Do I need an IFA?

Madrick

Aged 60
3 bed terrace, mortgage free
Widowed, 2 children both in 20s post uni and both employed
One child has left home, other child has just started work as teacher, but living at home

Looking at retirement in a few months

Salary £35k
Have a workplace pension £150k with Aegon, which I contribute to through Salary Sacrifice

Second Aegon pension (section 32)  £50k,  From previous employer and  contracted out. 

Then a small Nutmeg pension £10k which I dump extra cash into and gain the tax relief.


Check these every few weeks online and happy with the growth


Also have Nutmeg S&S ISA £23k

£50k in premium bonds
And £35 in other savings bank accounts

I also have the possibility of a small inheritance or two as both parents, living separately but in late 80's own own houses

Would I really benefit from an IFA? 
I really feel there is little they can do for me or can they? 

Would an IFA take a % of just my pension pots £210k

Or do they also include my premium bonds, ISA and bank savings. And any potential inheritance and take a % of the total.... 

"we've looked at your £50k premium bonds but suggest leaving it there, but will still include this charge 2% of the amount as a fee" 

I don't really want to pay someone to look at my finances and maybe tweak something a little, but then charge me £1,000's for it. 

MX5huggy

You don’t need an IFA, and IFA will just take fees from money they manage so no they won’t take fee from your PB’s. They won’t take fee from your work place pension, unless you are allowed to move it. So then your don’t have assets that really an IFA would be worth employing.

Are you salary sacrificing the maximum? Make pension contributions of 100% of salary this tax year (live off savings). 

Check your state pension. 

Albermarle

There are numerous threads on this topic so if you read them , it may help your decision. Here are three recent ones. .
Questions re IFAs — MoneySavingExpert Forum
IFA Fees.... — MoneySavingExpert Forum
Do I really need a Financial Advisor on an ongoing basis? — MoneySavingExpert Forum

enthusiasticsaver

It is a personal choice really.  Presumably if you used an IFA they would manage your pensions £210k total and your ISA. There would be no fees on bank savings or PBS.

How old are you and do you have a strategy for covering your expenditure if you are taking early retirement in a few months?  Any DB pensions? We have done both self managed and now use an IFA who manages our SIPPS and ISAs which are superfluous to our DB pensions.  We like the fact that we don't need to keep such a close eye on them as we did when I managed them and have more confidence in drawing from the portfolio.  Yes obviously there are fees but our portfolio is performing better under the IFA strategy than it was just leaving it in a Vanguard LS account where it was before so we are quite happy with using one but some people are very anti paying any fees and are comfortable making their own fund choices.  To us we look at it no differently to paying a garage to service our car or employing a plumber/electrician.  He has the resources and knowledge to set up an investment strategy for a level of risk we are comfortable with.  If you are happy doing your own then there is nothing wrong with that. 

xylophone

How old are you and do you have a strategy for covering your expenditure if you are taking early retirement in a few months? 

The OP 

 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78607822/#Comment_78607822

Aged 60 and looking to retire early and soonish. 

Any DB pensions? 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78607903/#Comment_78607903

the small £2k Royal Mail DB pension which started this year. 

xylophone

Second Aegon pension (section 32)  £50k,  From previous employer and  contracted out. 

OP are you female?

The S32 has a GMP? If so, pre 88? Post 88? Both?

Madrick

MX5huggy said:

You don’t need an IFA, and IFA will just take fees from money they manage so no they won’t take fee from your PB’s. They won’t take fee from your work place pension, unless you are allowed to move it. So then your don’t have assets that really an IFA would be worth employing.

Are you salary sacrificing the maximum? Make pension contributions of 100% of salary this tax year (live off savings). 

Check your state pension. 

Thanks for that

Yep
Checked state pension which says it can't be improved upon

Paying maximum through salary sacrifice 
My company only does 5%
Im now doing I think 40% since upping my contribution in June this year from 15%
This brings me down to minimum wage
Taking home after tax & NI around £1500 pm

Paying around £1k (plus the tax relief) from this take home each month back into my separate Nutmeg pension. 

Living on the bit that is left and dipping into cash savings along with cash my son gives me towards his keep. 
And a small DB pension of £2k per annum from Post Office. 

Seem to be managing OK. 

Tracking expenditure which seems to be around £1300 to £1500 per month, 

Thrugelmir

Madrick said:

Check these every few weeks online and happy with the growth

The value of your investments may fall. An IFA isn't going to be able to guarantee a positive return either.  

Madrick

Thrugelmir said:

Madrick said:

Check these every few weeks online and happy with the growth

The value of your investments may fall. An IFA isn't going to be able to guarantee a positive return either.  

Exactly

Over the past couple of years have seen some huge gains....

Then over the past couple of months they have dropped substantially and all with different companies /investments.
But over the past few weeks have been increasing back to where they were.

Up and down like a rollercoaster
That's what shares are like 
The most important thing is not to panic at look at the longer growth

[Deleted User]

Madrick said:

Thrugelmir said:

Madrick said:

Check these every few weeks online and happy with the growth

The value of your investments may fall. An IFA isn't going to be able to guarantee a positive return either.  

Exactly

Over the past couple of years have seen some huge gains....

Then over the past couple of months they have dropped substantially and all with different companies /investments.
But over the past few weeks have been increasing back to where they were.

Up and down like a rollercoaster
That's what shares are like 
The most important thing is not to panic at look at the longer growth

“Substantial” drops are a tiny fraction of the gains.  What we’ve seen is a very strong bull market with very  little volatility since April 2020. 

Thrugelmir

Madrick said:

Thrugelmir said:

Madrick said:

Check these every few weeks online and happy with the growth

The value of your investments may fall. An IFA isn't going to be able to guarantee a positive return either.  

Exactly

Over the past couple of years have seen some huge gains....

Then over the past couple of months they have dropped substantially and all with different companies /investments.
But over the past few weeks have been increasing back to where they were.

Up and down like a rollercoaster
That's what shares are like 
The most important thing is not to panic at look at the longer growth

The art is to distinguish between real growth and overly optimistic expectations. Rising prices in themselves can simply be down to money flow.