Finding a good IFA

DoneWorking

Great advice from everyone

Think I will use Google to find a small team of IFAs in my local area with advisors who are not too near retirement age

I'm going to see if they can give me some idea of costs before I spend too much time explaining my full needs

I also want an IFA who doesn't farm out the investment arrangements to a third party

Thrugelmir

No IFA is going to know which investments will protect your savings from inflation. Unfortunately not how investing works. Risk could result in bigger losses 

Albermarle

I'm going to see if they can give me some idea of costs before I spend too much time explaining my full needs

Normally you would have an introductory meeting , maybe one hour . You will have to supply some details but not all.  If you both want to progress further , they will make a proposal including charges.

DoneWorking

Thrugelmir said:

No IFA is going to know which investments will protect your savings from inflation. Unfortunately not how investing works. Risk could result in bigger losses 

This statement is surely in the mind of all investors.

In my case I have the following options

Leave my cash in savings accounts and generate approximately 1 to 1.5 % approximately

Pros

 Cash fund remains intact

Small increase

Cons
Take the hit on inflation

Invest my cash

Pros

Cash may attain higher interest
Possibly matching or coming close to reduction in value due to inflation

Cons

Investments might tank and lose value 
Costs and level of risk may mean return does not beat inflation

Billycock

DoneWorking said:

Thrugelmir said:

No IFA is going to know which investments will protect your savings from inflation. Unfortunately not how investing works. Risk could result in bigger losses 

This statement is surely in the mind of all investors.

In my case I have the following options

Leave my cash in savings accounts and generate approximately 1 to 1.5 % approximately

Pros

 Cash fund remains intact

Small increase

Cons
Take the hit on inflation

Invest my cash

Pros

Cash may attain higher interest
Possibly matching or coming close to reduction in value due to inflation

Cons

Investments might tank and lose value 
Costs and level of risk may mean return does not beat inflation

Or you can do a percentage of both saving and investing.
What I would do if I was so uncertain and not knowing whether I'm going for a sh*t, shower or shave is :-
50% into savings
50% invested in this way, half of the investment funds via Vanguard Investor platform, 90% into Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Acc and 10% into Vanguard FTSE UK Equity Index Fund Acc. And drip feed the remaining 50% of the investment funds between the selected funds. Maybe steady the nerves that way by not going all in with a lump sum.
I wouldn't be bothering with any IFA. But that's just me.

bostonerimus

I know that E.On got vilified for sending socks to customers as part of its response to increasing energy costs, but it's sort of on the right lines. While it's pretty insulting for some corporation to do such a thing, good advice from your granny in response to inflation would be to sensibly economize rather than increasing risk as you will surely have to do in an effort to keep pace with 6% inflation. Unfortunately fixed costs like housing are taking a growing percentage of people's income leaving less room to cut. But turning down the thermostat and taking a close look at food spending, TV subscriptions and obviously cutting frivolous spending and holidays are sensible responses. The people already at the limits of their spending don't have this as a relatively painless option and they...and their children...will suffer the real consequences of inflation. Let's hope SP keeps up with inflation and that people aren't tempted to take on too much risk in DC pots in an effort to boost income.

DoneWorking

Billycock said:

DoneWorking said:

Thrugelmir said:

No IFA is going to know which investments will protect your savings from inflation. Unfortunately not how investing works. Risk could result in bigger losses 

This statement is surely in the mind of all investors.

In my case I have the following options

Leave my cash in savings accounts and generate approximately 1 to 1.5 % approximately

Pros

 Cash fund remains intact

Small increase

Cons
Take the hit on inflation

Invest my cash

Pros

Cash may attain higher interest
Possibly matching or coming close to reduction in value due to inflation

Cons

Investments might tank and lose value 
Costs and level of risk may mean return does not beat inflation

Or you can do a percentage of both saving and investing.
What I would do if I was so uncertain and not knowing whether I'm going for a sh*t, shower or shave is :-
50% into savings
50% invested in this way, half of the investment funds via Vanguard Investor platform, 90% into Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Acc and 10% into Vanguard FTSE UK Equity Index Fund Acc. And drip feed the remaining 50% of the investment funds between the selected funds. Maybe steady the nerves that way by not going all in with a lump sum.
I wouldn't be bothering with any IFA. But that's just me.

That's given me something to think about

Only problem is I know absolutely nothing about investments

Where can I get more info on investing generally and Vanguard specifically

Would a one man band IFA be ok to start me off in right direction

DoneWorking

bostonerimus said:

I know that E.On got vilified for sending socks to customers as part of its response to increasing energy costs, but it's sort of on the right lines. While it's pretty insulting for some corporation to do such a thing, good advice from your granny in response to inflation would be to sensibly economize rather than increasing risk as you will surely have to do in an effort to keep pace with 6% inflation. Unfortunately fixed costs like housing are taking a growing percentage of people's income leaving less room to cut. But turning down the thermostat and taking a close look at food spending, TV subscriptions and obviously cutting frivolous spending and holidays are sensible responses. The people already at the limits of their spending don't have this as a relatively painless option and they...and their children...will suffer the real consequences of inflation. Let's hope SP keeps up with inflation and that people aren't tempted to take on too much risk in DC pots in an effort to boost income.

I must say I've given this some thought

My spending requirements are not excessive

I could cut back if required

The cash is there predominately to use to top up my pension and deal with big unforseen and anticipated purchases in future

Plus to leave my wife ok when I pass

After she passes whatever is left would go to my adult kids

Aegis

DoneWorking said:

Great advice from everyone

Think I will use Google to find a small team of IFAs in my local area with advisors who are not too near retirement age

I'm going to see if they can give me some idea of costs before I spend too much time explaining my full needs

I also want an IFA who doesn't farm out the investment arrangements to a third party

Might be worth remembering that all IFAs will farm out the investment arrangements to others, it's very rare to find an IFA that buys direct assets (e.g. shares) rather than funds, where a third party selects the investments within the remit of the fund.  There are some investment management services out there which hold assets on behalf of clients and buy direct holdings, but that tends to be the remit of asset/wealth managers or stockbrokers rather than IFAs.

If you're happy to farm out at least some of the responsibility, then an IFA may well work for you.

Billycock

My investing journey started here
B00YPF6RCQ
Easy to read/understand
Also You Tube search for Vanguard Investing etc, you'll soon understand things.

IFA, it's personal choice, I did have one and it was a waste of money for me. Didn't actually need any IFA at the end of the day.
I would get familiar with Vanguard investing before deciding about IFA's