Choice of Investment company

Albermarle

valiant24 said:

ChilliBob said:

As you will have seen, when I ummed and ahhed over 0.13 and 0.22 index funds I don't think I'm their target customer, despite them reassuring me I very much am! 

A year or two back I got a recommendation from someone whose opinion on such matters I respect to speak to an IFA in Manchester.   Had what I thought was a decent chat, but the IFA called back a day or two later to say that, on reflection, he thought that he, and customers as focussed as I seemed to be on advisor fees, had proved in the past to be a poor match, and he'd rather not proceed further.
I quite admired him for his honesty.

He probably had a full client book and was not interested in new clients trying to squeeze the last 0.1% out of him . 
Maybe your pot was not large enough to get him interested as well. Depending on the area some have a much wealthier client base than others . 

ChilliBob

In light of almost everything being done online now, or if face to face, probably a meet in London in a lot of cases it seems odd the advice is always to find someone local to you? I don't really get that and why the comparison sites search like that. Not like you want a plumber! 

NottinghamKnight

ChilliBob said:

In light of almost everything being done online now, or if face to face, probably a meet in London in a lot of cases it seems odd the advice is always to find someone local to you? I don't really get that and why the comparison sites search like that. Not like you want a plumber! 

W e are obviously in unusual times but many people have historically been more comfortable with a physical meeting with an advisor and things like teams and zooms were still quite niche a year ago. Many people, both clients and advisors, would feel that the most important part is the relationship, being comfortable and getting on and trusting etc; if you take that away you could argue a robo solution could be sufficient.  A meet n London would be unusual as prices in London will generally be much higher, as they are for most things, with no real benefit.

Thrugelmir

Companies such as Netwealth provide one off advice at a cost of £125 per hour (minimum £250). Ongoing advice 0.2% per annum (Minimum £1,000 per annum).  Both fees quoted are inclusive of VAT.  

jamei305

dunstonh said:

where as PCF has very little mention anywhere.

Never heard of them but most IFAs (if they are one) are small localised firms and have a similar internet presence to your local butcher.  So, you are unlikely to find much about them.

It seems Police Clubs Finance is actually McAuley Financial, which is a part of Tenet Group.

ChilliBob

NottinghamKnight said:

ChilliBob said:

In light of almost everything being done online now, or if face to face, probably a meet in London in a lot of cases it seems odd the advice is always to find someone local to you? I don't really get that and why the comparison sites search like that. Not like you want a plumber! 

W e are obviously in unusual times but many people have historically been more comfortable with a physical meeting with an advisor and things like teams and zooms were still quite niche a year ago. Many people, both clients and advisors, would feel that the most important part is the relationship, being comfortable and getting on and trusting etc; if you take that away you could argue a robo solution could be sufficient.  A meet n London would be unusual as prices in London will generally be much higher, as they are for most things, with no real benefit.

Fair enough! I guess I'm just so used to using Zoom and Teams for this sort of stuff, before the pandemic too really.

I suppose I used the London example as I'm an hour from London and used to commute there and if I didn't choose someone totally local to me then 'semi local' might mean meeting in London, but hey, the way things are going any face to face meeting might be 2022

NottinghamKnight

jamei305 said:

dunstonh said:

where as PCF has very little mention anywhere.

Never heard of them but most IFAs (if they are one) are small localised firms and have a similar internet presence to your local butcher.  So, you are unlikely to find much about them.

It seems Police Clubs Finance is actually McAuley Financial, which is a part of Tenet Group.

Well if they are Tenet they can have advisors working in both directions of time so should be delivering outstanding results I would guess.

NottinghamKnight

ChilliBob said:

NottinghamKnight said:

ChilliBob said:

In light of almost everything being done online now, or if face to face, probably a meet in London in a lot of cases it seems odd the advice is always to find someone local to you? I don't really get that and why the comparison sites search like that. Not like you want a plumber! 

W e are obviously in unusual times but many people have historically been more comfortable with a physical meeting with an advisor and things like teams and zooms were still quite niche a year ago. Many people, both clients and advisors, would feel that the most important part is the relationship, being comfortable and getting on and trusting etc; if you take that away you could argue a robo solution could be sufficient.  A meet n London would be unusual as prices in London will generally be much higher, as they are for most things, with no real benefit.

Fair enough! I guess I'm just so used to using Zoom and Teams for this sort of stuff, before the pandemic too really.

I suppose I used the London example as I'm an hour from London and used to commute there and if I didn't choose someone totally local to me then 'semi local' might mean meeting in London, but hey, the way things are going any face to face meeting might be 2022

It will no doubt move that way but Zoom, Teams etc were still pretty niche even a year ago. There seems little logic to using London services if you don't need to as there is an inherent additional cost in doing so (30-50%?). Advisers on these boards have compared themselves to small local companies, including butchers, in some regards, but I guess the closest is local solicitors or accountants so why would you look to a London based form to do your tax return or house purchase?

Albermarle

I think many people like the ability to pop into a local office and may even know someone who has used them before , or their kids went to school with their kids etc. My friend has a local IFA , who drops off documents for signing at their house . Personal touch is important for many people.

[Deleted User]

Financial Advisers have been "phoning it in" for a long time, in more ways than one.

What always happens when a new person takes to the board on a such a matter is that a circle of financial adviser apologists will promote the benefits of using a local IFA instead.