What information should I provide to an advisor?

BritishInvestor

zagfles said:

And after all that you might find that the "free advice" is very limited eg to an hour's consultation with you having to pay if you want further advice. It might be worth looking into the extent of the "free" advice first.

It's not (or shouldn't be) free advice. It should be more about determining whether you are a good fit (from both sides) and whether the adviser can add sufficient value to your situation to cover their fees.

coyrls

theblond1 said:

My employer offers pension advice via a third-party in respect of the company DC pension scheme and pays their fee. 

OP states that their employer is paying the fee.

theblond1

westv said:

What personal questions though? Surely all they need to know is where your money is currently, how much you earn and how much is being added to the money you have?

In my case they want to know much more than this: all the usual address, phone, email details plus number of passport or driving licence, NI number, all your and your spouse's incomes, savings and investment values, health condition, the medication you and your spouse are taking, names of your spouse, children and any other dependants, with their dates of birth, value of your property, outstanding mortgage, all assets and liabilities, then there's all your needs, objectives and plans for retirement which cover many pages. 

My worry is that this huge bundle of personal information would be going to a single organisation and therefore might all be released in the event of a data breach.  I can see that a good deal of it is needed in order to suitably shape pension advice, such as health condition (and therefore expected lifespan), but things such as children's names and their dates of birth irrespective of whether they are still dependent feels like a step too far.  It ought to be sufficient to say that you have a spouse, so many children of a given age and so on rather than to have to provide very specific data about them.

Under GDPR there are huge potential fines for organisations failing to comply but once your information is in the wrong hands it's you that suffers.

One person in this string has said that the FCA does not have rules about the information advisors can request in order to 'know the customer' in preparation for giving the advice - "..the FCA leaves it to firms to decide what's needed.." - which I find surprising.

The advisor in question here is appointed by my employer (a FTSE 100 company), is a leading UK firm of financial advisors and there is no reason to believe that they are rogue or untrustworthy.

gm0

To do proper retirement strategy and product advice needs a view of assets, property, downsizing plans, heirs, objectives, income needs, income wants, other income, partners with an interest, material health issues which take you away from standard actuarial tables. i.e. a long list.  Regulation makes the fact find, very mandatory and failure to complete and document it properly pretty much an automatic fail.  The IFA Public Indemnity Insurers don't like that

If you like your affairs private and don't wish to disclose this sort of information then this sort of advice is not for you.

Customised advice where you pick n mix and delete the regulated deliverables and yet have any regulated comeback is not really available.  Waiving your rights by letter has no real affect on all of this so that doesn't let you change the nature of the game either.

Drip feeding part of the fact find information will stop the process in its tracks and make you an unwanted customer

Any of the advice factories won't let you near the IFA until the disclosure/fact pack is done with the admin staff and para planner. 
A sole trader IFA might do the "are you for me and me for you screening discussion" but next meeting would be fact find heavy

Brie

I would have thought your spouse's or children's names were immaterial.  DOB for spouse would be important and general age  and number of children may be helpful. 

Maybe you don't want to lock too much money away if you had a daughter of a certain age who might get married and expect you to foot the bill (old fashioned patriarchy in action!) or children of an age that might start producing grandchildren, or need ££ for uni or buying a house.   

If you think that all too much information then you would be perfectly within your rights to say "I've got a few kids but hate them all so they're not getting a dime off of me!" which would make the discussion completely about you and your spouse's financial standing.

wjr4

theblond1 said:

westv said:

What personal questions though? Surely all they need to know is where your money is currently, how much you earn and how much is being added to the money you have?

In my case they want to know much more than this: all the usual address, phone, email details plus number of passport or driving licence, NI number, all your and your spouse's incomes, savings and investment values, health condition, the medication you and your spouse are taking, names of your spouse, children and any other dependants, with their dates of birth, value of your property, outstanding mortgage, all assets and liabilities, then there's all your needs, objectives and plans for retirement which cover many pages. 

My worry is that this huge bundle of personal information would be going to a single organisation and therefore might all be released in the event of a data breach.  I can see that a good deal of it is needed in order to suitably shape pension advice, such as health condition (and therefore expected lifespan), but things such as children's names and their dates of birth irrespective of whether they are still dependent feels like a step too far.  It ought to be sufficient to say that you have a spouse, so many children of a given age and so on rather than to have to provide very specific data about them.

Under GDPR there are huge potential fines for organisations failing to comply but once your information is in the wrong hands it's you that suffers.

One person in this string has said that the FCA does not have rules about the information advisors can request in order to 'know the customer' in preparation for giving the advice - "..the FCA leaves it to firms to decide what's needed.." - which I find surprising.

The advisor in question here is appointed by my employer (a FTSE 100 company), is a leading UK firm of financial advisors and there is no reason to believe that they are rogue or untrustworthy.

SJP? Avoid! They are salespeople, not advisers. 

wjr4

theblond1 said:

westv said:

What personal questions though? Surely all they need to know is where your money is currently, how much you earn and how much is being added to the money you have?

In my case they want to know much more than this: all the usual address, phone, email details plus number of passport or driving licence, NI number, all your and your spouse's incomes, savings and investment values, health condition, the medication you and your spouse are taking, names of your spouse, children and any other dependants, with their dates of birth, value of your property, outstanding mortgage, all assets and liabilities, then there's all your needs, objectives and plans for retirement which cover many pages. 

My worry is that this huge bundle of personal information would be going to a single organisation and therefore might all be released in the event of a data breach.  I can see that a good deal of it is needed in order to suitably shape pension advice, such as health condition (and therefore expected lifespan), but things such as children's names and their dates of birth irrespective of whether they are still dependent feels like a step too far.  It ought to be sufficient to say that you have a spouse, so many children of a given age and so on rather than to have to provide very specific data about them.

Under GDPR there are huge potential fines for organisations failing to comply but once your information is in the wrong hands it's you that suffers.

One person in this string has said that the FCA does not have rules about the information advisors can request in order to 'know the customer' in preparation for giving the advice - "..the FCA leaves it to firms to decide what's needed.." - which I find surprising.

The advisor in question here is appointed by my employer (a FTSE 100 company), is a leading UK firm of financial advisors and there is no reason to believe that they are rogue or untrustworthy.

Also, they shouldn’t ask for non-dependent children’s information because they would need confirmation from your children to hold this information as it’s their data. 

dunstonh

One person in this string has said that the FCA does not have rules about the information advisors can request in order to 'know the customer' in preparation for giving the advice - "..the FCA leaves it to firms to decide what's needed.." - which I find surprising.

The FCA is more about guidelines and leaving it for companies to interpret the guidelines.    There have been a number of occasions over the years where firms have gone to the regulator asking for guidance on their guidelines only to be told it is up to you to decide how to interpret them......and if you get it wrong, we will fine you.    When a company gets fined or an ombudsman decision comes out, all the other companies take note and adjust accordingly.        

The advisor in question here is appointed by my employer (a FTSE 100 company), is a leading UK firm of financial advisors and there is no reason to believe that they are rogue or untrustworthy.

I am going to give a generalisation here but typically with nationals in that scenario, you are often looking at low paid adviser, often not long qualified, biding their time to build up the courage to leave and potential client bank to make leaving viable.  For some, the company has paid them to get qualified and it's a stepping stone.     Often an unqualified assistant/clerical worker will do the preliminary work with a view to plumping it on the desk of the adviser the day before they visit.  

As mentioned higher up, prescription info is not needed in a pre-retirement shortfall analysis.   It is in a post-retirement scenario though.  An experienced adviser will pick the bits of a factfind that are necessary.   A clerical worker under instruction from the employer to get a form filled in may not know what is or isn't necessary.      An experienced adviser face-to-face will often factfind without you even realising they are doing it as it occurs in a conversational style.  A  paper factfind doesn't allow that.

 but things such as children's names and their dates of birth irrespective of whether they are still dependent feels like a step too far.  It ought to be sufficient to say that you have a spouse, so many children of a given age and so on rather than to have to provide very specific data about them.

Retirement planning can impact your and your spouse/partner and your dependents in terms of inheritance.   The adviser will want to make sure the death benefits are set up correctly.   That involves names and often date of birth and their address.   

Whether this information is asked at the prelim stage or at the advice stage again comes down to the adviser type and business model.   The method you are using is getting all the information upfront to reduce the time they sit in front of you (as your employer is only paying for a certain amount of time).  And the adviser may have driven 200 miles to see you and wants to get home at a reasonable hour.  Having a 4-hour appointment starting at 7 pm just to obtain information that could have been requested in advance isn't viable.

Whereas a localised adviser may see you over multiple meetings and only grab what is needed initially and only then fill in the gaps once they know what you are after and what work is necessary to proceed.

wjr4

gm0 said:

Any of the advice factories won't let you near the IFA until the disclosure/fact pack is done with the admin staff and para planner. 
A sole trader IFA might do the "are you for me and me for you screening discussion" but next meeting would be fact find heavy

Advice ‘factories’ may not do this but a normal IFA would have an initial meeting before asking for the client’s life story. The initial meeting is to establish trust. I wouldn’t be giving my information to anyone before meeting them either. OP - you’re better off finding an IFA away from the company and going through the process with them if you need advice. What advice are you actually looking for?

Albermarle

wjr4 said:

gm0 said:

Any of the advice factories won't let you near the IFA until the disclosure/fact pack is done with the admin staff and para planner. 
A sole trader IFA might do the "are you for me and me for you screening discussion" but next meeting would be fact find heavy

Advice ‘factories’ may not do this but a normal IFA would have an initial meeting before asking for the client’s life story. The initial meeting is to establish trust. I wouldn’t be giving my information to anyone before meeting them either. OP - you’re better off finding an IFA away from the company and going through the process with them if you need advice. What advice are you actually looking for?

The problem with this 'advice' is that the OP is being offered the services of an advisor free . If they went to a an IFA they would have to pay . So it looks like they have a choice .

Either provide all the requested personal details and get a free session with an advisor and presumably some recommendations for future action. ( There might be a suspicion here that the initial free advice might be quite restrictive and  regarding only the  pension  specifically, and anything else will attract a charge ) 

Or refuse the offer of free financial advice and go to an IFA and pay for it . Some personal details not to be given until trust builds up .

Or do nothing /manage their own finances/investments .