Paranoid about choosing an advisor

Foggy999

Hi Please help! I am ultra paranoid about choosing a Financial advisor. I have found one in my area and would like them to give me a holistic service to protect the value of my cash assets and also look at my pension options etc.

So I have checked out the company on the FCA site but I just don't understand if they check out or not. The advisors name is Mr Patryk Kris Dyjecinski clarawealth.co.uk there seems to be a parent company? ValidPath Financial Limited Reference number: 836465

So I just cant work out if they are legit or not. For example it says "Some activities by this firm may not be protected" but I cant work out the implications for that in my context.

I am so paranoid about getting financial advice that it is stopping me get financial advice and I don't fully understand the info on the FCA site when I do a search. Everything always looks so dodgy even when it might not be!

I really wish I knew how to choose an advisor with 100% confidence. 

Please help!

pearl123

Foggy999 said:

Hi Please help! I am ultra paranoid about choosing a Financial advisor. I have found one in my area and would like them to give me a holistic service to protect the value of my cash assets and also look at my pension options etc.

So I have checked out the company on the FCA site but I just don't understand if they check out or not. The advisors name is Mr Patryk Kris Dyjecinski clarawealth.co.uk there seems to be a parent company? ValidPath Financial Limited Reference number: 836465

So I just cant work out if they are legit or not. For example it says "Some activities by this firm may not be protected" but I cant work out the implications for that in my context.

I am so paranoid about getting financial advice that it is stopping me get financial advice and I don't fully understand the info on the FCA site when I do a search. Everything always looks so dodgy even when it might not be!

I really wish I knew how to choose an advisor with 100% confidence. 

Please help!

Your first post on this forum was about your debts. You need to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. They will be able to help you. Just book an appointment. It is free of charge. 

dunstonh

So I have checked out the company on the FCA site but I just don't understand if they check out or not. The advisors name is Mr Patryk Kris Dyjecinski clarawealth.co.uk there seems to be a parent company? ValidPath Financial Limited Reference number: 836465

That means the adviser is not directly authorised by the FCA but is an appointed representative of a network firm (validpath in this case).   When a network is involved, the network sets the rules that the adviser firm has to work to.    
 A directly authorised IFA is more independent than a network IFA in how they can work, what software, research etc they can use.  However, in terms of marketplace accessibility, there is no difference.

So I just cant work out if they are legit or not. For example it says "Some activities by this firm may not be protected" but I cant work out the implications for that in my context.

They are legit 
And some activities will not be protected as adviser firms do things that are not regulated as well as the regulated things.  That is normal.
There is nothing about them that gives any concerns.  I could pick holes in one thing on their website, which in my opinion, risks their IFA status being reclassified as FA.   But that is nitpicking as it's probably wording rather than their actual position.   IFAs are not allowed to restrict.  Any hint of a restriction means they cannot be referred to as an IFA.  So, if you have a blanket statement that something should be avoided, you shouldn't refer to yourself as an IFA.  Something may be suitable for only 1% of the population.   So, what if you are in that 1% and the firm doesn't do that product which is suitable for you but not the other 99%?           I understand their sentiment and where they are coming from and agree in 99% of cases (not 100% of cases) but an IFA shouldn't restrict before knowing the individual.  That would make them an FA.

MX5huggy

pearl123 said:

Foggy999 said:

Hi Please help! I am ultra paranoid about choosing a Financial advisor. I have found one in my area and would like them to give me a holistic service to protect the value of my cash assets and also look at my pension options etc.

So I have checked out the company on the FCA site but I just don't understand if they check out or not. The advisors name is Mr Patryk Kris Dyjecinski clarawealth.co.uk there seems to be a parent company? ValidPath Financial Limited Reference number: 836465

So I just cant work out if they are legit or not. For example it says "Some activities by this firm may not be protected" but I cant work out the implications for that in my context.

I am so paranoid about getting financial advice that it is stopping me get financial advice and I don't fully understand the info on the FCA site when I do a search. Everything always looks so dodgy even when it might not be!

I really wish I knew how to choose an advisor with 100% confidence. 

Please help!

Your first post on this forum was about your debts. You need to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. They will be able to help you. Just book an appointment. It is free of charge. 

If you have debts you a financial advisor! 

That post is from 11 years ago, hopefully things have moved on. 

@dunstonh  has covered it but have looked myself if I wanted an IFA there’s nothing there that would put me off, particularly the bit about using trackers but that maybe the bit dunstonh has a small issue with. 

pearl123

MX5huggy said:

That post is from 11 years ago, hopefully things have moved on. 

My apologies to the OP, as I hadn't noticed the date of his first post. 

eskbanker

Foggy999 said:

would like them to give me a holistic service to protect the value of my cash assets and also look at my pension options etc

Perhaps worth sharing a bit more detail on here about your circumstances and questions - it may be that you can obtain a holistic service like that but it might not be particularly cost-effective, so you could find that you can get enough general guidance for nothing on here?  Advisers do certainly have their place though, so I'm not trying to put you off....

Albermarle

As above, if you are so paranoid about financial advisors, then the alternative is to learn about personal finance, pensions, investments etc yourself . The basics are not so difficult, if you are reasonably intelligent and OK working with numbers.
It also depends on your situation, as an advisor maybe more suitable where larger amounts of money are involved, and you have no experience. If the amounts involved were just in the tens of thousands say, an advisor is probably less necessary ( and they may even not be interested)

Foggy999

Thanks Albermarle, 
I think my understanding of finance is probably above average to be honest. This is partly because of the experience of getting into debt over ten years ago and now having wrenched myself out a decent amount of savings built up since then. I have about 200K cash that I need to protect the value of against inflation before I make a grand plan. (moving to the coast and buying a property?). Perhaps a BTL, perhaps just investments I cant decide. These days learning about personal finance doesn't seem like enough. The markets are bear and global situation volatile. I think I need a specialist that can talk me through my options to give me perspective. Also I don't think I could get the right advice here without divulging a large amount of personal information on a public forum. Thanks to all the posters who replied, I am getting slightly less paranoid lol 

Albermarle

 First lesson on personal finance is never make hard and fast assumptions. e.g.

 I have about 200K cash that I need to protect the value of against inflation, You may need wish to protect it, but it is going to prove very difficult to do in the present climate. So you should plan that most likely scenario is that the value of the £200K will continue to go down over the coming months /into next year at least.

The markets are bear and global situation volatile. Global stock markets have made some significant recovery during July and August . Also I think it is fair to say the global situation is always volatile, just sometimes a bit more than others.