maximising returns but rather achieving objectives at minimum risk.

Hopefully a good IFA would explain, in the nicest possible way, why your question is foolish.

Chillibob has already indicated that he would invest 100% in funds, that his risk profile is very cautious and that his objective would be to have a steady stream of income off which he can live (potentially forever) and the value of the shares he is selling may put him in that ballpark. He has some experience of investing in ISAs and a decent pension. His accountant will be investigating the tax angles. He has an economics degree. He is well capable of gauging the glidepath to his objectives. The funds he chooses will, in any case, have at least one set of managers who are paid on results. 
You're really suggesting that he should employ an IFA to provide a service that should be unquantifiable ?

Almost all services are unquantifiable.  Do you choose your barber/hairdresser on the cost per hairs trimmed or a private doctor on the number of days you werent ill?

[Deleted User]

Linton said:

ZingPowZing said:

Linton said:

ZingPowZing said:

ChilliBob said:

I'd be interested to know of any obvious questions to weed out !!!!!! people?

"So, your initial fee is xxxx; can you show me that you can save me xxxx +1 at the outset?"

Doesnt that rather depend on what you would do without advice?  In any case the primary issue isnt maximising returns but rather achieving objectives at minimum risk.

Hopefully a good IFA would explain, in the nicest possible way, why your question is foolish.

Chillibob has already indicated that he would invest 100% in funds, that his risk profile is very cautious and that his objective would be to have a steady stream of income off which he can live (potentially forever) and the value of the shares he is selling may put him in that ballpark. He has some experience of investing in ISAs and a decent pension. His accountant will be investigating the tax angles. He has an economics degree. He is well capable of gauging the glidepath to his objectives. The funds he chooses will, in any case, have at least one set of managers who are paid on results. 
You're really suggesting that he should employ an IFA to provide a service that should be unquantifiable ?

Almost all services are unquantifiable.  Do you choose your barber/hairdresser on the cost per hairs trimmed or a private doctor on the number of days you werent ill?

Lol, I did wonder whether comparisons between financial advisers and doctors might be suspended for the duration of the covid pandemic. The main difference would be a doctor's ability, when needed, to help make a patient better. Financial Advisers are essentially unaccountable - not only do they not claim nor aim to outperform a random pinsticker; they get paid the same either way. The real function of Chillibob's adviser, if he takes one on, would be to manage his expectations.