Why is the cost of advice so high?

LV_426

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Better things to do with their time. 

Absolutely. At £200/hour I wouldn't want to waste it either!

Prism

Got a quote for putting down our patio a few months ago - £2k per day just for the labour. IFA fees don't seem so bad in comparison. Certainly higher risk work. 

Thrugelmir

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Better things to do with their time. 

Absolutely. At £200/hour I wouldn't want to waste it either!

That's only for productive time though. Time spent on gaining potential new clients and mundane admin tasks has to be paid for as well. 

LV_426

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Better things to do with their time. 

Absolutely. At £200/hour I wouldn't want to waste it either!

That's only for productive time though. Time spent on gaining potential new clients and mundane admin tasks has to be paid for as well. 

Are you an IFA?  I apologise if I cause any offence, but people shouldn't get offended if customers want to question any costs. And as a customer it's my right to do that, and also shop around to compare quotes.

Jerry_Mander

ajfielden said:

I've been on the Unbiased website, and their whole method of finding an advisor now seems to have changed. Previously you could pick from a list of presented advisors. Now you just go through a multi click process and they spit out someone they chose for you. I've done it twice now, and it came back with the same people both times.

Same here. It should have a tick box that allows you to remove advisers that have already responded when you make a further query. I managed to get two responses but after that the same advisers responded, presumably stopping any other advisers from taking my query. Very annoying.

Jerry_Mander

ajfielden said:

Someone I just spoke to wants £4k - £5k for a review and advice on where to put my money.

Think yourself lucky. I'm trying to transfer my DB pension and I'm looking at £11k upwards!
I know where I'd like to tell them to put my money. lol

LV_426

Jerry_Mander said:

ajfielden said:

Someone I just spoke to wants £4k - £5k for a review and advice on where to put my money.

Think yourself lucky. I'm trying to transfer my DB pension and I'm looking at £11k upwards!
I know where I'd like to tell them to put my money. lol

I believe DB transfers are a different kettle of fish entirely and it's usual for very high fees to be paid. There's a lot of risk that the adviser is taking, and I assume, associated insurance costs. 

dunstonh

While Unbiased is not ideal, the typical adviser profile on there is pretty average, tending to talk about:
1. Themselves (zzzz)
2. Investments (zzzz)

How on earth can you differentiate based on these profiles?

The unpaid profiles give you virtually no choice.  The paid profiles have more customisation possible.

The FCA treat directory listings as a financial promotion.  So, all the regulatory text needs to be present and wording needs to be compliant.

If they instead focused on exactly the type of people they help (e.g those planning to retire in the next 5 years), I reckon they'd get a lot more traction and people getting in touch directly. 

A general practitioner IFA will help everybody.  Wealth manger FA/IFAs will often be focused on larger investors.   Some business models may focus on a type but most do not.

I just did a unbiased search using our postcode.   We didnt come up at all and I cant see a place to show the non paying adviser firms.   The first and second advisers were not actually based locally.  Both were national firms that pay to appear at or near the top in every search and have travelling advisers.   The third says "new adviser" but it isnt.  His firm has been going for over two decades.  What it really means is that he is not buying leads from unbiased.  Then there were two regional firms.  After that, the distance was far away and plenty of FAs (not IFAs) appeared on the list.   

Apart from one firm, the rest were mostly salesforces.   Only one of the general practitioner local IFA firms appeared and he isn't buying their leads.    None of the rest of the local independent IFA firms appeared. (by independent IFA, I mean not a salesforce or appointed rep of a network but independently owned IFA firms)

Twenty years ago, the list would not have had the salesforces and every IFA would have been on there.

Thrugelmir

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Better things to do with their time. 

Absolutely. At £200/hour I wouldn't want to waste it either!

That's only for productive time though. Time spent on gaining potential new clients and mundane admin tasks has to be paid for as well. 

Are you an IFA?  I apologise if I cause any offence, but people shouldn't get offended if customers want to question any costs. And as a customer it's my right to do that, and also shop around to compare quotes.

No I'm not. However I've spent a lifetime in finance. I'm merely pointing out why time costs money. There's a perenial misconception as to the true cost of providing something. Whether it's of value to someone else is a totally different matter. As you say go elsewhere if you don't like what you've been quoted. Asking people to explain their costings is none of your business. Why should it be? 

LV_426

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Thrugelmir said:

ajfielden said:

Oh dear, the financial adviser was not best pleased when I said that the fee of £5k was rather high

Better things to do with their time. 

Absolutely. At £200/hour I wouldn't want to waste it either!

That's only for productive time though. Time spent on gaining potential new clients and mundane admin tasks has to be paid for as well. 

Are you an IFA?  I apologise if I cause any offence, but people shouldn't get offended if customers want to question any costs. And as a customer it's my right to do that, and also shop around to compare quotes.

No I'm not. However I've spent a lifetime in finance. I'm merely pointing out why time costs money. There's a perenial misconception as to the true cost of providing something. Whether it's of value to someone else is a totally different matter. As you say go elsewhere if you don't like what you've been quoted. Asking people to explain their costings is none of your business. Why should it be? 

Hm interesting view. Why should it be my business? Well because I'm paying, so I think it's reasonable to ask for a justification.
I'd like a degree of transparency. To be fair though, they aren't alone. Try asking a builder for a breakdown of costs. They've obviously gone through this process in pricing up materials, time, rates etc, so why not make the customer fully aware of how the quote has been calculated. If it's been done fairly of course