Will IFAs give you one-off advice without the ongoing review?

LV_426

I just had an interesting experience going through unbiased to find an IFA. I entered a lot of information in the message section about what I was after. Which is basically a one off review of my pension assets, and confirmation of my plan to retire early. I specifically said I was not looking for ongoing review/maintenance, just initial advice.
The response I got was that the advisor was unable to help me with my enquiry at this time.
Not sure why this is, but I've noticed that advisors usually want to sign you up for an ongoing plan, which of course has costs. That has been my experience with the IFAs I've had dealings with previously. And they often use the hook of giving you "free" advice to get you signed up for the annual review plan.
Come on, nobody works for free. I'm quite willing to pay for any advice I receive, but I don't want to be sweet talked into an ongoing financial review, which I don't need.

NSG666

Surely the outcome of the review dictates the next course of action / need for any ongoing advice? A few years ago my ex-employer paid a FA to look at my DB pension and see whether it was worth swapping out. The answer was no and that's the last I heard from them.

If the FA confirms you are on track with your existing arrangements and they cannot offer better then that should be the end of the story but if they advise you to make changes they probably want to offer ongoing advice in case investment rates, taxation, legislation change to knock your portfolio off course but unless the portfolio is exclusive to them you don't have to stick with them.

Oh and don't mention up front that you don't want ongoing advice as that throws up a barrier of mistrust before they even speak with you.

Albermarle

You will get a better answer from one of the IFA's who post on here. However as I understand it you can find IFA's who will provide a one off advice service but probably the initial fee might be higher . Also of course you then have to manage the investments/pensions yourself ( based on their advice ) . I think  lot of people who use IFA's prefer that they do everything for them and are happy to pay an ongoing fee, so that is the more typical business model.

Linton

There would seem to be a higher risk for the IFA if they are not involved in subsequent management:  if they give a plan the nod and the client subsequently invests inappropriately they run the risk of being sued, rightly or wrongly, for bad advice.

Bianchiintenso

In the past I've tried 3 IFA's 2 said no they only manage plans for clients, the 3rd did a review as per my recent thread on Zurich Pension charges and in my opinion was trying to sign me to a plan that was not in my best interests. There seems to be a good market for fee based advice, but finding IFA's to provide it is another matter

JohnWinder

You might find one here: https://www.evidenceinvestor.com/find-an-adviser/

LV_426

Just got off the phone to an IFA. Again, quite evasive about fees. Why is it so difficult to get a clear answer on how much the advice is going to cost? I'm being pretty clear in what I want.

dunstonh

I just had an interesting experience going through unbiased to find an IFA. 

Be aware that unbiased is no longer an IFA database.  It morphed some years ago into a lead generation site and included FAs as well as IFAs.   Most of the IFAs I know no longer pay to have an entry on unbiased.  Just the free entry that you don't see unless you unselect a search filter.   Its mostly larger firms and those that need business that appears on there now.

The response I got was that the advisor was unable to help me with my enquiry at this time.
Not sure why this is

It means that the adviser firm that unbiased farmed you out for didn't want to pay unbiased for the lead.      Perhaps unbiased farmed it to a wealth management firm rather than a general practitioner firm.  Or perhaps your values were too low for their business model.

Not sure why this is, but I've noticed that advisors usually want to sign you up for an ongoing plan, which of course has costs. That has been my experience with the IFAs I've had dealings with previously

Wealth management firms have a business model that targets the building up of assets on an ongoing servicing basis.  They only really want ongoing servicing.  General practitioner firms will do transactional and ongoing as needed.   IFAs are required to make ongoing servicing optional.     

General practitioner firms are not fussed whether it's ongoing or transactional.  Indeed, many General practitioner firms won't offer ongoing servicing to a lot of people and only offer it where it makes sense.   However, there are some consequences.  For example, transactional advice can often mean using a more basic provider/platform and more limited investment selection.

 And they often use the hook of giving you "free" advice to get you signed up for the annual review plan.
Come on, nobody works for free. I'm quite willing to pay for any advice I receive, but I don't want to be sweet talked into an ongoing financial review, which I don't need.

I don't understand what you mean there as I don't believe any firm gives free advice.    If you are referring to the free initial consultation, that is not to give you free advice.  That is purely to meet and greet and ascertain if there is a business relationship going forward.   Its not for free advice.    Much the same as solicitors and accountants will give you the initial meeting without charge so it doesn't waste anyone time beyond that if it's unnecessary to continue. 

LV_426

Thanks. I can see that some people would want to hand over all financial planning to an IFA and be completely hands off. That's fair enough. But my situation is that I do have some knowledge, and have a good idea of retirement planning. But it's the old conundrum - I don't know what I don't know. And this is really what I'm looking to a financial advisor for. Some level of confidence that the plans I have in my mind are the best way forward.

davethebb

I am having exactly the same problems in finding a good IFA to give general advice. Some I have found to be linked to various companies that indicate that maybe they are no so independent after all. One I have found and liked seems to have connections to "Tenet Group" and that is putting me off using them as I am not sure how independent it makes them. 
What is the best way to find a good IFA?

LV_426

Just got off the phone to an advisor. I still don't get their charging model.
He tells me that he can review my current pensions, and provide plans. So if I choose to accept a plan, which presumably will involve transferring pensions from one place to another, at that point he gets paid a percentage of those assets.
If I choose not to accept the plan, he gets paid nothing. So potentially he's done all the legwork of gathering information about pensions and reviewing everything, for nothing.
And also with this charging model, is there immediately an incentive for him to get me to accept transfers?
Why not pay up front for the work of doing the assessment and producing plans?
Nobody appears to want to work on that basis.